Having a Bad Day?: Get 'yer Hugs here!!

[Sunbird]

My cat Kozmo, who's been with my family for 14 years--basically his whole life--is dying of heart failure.

The past few years I haven't gotten to see him much since I've been in Utah for college and my parents, who are taking care of Kozmo, live in Ohio, but my mom told me via text message a few days ago that he'd been acting lethargic and not eating much. My parents took Kozmo to the vet today to find out what was wrong. Turns out he's got a pretty serious heart murmur, is dehydrated, and has a buildup of fluids around his heart and lungs that's making it hard for the poor kitty to breathe.

The vet recommended hospitalizing Kozmo for 3 days in order to put him on oxygen, drain fluids, and start him on some medications for his heart, but she also said that his future doesn't look bright and he might not come home from the hospital. And I'm just sitting here bawling my eyes out because I know that treatment would make the poor cat miserable and might not even help anyway.

I really need a hug.

[Hemalurgic Headshot]

5 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

My cat Kozmo, who's been with my family for 14 years--basically his whole life--is dying of heart failure.

The past few years I haven't gotten to see him much since I've been in Utah for college and my parents, who are taking care of Kozmo, live in Ohio, but my mom told me via text message a few days ago that he'd been acting lethargic and not eating much. My parents took Kozmo to the vet today to find out what was wrong. Turns out he's got a pretty serious heart murmur, is dehydrated, and has a buildup of fluids around his heart and lungs that's making it hard for the poor kitty to breathe.

The vet recommended hospitalizing Kozmo for 3 days in order to put him on oxygen, drain fluids, and start him on some medications for his heart, but she also said that his future doesn't look bright and he might not come home from the hospital. And I'm just sitting here bawling my eyes out because I know that treatment would make the poor cat miserable and might not even help anyway.

I really need a hug.

Here are the hugs.

Lots of them.

*hugs*

[+Slowswift]

7 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

My cat Kozmo, who's been with my family for 14 years--basically his whole life--is dying of heart failure.

The past few years I haven't gotten to see him much since I've been in Utah for college and my parents, who are taking care of Kozmo, live in Ohio, but my mom told me via text message a few days ago that he'd been acting lethargic and not eating much. My parents took Kozmo to the vet today to find out what was wrong. Turns out he's got a pretty serious heart murmur, is dehydrated, and has a buildup of fluids around his heart and lungs that's making it hard for the poor kitty to breathe.

The vet recommended hospitalizing Kozmo for 3 days in order to put him on oxygen, drain fluids, and start him on some medications for his heart, but she also said that his future doesn't look bright and he might not come home from the hospital. And I'm just sitting here bawling my eyes out because I know that treatment would make the poor cat miserable and might not even help anyway.

I really need a hug.

Oh, no.  *hugs*

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

20 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

My cat Kozmo, who's been with my family for 14 years--basically his whole life--is dying of heart failure.

The past few years I haven't gotten to see him much since I've been in Utah for college and my parents, who are taking care of Kozmo, live in Ohio, but my mom told me via text message a few days ago that he'd been acting lethargic and not eating much. My parents took Kozmo to the vet today to find out what was wrong. Turns out he's got a pretty serious heart murmur, is dehydrated, and has a buildup of fluids around his heart and lungs that's making it hard for the poor kitty to breathe.

The vet recommended hospitalizing Kozmo for 3 days in order to put him on oxygen, drain fluids, and start him on some medications for his heart, but she also said that his future doesn't look bright and he might not come home from the hospital. And I'm just sitting here bawling my eyes out because I know that treatment would make the poor cat miserable and might not even help anyway.

I really need a hug.

*so many hugs* 

I'm so sorry, Sunbird.

[Sunbird]

21 minutes ago, Hemalurgic_Headshot said:

Here are the hugs.

Lots of them.

*hugs*

 

19 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

Oh, no.  *hugs*

 

7 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

*so many hugs* 

I'm so sorry, Sunbird.

Thanks for all the hugs, guys. It means a lot to know you care. *hugs back*

[Mestiv]

@Sunbird *all the hugs*

I know your pain Sunbird through the history of our temporary house for cats we had to say goodbye to some of our cats and it's always very painful. I hope Kozmo will get better after they remove the fluids. If those fluids gathered there slowly, there is a chance to counter them with medicines maybe? I hope he'll be at least better enough to go home, to the people he love's and who love him,  before he'll travel over the rainbow bridge (that's a saying we use in Polish facebook cat groups)

[Sunbird]

6 minutes ago, Mestiv said:

