You must be lost

So, I'm going to actually start going back and talking about October for a bit, since I sort of missed it here. Maybe these can count as writing exercises. Whatever. It's cold and dark there's a constant mist in the air and I'm solar powered and require temps above 70 to function properly. This day has me wanting to curl up in a ball and do nothing, so I might as well write something. I'm afraid to work on my novel for fear I might snowball it again. I'm kind of at a stopping point at the moment and I'd like to keep it that way to get some obligations out of the way before picking it up again.

Remember that butterfly that I saved for like 18 hours from the bitter cold before Mogwai decided to make it a mid-morning snack? (p.s. I have still not made butterfly wing pendants) Well, the very next day. . .

( Cut for those sensitive about cute furry creatures. I promise I'll keep it from being too graphic, but can't promise it's not a little sad. )

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed Mogwai peeing in places other than his litter box, mostly on Jonah's cloth books (luckily the washer was still working then!). But when he would go, it was just a little drop. Then I noticed he didn't seem like himself, somehow lazier than usual. He wasn't all that interested in going outside or anything. I looked up the symptoms and thought he might have a urinary tract infection. So I took him to the vet. They did a urinalysis and an ultrasound on the bladder. Turned out there were crystals in his urine, but no bacteria to indicate an infection, and there was also a grey spot on the ultrasound the vet seemed concerned about. She thought there was a possibility of either stones or *gasp* a tumor. So she gave me a steroid based medication (think it was called Medicam) in little single dose syringes to give him orally, once a day for five days, then bring him back for a recheck.

By the fifth day, I noticed marked improvement. He was using the litter box reliably and would go play (and I mean play) outside. He almost seemed like his old self again. So, I took him in for a recheck and the mysterious spot on his bladder that could have been something serious was gone (so in the immortal words of Schwarzenegger, "it's not a tumor"). But there was still some gunk in the bottom of his bladder, most likely crystals. They didn't do a urinalysis this time, but she gave me more Medicam, this time for 7 days, thinking we'd just treat him for the crystals until they were gone. I scheduled another recheck for the following week.

Toward the end of that week (Sunday to be exact), I noticed he was back to peeing on things that were not his litter box. Luckily he doesn't do this on the carpet or anything. Lately he's been finding things I can just hose off or wipe out (hard surface plastics and such). But this time, there was blood in his urine. Of course, we got really concerned. I didn't panic though, kept giving him the medication and took him in as scheduled. Well, that appointment was yesterday afternoon. They did yet another ultrasound and another urinalysis. He still has crystals and now there's bacteria as well. So, off with the Medicam, on with the antibiotic. At least the medications seem to taste good to him or something because he comes running when he sees me going for the stuff.

So now, once he's done with this antibiotic, I'm supposed to collect some urine and run it up there for them to test and possibly send off to a lab. I did notice this morning that there seemed to not be any blood in the urine anymore, but he's still going in, well, the dog bowls for now (poor dogs). I'm not letting him outside for the next few days until we can get this back under control, whatever it is. The doctor seemed frustrated at trying to officially diagnose and treat what seems to be a moving target. But she seems very good and they're definitely helpful and friendly there. Luckily the vet is just right around the corner from home, so it's not like I'm having to drive all over the place to take him back and forth. But still, I just want our kitteh to be healthy again. :(