Cancer, Christmas and my Mental Health

One thing I've discovered about being in active cancer treatment is that I am so involved in the treatment, and dealing with the side-effects that when other stressful situations occur, my frustration level almost immediately rises to red-hot. This happened over the summer when I had to deal with the plumbing issues and not being able to get a hold of the property manager. I also had a medical bill issue from February when I underwent the biopsy, and the billing department at the pathology lab were basically being idiots and I was biting my tongue trying not to tell them how I felt. Luckily I managed to survive both situations, but it was a lot of work and took up too much of my already low energy.

At present, I'm on a break from the SCCA and my biggest concern regarding my treatment is remembering to take my pills 3 times a day. No more skipping because I'm too tired at night, as there is medicine I'm taking that I can't just skip a day. So, when I was faced with a stressful and challenging situation, I handled it much better than I did the situations over the summer.

My very challenging and heart wrenching situation over the past several weeks has been the health of my 19-year-old cat, Kitten. It's a very difficult line between trying to keep her healthy and overdoing treatments that are going to impact her quality of life.

Over the past week or so, Kitten started getting weaker and weaker and was not very interested in eating or drinking. I think she was really having a hard time adjusting to losing 5 teeth, even though her mouth was completely healed. Finally, on Tuesday the 23rd. I called my vet at home. He is on vacation until January 6, but he gave me his home phone number in case I had concerns about Kitten. So, I called him and we met at his clinic. Kitten was dehydrated enough that she needed an IV. The vet also gave her several steriod shots to stimulate her appetite. I brought her home and gave her some food which she ate right away. I felt that she was going to be able to turn things around and would be stronger by the next day. However, as the day wore on, Kitten got weaker and weaker to the point that could no longer stand up. It's like her legs were boneless and she would just crumple when I tried to stand or sit her up. Since she was unable to use the litter box, I kept a puppy training pad under her. I was up all night making sure the pad was changed as needed and trying to feed her. I was still hopeful that the medicine would kick in and she would get better. But, at 4:00 am she had a seizure and afterwards I knew that she would not survive the day. I called the vet again and we said goodbye and now Miss Kitten is young and free and playing with Simon, who was always her best friend.