@Sunbird *all the hugs*

I know your pain Sunbird through the history of our temporary house for cats we had to say goodbye to some of our cats and it's always very painful. I hope Kozmo will get better after they remove the fluids. If those fluids gathered there slowly, there is a chance to counter them with medicines maybe? I hope he'll be at least better enough to go home, to the people he love's and who love him,  before he'll travel over the rainbow bridge (that's a saying we use in Polish facebook cat groups)

Thanks, Mestiv. I'm not certain what my parents will decide to do about his treatment, since the hospitalization and accompanying treatment would be awfully expensive and possibly not very helpful. My mom mentioned the possibility of letting Kozmo stay in the hospital for one day of fluid removal/oxygen and then taking him home so he can be more comfortable while they give him his heart medications themselves. I will be flying out to Ohio on May 4, so at this point I'm mostly praying that he lasts long enough for me to see him in person one last time before he crosses the Rainbow Bridge. (I too am familiar with that saying, thanks to a lovely poem which I'm pretty sure I've shared here before when another Sharder lost their beloved pet.)

Here's the weird thing... My mom and I only made plans to fly me to Ohio within about the past week. I was originally going to stay in Utah to take a class during spring term, but ended up deciding against it because this semester has burnt me out and I know I couldn't handle diving right into another class. We found out about the severity of Kozmo's health problems today, after plans were already in place to get me to my parents' house less than 10 days from now--plans that I would've said were impossible if you had asked me a month ago. So maybe my difficulties with college this semester and my postponing of that spring-term class were a blessing in disguise. I know I would have been utterly devastated if Kozmo had passed away while I was stuck here in Utah for class, maybe even to the point of wrecking my ability to even do class.

[Jondesu]

11 hours ago, Silverblade5 said:

@Jondesu I'm so sorry to hear that. *Hugs* Are they generally as bad as car insurance companies?

Yeah, that's a decent comparison for people that aren't usually decent.  They were fine with my disability leave for the first 5 months.  Then they decided there wasn't enough "objective medical evidence" and denied it from that point on.  They've consistently failed to provide us with details when we've asked, or will send us in circles, and we filed the first appeal on our own because we figured the whole thing was so ridiculously obvious we didn't need a lawyer.  Yep, that was a bad idea.  So we have to find a lawyer stat (like this week) and get that started, in the midst of all the other crem and the process of trying to actually find a solution that I'm not sure exists for this headache.

The neurologist at Mayo confirmed it's probably what's called a "New Daily Persistent Headache", which can fall under several categories as to what causes it.  Generally, though, they either last less than two years, or never go away (exceptions are almost unheard of).  I've had it for 3 years and counting, so it's never going away.  They just might be able to minimize the pain and help me get on with my life.  We'll see.

[A Budgie]

@Sunbird sorry I'm late, but *hug*

[Darkness Ascendant]

Bleh.

Don't feel anything today.

See you all tomorrow.

Um.

Soooo last nighty...I cutty for the first timey. Glad to sayey that I didn't like it at all. It was disappointing. Didn't hurt much,  fair bit of blood (quite annoying but tasty). Was inconvenient and made me hide the aftermath

Instead of getting ready for school and sleeping after that I just spent the entire night reading to make myself feel better, which somehow didn't lead to me feeling repulsed and disgusted, and I actually enjoyed the night.

Then I got up and went to school...was talking to myself the entire day to the point where my friend told me to shut the storm up apparently, but I hadn't noticed. Um, then got home and just felt empty. Tried to work, couldn't. bleh bleh bleh bleh. Talked to a friend for a few hours and felt better. So um yeah.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Darkness Ascendant

[Delightful]

Well now I might lose my job because, after being up all night chucking my guts out and feeling like I was going to die, I told my boss at 7am that I wasn't going to make it to my 5pm shift. And saw a dr and promptly spent the rest of the day passed out. But because I didn't tell my *shift manager* as well nooooo ooonnne knew I wasn't going to be in and since I couldn't pull a replacement for me out of thin air AND WAS UNCONSCIOUS ALL DAY, it's now my fault that my shift wasn't covered. 

Bloody storming cremhole storm leavings of chull dung and Ruin and Odium and they can all go rot in Braize EXCEPT I NEED A JOB WHAT THE HELL HELP. 

In short, I am having a *rust*  week. 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Delightfully Smoak

[Mestiv]

@Darkness Ascendant

@Delightfully Smoak

You both need a serious, fluffy and sweet hug:

[Delightful]

19 minutes ago, Mestiv said:

@Darkness Ascendant

@Delightfully Smoak

You both need a serious, fluffy and sweet hug:

Oooh so much fluffy  

thanks man. 

[Silverblade5]

So, I got in a collision today due to the other person unexpectedly putting on her brakes. I was a split second late in slamming. On the bright side, there was no visible damage was done to either vehicle.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart]

Just hopping on here for some advice, because I love you all XD

How do I politely tell the school councillor I don't trust her, hate her and never want to see her again? She keeps emailing my school emailing asking me to see me and I've being trying to avoid her like the plague. How do I tell her this.....?

