Our weekend emergency

You know those dreams where someone close to you dies, and it's just so hard to believe and the pain is so acute that it feels real, but then you wake up and realize with great relief that it was all just a dream? Well David and I had that feeling last night - only at the time there was no waking up.

But this morning we have renewed hope that maybe we still can.

We got up this morning fully expecting to have to put our 7-year-old cat Callie to sleep. It all happened so suddenly. She's always been a small cat, but this past week she has been getting thinner and thinner. She's now down to 5 pounds. She's had virtually no appetite, and the past few days hasn't been drinking water. Not that she hasn't wanted to - she spent all of Saturday night stooped over her water bowl. But didn't swallow a drop.

I set up a doctor's appointment on Saturday for Monday morning, but by Sunday afternoon she looked like she had aged 10 years. She could barely walk. We thought she might have an abscess, which she has had before. The symptoms were very similar. Finally, we called our good friend Brett the Vet. He came over, took one look at her, and said we needed to take her to the emergency vet immediately. We're so glad he gave us that advice.

The prognosis was not good. Callie's blood work indicated she was suffering from complete kidney failure. We had two choices: leave her overnight and let them observe her and give her fluids or call it quits. We were told we'd know in 12-24 hours if she had any hope. We elected to leave her, although we were told she did not have very good odds.

So last night was rough. We watched lots of TV to take our minds off of reality. But after each show ended we just went right back to crying. David called his sister to tell her the news about 10 pm, and she and her husband came right over, bearing tissues and blueberry muffins. It helped to talk to them about it. They lost a pet a few years ago who was about the same age as Callie.

Needless to say it was a pretty sleepless night. We mentally prepared ourselves this morning - as best as we could - to put her down.

But when we got to the clinic the doctor said her chances had improved. Callie had produced some urine, meaning the kidneys aren't completely shot. The doctor said it looked like she might have a kidney infection and they had started her on antibiotics. She could still pull through and completely recover. So there is still hope. Callie's spirits have even improved - she was her old whiny self during the car ride to her regular vet.

So that's where she is now. We expect a call from the vet any minute. We're cautiously optimistic - we'd love to take her home tonight but we need to still be prepared for the worst. But at least David and I are now emotionally stable enough to be at work today.

We'll keep you posted. Please keep her in your thoughts.