(Source: bornthisway89)
RIP Steel (2006-2010)
A rollercoaster of a day - this morning, I thought he might pull through. However, I received an update this afternoon to tell me he had taken a turn for the worse.
The skin and fur on this head had started to separate from the underlying layer of muscle and the vet feared that it was only a matter of time before it started happening down below the neck as well. He had the will to fight, but not the energy. His body was failing him.
Having said that, he was remarkably bright at the end ; there was a fire in his eyes that will never be extinguished. He had been pumped full of painkillers for 36 hours and the vet staff didn’t get any reaction out of him. As soon as I arrived, he tried to get to his feet - he called out to me, meowing more in 20 minutes than I have heard from him in the previous 4 years. He was very affectionate and started coming back to his old habits - wanting the back of his eyes to be stroked.
I held him for a couple of minutes while the vet went for the drugs - and I could swear I felt him struggling to get up for some more fuss. When the vet came back and delivered the injection into the drip, it was over in less than 5 seconds.
I stayed with him for a few more minutes and asked for him to be cremated.
Here is a picture of Steel as he will always remain in my mind - you will always be with me, little guy.
In this for the long haul…
…I never intended this blog to become a running commentary on Steel’s recovery ; but a lot of people seem to be pulling for the little guy so I thought I would keep folks updated here.
Another call from vet ; blood tests show negative to feline AIDS and leukemia, which is obviously very good. Still waiting for the blood smear results to determine why he’s to anemic at the moment. Hopefully his bone marrow hasn’t shut down production of white blood cells.
He’s taking liquid food and has been moved to a surgery where they have staff on site 24/7 so they can look after the little guy during the night as well.
The wound on his leg where he caught the collar is ‘granulating’ - the vet says this is a good thing as it has started healing and forming new skin. It’s going to be a long long process, but she said that by the time he’s strong enough to take an anesthetic, there may be no need to operate as the wound will have dealt with itself. Hopefully this means he’s not going to lose the leg as well!
The vet has asked if I want to go and see him tonight when the vets have all finished their work for the night and the night staff have come in to take care of the pets overnight. They will have a vet on site that I can talk to which will be good.
It’s going to be a long long road to recovery - and he’s not out of the woods yet - but it looks like the little guy is going to give this fight all he has got…
Chin up, little fella…
Another phone call from vet - they have done a blood test to determine Steel’s white blood cell count and the result wasn’t very good. Only about half the normal level. Next stop is a bone marrow test to determine if it is producing new blood cells or whether it has shut down.
If his bone marrow has shut down, then the long term chance of a meaningful recovery is very low ; the vet didn’t want to say it out loud but the implication was that it would be kinder to put him down under those circumstances.
If he’s still producing white blood cells, then the recovery is still going to take a long time…and I have still no idea as to whether they’re going to be able to save the leg.
It’s not looking particularly positive at the moment and even though I get the results of the new test tomorrow, it is going to feel like a very long time.
Curiosity (almost) killed the cat…
When last I wrote about my kitty Steel, he’s been missing for about about 3 weeks and I had just had a sighting of him on my street.
…I have just had a much more unfortunate meeting with the little guy. He had been taken to a vet by one of my neighbours who had found him curled up on their doorstep. He was in a very bad way, having caught his front left paw in his collar. He must have got it trapped and then panicked. A lot of skin has been torn off underneath at the top of the leg and the vet said there is a chance they may have to amputate the leg.
He looked very very sorry for himself and didn’t react at all when I stroked him - he must have been through a lot, the little tyke. They’re going to put him on a drip to give him food, antibiotics and painkillers and take a view on what course his treatment is going to take tomorrow.
So very happy that he’s been found but feeling very stupid for how he managed to get out of the house in the first place.
Vet says he is going to require about 4 to 5 weeks of treatment in total before he’ll be on the mend.
Meditations
“Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations III,10
Here, kitty kitty kitty…
One of my cats, Steel, went missing on 10th October 2010 - he scampered out of my bedroom window and couldn’t get back in ; he fell off the window ledge and made a bit for his freedom. Sapphire and Steel had up until this point been house cats - so I feared for his safety.
I had one sighting of him within 24 hours or so of him going missing but nothing more.
Until today - I got back from seeing Wolves lose another point in the 90th minute at Manchester United ; my friend Jason dropped me off at home - and who should I see in the headlights of the car - but Steel!
He must be living within a few yards of my house but I can’t see him ever coming back home - he seems to have reverted to his feral state - he didn’t even recognize me when I called him. He looked very small compared to the other cats on the street - two of whom were chasing him.
Come home Steel - it’s cold and very wet out there at nights - I still have all your favourite food at home and your favourite blanket is ready for you to sleep on.
Come home, Steel - I’m missing you little buddy!
1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach.
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they love you.
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you’re beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke with friends.
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy or kitten.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies. (And eating the chocolate chips while doing it.)
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38. Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you’ve done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
R.I.P. Benoît Mandelbrot, 1924-2010 #fractales
Credit to: http://escapethenest.tumblr.com/
Things to make you hmmmmm…..
There’s been some Twitter about the relativistic effects of aging on the chilean miners trapped underground - with 140 characters being so terribly limiting, I thought I would put my thoughts out here instead (for *both* of my followers to read ;-)
As the miners are trapped beneath the earth’s surface, they will be experiencing a weaker gravitational field than those at the surface (matter above the miner’s heads will cancel out a part of the gravitational field they would experience at the surface of the planet). In the most extreme case, they would experience a gravitational field of zero at the earth’s core because matter would be pulling on them uniformly from all directions.
Relativistically, the more powerful a gravitational field experienced by a body, the slower it experiences the passage of time. Since the miners are experiencing a weaker gravitational field than those at the surface of the planet, they will age slightly faster than us while they are down there.
Sorry - this blog entry was possibly only of any interest to other maths/physics geeks ;-)
A good day…
Today was something that doesn’t happen very often nowadays - a good day at work. Made a bit of a breakthrough with some third party code I have been trying to debug for some time.
It felt productive.
It felt good.
I am hoping to have more days like this soon.