[Hemalurgic Headshot]

6 minutes ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

Just hopping on here for some advice, because I love you all XD

How do I politely tell the school councillor I don't trust her, hate her and never want to see her again? She keeps emailing my school emailing asking me to see me and I've being trying to avoid her like the plague. How do I tell her this.....?

"I would like to inform you that because of the constantly changing reality of this existence, I no longer require your assistance with my life and everything having to do with it. I appreciate that you spent time attempting to help me, but now is the time we part ways. Good bye."

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

5 minutes ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

Just hopping on here for some advice, because I love you all XD

How do I politely tell the school councillor I don't trust her, hate her and never want to see her again? She keeps emailing my school emailing asking me to see me and I've being trying to avoid her like the plague. How do I tell her this.....?

Say you understand the school's concerns, but that you would prefer to speak with a different counselor. If the school doesn't have an alternate counselor for you to see, request that you be allowed to speak with a private counselor who will share their perspective with a few selected parties. If pressed, you can mention that your visits with the current counselor have "had an adverse effect on your mental health."

[Straw]

8 minutes ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

Just hopping on here for some advice, because I love you all XD

How do I politely tell the school councillor I don't trust her, hate her and never want to see her again? She keeps emailing my school emailing asking me to see me and I've being trying to avoid her like the plague. How do I tell her this.....?

"You're increasing my stress, which is the opposite of your job, so please stop bothering me. If you continue, I'll report you for violating my privacy."

[Silverblade5]

2 hours ago, Silverblade5 said:

So, I got in a collision today due to the other person unexpectedly putting on her brakes. I was a split second late in slamming. On the bright side, there was no visible damage was done to either vehicle.

Update: I called her to check up on her. She said she had aching neck and shoulders. I'm currently theorizing wiplash caused by the headrest being to low when the crash happened.

[Mestiv]

22 minutes ago, Silverblade5 said:

Update: I called her to check up on her. She said she had aching neck and shoulders. I'm currently theorizing wiplash caused by the headrest being to low when the crash happened.

She should see a doctor about it. Potential damage to the neck is no joke. 

[Jondesu]

On 1/11/2017 at 6:37 PM, Jondesu said:

Had the Botox shots I've been dreading on Monday morning, and the actual process was a good bit less painful than I feared (though by no means comfortable). 

However, I have spent the entire time since then sore and in more pain than before. I stayed on the couch once I got out of bed both yesterday and today, almost entirely. Getting up to use the bathroom or get myself food or water is far more difficult and taxing than it has any right to be. I hope this ebbs back to my normal level of suckitude soon.

Remember this?

Yeah.

Tomorrow morning I get to do it again.

Fortunately, the doctors at Mayo Clinic said I have hyperflexible joints, and that doing those shots into my neck is an absolute no-go (they did 8 in the neck that time, I think, out of the 30 or so total). My neck was probably the worst part, so hopefully that will reduce the amount of extra pain I have to go through.  I have to do this second round for them to be convinced it doesn't work, though, and we even tried backing out of it, but the Botox had already been shipped and can't be returned now since there's no medical reason I can't do it, so it would cost us ~$1200 if I just don't show up or refuse the shots.  So, I'm going to suffer through them, spend a few days or a week even more miserable than normal (since I know they won't work), and then we get to have more fun with something else.

Also, I may end up going to Michigan for ~2 weeks for an in-patient headache clinic, instead of continuing to do more spread-out visits to Mayo, but that would be by myself, since my wife and kids can't go with me (she's almost 7 months pregnant, and they frown on flying at that point). That will probably get me healed the fastest, if anything they can do can fix this, but it could be very expensive and it will definitely be a couple of weeks on my own. That isn't really a bad day thing, but it belongs with the rest of this.

[Sunbird]

On 4/25/2017 at 8:16 PM, Sunbird said:

My cat Kozmo, who's been with my family for 14 years--basically his whole life--is dying of heart failure.

The past few years I haven't gotten to see him much since I've been in Utah for college and my parents, who are taking care of Kozmo, live in Ohio, but my mom told me via text message a few days ago that he'd been acting lethargic and not eating much. My parents took Kozmo to the vet today to find out what was wrong. Turns out he's got a pretty serious heart murmur, is dehydrated, and has a buildup of fluids around his heart and lungs that's making it hard for the poor kitty to breathe.

The vet recommended hospitalizing Kozmo for 3 days in order to put him on oxygen, drain fluids, and start him on some medications for his heart, but she also said that his future doesn't look bright and he might not come home from the hospital. And I'm just sitting here bawling my eyes out because I know that treatment would make the poor cat miserable and might not even help anyway.

