Sunday, November 18, 2012

Trying to Be Real

Thanks to the many FB friends that continually inquire how things are going with my cat.  To catch everyone else up, she quit eating this past Tuesday.  She's only 4 so this is not a normal thing.  On Thursday, she stayed with the vet, had xrays and got fluids.  They were quite sure that day that there was nothing in her intestines, and that the next step was blood tests.   I was kind of surprised at the clean xrays, as I know she chews and eats foam when she can find it.  I've seen it in her catbox.  As an aside, I have raided the boys' rooms for all foam, gimp and anything that looks chewable, but I fear it may be too late.  We took her home to mull this additional cost over.  These tests would only reveal something we didn't want to deal with like kidney or liver malfunction.  She ate something on Thursday evening and Friday morning, so I was hopeful that things were looking better.  Then she refused all day Friday, despite taking appetite stimulant pills.  Yesterday I took her back to the vet to have the tests.  She's lost nearly 3lb since this started.  They drew blood and ran additional xrays, this time at no cost.  The bloodwork was clean, but the vet thought that the xrays were "suspicious" - not anything obvious on them, but not nothing to say a conclusive diagnosis.  My gut is that foam, since it is mostly air, would appear like a gas pocket in the gut.  We can take her for an ultrasound, which costs $400, and will tell us for certain if there is anything there.  If there is, she's headed to surgery.  If no, then we are nowhere closer to knowing what is wrong, and we will have shelled out over $800.  It is daunting monetarily.  The vet is suggesting exploratory surgery, at a cost of anywhere between $500-1200.  The higher end will be reached if they find things in her intestine and have to remove them.  With having already spent $400, this is reaching the obscene.  They won't euthanize a young, and fixable cat because the owners cannot afford to pay.  But they see nothing wrong with sending her home to die a slow death in front of our 3 children.  It's heartbreaking.  It won't be a good Christmas this year, I'm afraid, and this is going to take every bit of our possible summer vacation fund too.  It's not like I need things to depress me this time of year, but this is sure doing that.  Somehow, I need some good news so I can get my quilting mojo back.

On Friday, I finished this quilt.  It's so pretty - lots of great batiks in one of my favorite patterns.  It was a very fun diversion to the Hell going on in our lives.
 I used 4 colors of Glide thread - red, purple, gold and green.  I also did something different.  Rather than ditch quilting all of the points, I chose to stitch on the triangles.  The addition of the thread gives another dimension to the design.  In many places the thread is a contrasting color, and this thread has a great sheen on top of the batik.
 There are feathers, sunflowers, leaves, swirls, rays.  It sounds like a lot, but it's all about the organic look.  I see this quilt as a garden with its colors - the NYBs are flower or sun-like.  Maybe my head is fogged, but I think it all turned out good.
 The center...
 And closer up it reveals a sunflower with sun rays out of it.
 The red is sub-framed to bring it out.

 I feel like there are too many pictures here, but I really like this quilt.
 The outer border.. I may never do ribbon-candy ever again.  Its one of those designs that seemed like a good thing until I realized I had about 600 inches of it to stitch!
 Her backing is a rainbow sherbet-like Indian batik.  The four different bobbin colors hardly show up because of all the backing's color.  I think you can see the patterns though.


I have a much dreaded T-shirt quilt loaded up next.  They are not my favorite quilts to sew.  Each one seems to have it's own bag of issues.   They are always tension headaches because of the greatly differing thicknesses across the top.  But business is business, and right now with cat bills looming, I have to press ahead.  Have a good Sunday and send good digesting wishes to my stupid Pica cat.

10 comments:

fiberobsession said...

Love your straight lines. I have never liked those squiggly lines everyone uses on NYB's as it seems to take the punch out of the points.

I know how your feel about the cat. A few years ago someone shot an arrow through our cat who had gone out to potty on Christmas day evening. Only one vet available and it cost $300 and they just put her to sleep. It is gut wrenching for the kitty, the owner, and the pocketbook.

Auntie Em said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. I hope that a miracle occurs and she returns to her normal self.

On the positive side, your quilting is stunning!

Auntie Em said...

I'm very sorry to hear about your poor cat. I hope a miracle occurs and she returns to her old self.

On the positive side, your quilting is stunning!

regan said...

Too many pictures???? Are you kidding!?! Never enough! This quilt is gorgeous! And your quilting on it is perfect for it. I especially like the straight line rays extending from the outer most arcs to the border.....they spread the sunburst effect very nicely. Also the ribbon candy....even though it was a pain....it's gorgeous!

And I'm really amazed that the vet wouldn't put your cat down for you. Years ago I applied for work at a vet, and one question they asked during the interview was, "Would you be able to assist in putting a perfectly healthy pet down, if the owner was just not able to care for it?" And of course, my answer was, "I think I'd be taking a lot of animals home!" So I didn't get the job.....but the procedure exists! They said if it was the wishes of the owner, then they had to do it. And you've been more than responsible toward your cat in this case.....it's not a whim..... there's just so much you can do responsibly! I'm with you!

I don't know if you've ever had to make that decision before, but when we had to put our dogs down (after strokes) it was so hard. But it was harder seeing them struggle and not be their happy and healthy selves.

I would want to know why they don't want to do it. Especially, as you say, to have your kids seeing your cat go through this deterioration. That's just cruel to your cat, and your family.

Jamie Janow Elfert said...

Your quilting is always amazing. I will never reach this level of perfection, but you sure do inspire me. Thank you so much for sharing your talents.

Lynette said...

So sorry about your kitty, Margaret. We went through a very similar wringer at the beginning of this year, and it's excruciating. I sure hope this resolves quickly for your family.

And definitely never too many photos of your quilting work. :) I really love how you've paired the straight lines in the spikes with the wavy lines in the backgrounds around them. Super effective.

Ms. Jan said...

I agree with regan, this is animal cruelty. Find another vet, Margaret.

Ms. Jan said...

Margaret, I agree with Regan, this is animal cruelty. I'm sure you can find a vet who will put the kitty out of it's misery. Take care.

Maggie said...

Hey Margaret,

Do you have a no-kill shelter? They often have their own medical people (local vets volunteering) and might be able to do the surgery at a much lower cost. My heart goes out to you, your cat, and your family.

Maggie in Arizona

Theresa said...

Sorry about your cat.

Absolutely beautiful quilting. Impressive!