Yesterday at Mass, my father in law passed out. He's 93 and is in excellent health in body and in mind, but the heat must have gotten to him and before the first reading the celebrant announced that medical personnel were needed in the back of the church. My wife could see that it was her dad, and went to the back of the church. Just before the homily, the paramedics came and took him to the hospital. I left Mass at that time and followed. By the time he got to the hospital, he was fine and after some tests he was sent home to celebrate the rest of Father's Day with the admonition that he not get too riled up. We had a great time with family on both sides and he did great the rest of the day.
We went to bed early because it had been a tiring day. Around 12:30am one of our cats started crying. Teresa turned on the light and noticed the cat was trying to walk around the bedroom floor but seemed to have a broken front leg.
The cat was coughing and wheezing and was trying to move but couldn't get around. We got the cat into a carrier and Teresa took her to the emergency vet. I went back to sleep wondering how long she'd be gone and what was wrong.
It turned out our cat, who is around 12 years old, had a kitty heart attack and apparently has a blood clot. The vet says she could die anytime, but thinks she might get stabilized long enough to come home for a while. He name is Smeary, because she has this habit of rubbing her face up against anything: things she walks by like the walls, chairs, counters, even the dog and the other cat. She has the loudest purr of any cat and at 4:30am usually starts purring and walking around on the bed because she thinks it's time to eat.
So she's still at the vet, and Teresa and I will go there soon to visit. She has to stay at least one more night and we have no idea what will happen after that.
We don't have kids - God hasn't blessed us with our own children yet. So it might sound silly but the animals are the closest thing I have to my own kids. So it's been a rough day for both of us.
God bless you and your family John. Some days are diamonds, and some days are rocks. It sounds like the Lord handed you and your wife a rock yesterday for reasons known only to Him. Please know that you are all in my prayers tonight.
Sorry to hear about your dad and your cat. We had a medical emergency during Mass on Father's day, also. must be the weird weather contributing. Hope that Smeary is doing better.
We went to Smeary last night and she seems to be doing better. She was a little out of it and in between trying to get up and walk around, she was curled up with Teresa. Not sure if she'll be able to fully use her front paw, but she seemed to be getting better use of it yesterday.
Wow - good thing your in law is okay. That can be a scarry thing.
I'm glad to hear that your father in law is doing better. I went through the same thing with my 16 year old cat last week. He woke me up at 5 a.m. on Sunday, banging and thumping. I got up and saw that he was dragging his back leg around. The vet said the same thing -- probably a blood clot. So I took him home, moved all of his things to one level of the house and he has been making himself comfortable, but the writing is on the wall. He has stopped eating...only drinking water. But he seems content. It's hard to know what to do at this point. I guess you can only wait and hope he's not in pain. But it is amazing how attached you can get to these little creatures.
We lost two Westies to cancer, but with the second one it was a surprise because brain tumors are hard to pick up. Treading in her food and water, losing control of body function, inability to sleep, and seizures -- that's no way for a dog to have to live. The vet said she would die within days, but it would be "agonizing" to make her wait. Seizures are really frightening for the animal (and the owner) because there's nothing you can do to stop them, and the medication had not helped at all. And of course she was not a complainer, so we had no idea what kind of pain she was having -- probably terrible headache.
Although euthanasia is rightly forbidden for human beings, I hope I gave her relief by letting her go to her reward. On the way to the vet's that Saturday night, this dog who had never suffered herself to be held laid her head on my wife's shoulder and rested, seeming content.
Glad to hear your father-in-law is doing better.