I really need a hug.

 

On 4/25/2017 at 9:27 PM, Sunbird said:

Thanks, Mestiv. I'm not certain what my parents will decide to do about his treatment, since the hospitalization and accompanying treatment would be awfully expensive and possibly not very helpful. My mom mentioned the possibility of letting Kozmo stay in the hospital for one day of fluid removal/oxygen and then taking him home so he can be more comfortable while they give him his heart medications themselves. I will be flying out to Ohio on May 4, so at this point I'm mostly praying that he lasts long enough for me to see him in person one last time before he crosses the Rainbow Bridge. (I too am familiar with that saying, thanks to a lovely poem which I'm pretty sure I've shared here before when another Sharder lost their beloved pet.)

Here's the weird thing... My mom and I only made plans to fly me to Ohio within about the past week. I was originally going to stay in Utah to take a class during spring term, but ended up deciding against it because this semester has burnt me out and I know I couldn't handle diving right into another class. We found out about the severity of Kozmo's health problems today, after plans were already in place to get me to my parents' house less than 10 days from now--plans that I would've said were impossible if you had asked me a month ago. So maybe my difficulties with college this semester and my postponing of that spring-term class were a blessing in disguise. I know I would have been utterly devastated if Kozmo had passed away while I was stuck here in Utah for class, maybe even to the point of wrecking my ability to even do class.

This morning my mom called to tell me that Kozmo had passed away a few hours before.

After she and Dad brought him home from the vet last night, he was obviously feeling a bit better because he went to his food dish right away and ate some, and then spent the rest of the evening sitting on their laps cuddling, purring, and kneading. In Mom's words, he was "happy as a peach." When morning came, Dad went to the basement to let Kozmo out for the day (The basement has been Koz's "bedroom" for a while to keep him from waking up the whole house at 4 in the morning meowing for food) and found him struggling to breathe. My parents sat with him and stroked him in his last moments, since that was all they could really do.

Apparently the hospitalization wouldn't have helped after all, seeing how quickly this happened. In hindsight, I'm glad Kozmo got to spend his final hours at home surrounded by his family rather than in a stressful foreign environment at the animal hospital.

My mom took some nice photos of Kozmo last night while he was happy, and I'm so glad she did.

Spoiler

Here's that poem I mentioned earlier.

The Rainbow Bridge
By Steve and Diane Bodofsky

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.

[A Budgie]

 @Sunbird *hug* Kozmo looks really lovely.

[Darkness Ascendant]

10 hours ago, Delightfully Smoak said:

Well now I might lose my job because, after being up all night chucking my guts out and feeling like I was going to die, I told my boss at 7am that I wasn't going to make it to my 5pm shift. And saw a dr and promptly spent the rest of the day passed out. But because I didn't tell my *shift manager* as well nooooo ooonnne knew I wasn't going to be in and since I couldn't pull a replacement for me out of thin air AND WAS UNCONSCIOUS ALL DAY, it's now my fault that my shift wasn't covered. 

Bloody storming cremhole storm leavings of chull dung and Ruin and Odium and they can all go rot in Braize EXCEPT I NEED A JOB WHAT THE HELL HELP. 

In short, I am having a *rust*  week. 

*MOAR HUUGS*

8 hours ago, Mestiv said:

@Darkness Ascendant

@Delightfully Smoak

You both need a serious, fluffy and sweet hug:

Thanks mate 

6 hours ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

Just hopping on here for some advice, because I love you all XD

How do I politely tell the school councillor I don't trust her, hate her and never want to see her again? She keeps emailing my school emailing asking me to see me and I've being trying to avoid her like the plague. How do I tell her this.....?

You can't be forced to go to counselling sessions without consent. Tell her to storm off then ignore her.

I would know because I went to my first counselling session today >>  

I should become an actor lmfao. She was positively beaming by the end at my good health.

I managed to turn the conversation from depression to my study habits, which I'm *very* proud of XD

I swear...I was a completely different person in there. Nothing I said was a lie, but the way I behaved...

She's convinced I'm in the best of health. And now she's going to check in a couple of weeks to see if I've been keeping up with my math's homework. (reason I'm happy is because I turned the session into an advantage, more initiative to do homework!)

@Sunbird *hug* Kozmo lives on in your memories  

[Sunbird]

Thanks, @A Budgie and @Darkness Ascendant. *hugs* to you both and also to @Delightfully Smoak, @Jondesu, @Silverblade5, and @Queen Elsa Steelheart and anyone else I forgot to mention from the last page of posts. I want to take all your pain away. *BIG hugs*

Edited April 27, 2017 by Sunbird