Monday began a new week. Mom called her doctor's office and they scheduled a CT scan for Tuesday afternoon and, because the nit-wit at the scheduling desk said they (the doctor's office) might not have the CT results by the time of Mom's Wednesday morning with her doctor, they rescheduled it for Friday.
Meanwhile, Sophie did not appreciate my administering the steroid cream on her ears twice a day, but the afternoon that Mom called to tell me that she'd seen/overheard Sophie at the food bowl THREE times that day so far. Of course, knowing my little persnickety turd, she's been at the bowl containing the Meow Mix that the other three eat and not the bowl containing her $55 a bag expensive stuff. But at this point, I don't care what it is, if she'll eat it and keep it down. It's just particularly irritating because shortly after I adopted Sophie and Gizmo, I attempted to get them to eat Meow Mix (because their previous caretaker fed them Science Diet, which I thought was SO expensive… little did I know that now I'd kill to feed her Science Diet) and she would have nothing to do with it. I tried different flavors, including the hairball formula, and no. I don't think Mom and Dad had to buy cat food for a month because they benefited from every bag I bought and Ms. Picky turned down.
Also, the previous week, during my fit of feeling useless, I'd ordered something to help Sophie. Jackson Galaxy, the guy with all the tattoos and piercings on the Animal Planet show "My Cat From Hell", well, he's written a book – a biography, I suppose – and my friend Deborah is reading it and keeping me updated as she goes. Anyway, Deborah tells me that early on in his cat experience, he had a difficult cat… I don't remember the name… and he'd tried everything to get the cat to eat.. I think that was the problem.. and he was at his wits end when he heard about some woman selling holistic formulas made up of "essential" oils, whatever those are, and supposedly they'd help the cat. So, like me, being at the end of his rope, he said, "WTF!?" Now I gather that they helped his cat and Jackson was so impressed that he was like, "I've got to meet this woman!" He met her, and ended up buying the company!!
(Very) long story short, I got on the website, www.spiritessences.com, and bought some of both the "Happy Tummy" formula for Sophie specifically, and the "Stress Stopper" for everyone in general. It arrived on Friday and I put a few drops of the Stress Stopper in both of the water fountains and I rubbed some of the Happy Tummy in my hands and then wiped them on Sophie (per the instructions.) And now, a weekend later, I'm telling you that I'm sold! Well, first, Sophie is eating. And…now here, I guess you'd have to have cats to understand this, but Sophie's fur is like silk. I've never felt anything softer. And when she isn't 100%, her fur loses its softness… feels like hair.. or more bristly… which is the way Winifred always feels, but with Sophie, it's an indicator to me that something's amiss. Anyway, for the last month or so, her fur hasn't been "right." Now, after a week of the steroid cream on her ears and a weekend of the essential oils, she is happy, silky, and, dare I say, more friendly. She's even a little more tolerant (not 100%, but a little bit) of Winifred and I think, when Sophie chases Winifred out of my bedroom and up/down the stairs, there's a bit of playfulness in it.
One patient is fixed (literally…hahaha!). As for the other, we went to Mom's doctor appointment on Friday. The CT scan showed that she did have a mild bulging disc on the left side at L4-5 and a moderate herniated disc at L3-4 on the right. But the thing on the right isn't the one she's having problems with, for whatever reason, so we don't worry about it at the moment. The left problem isn't bad enough to require surgery. (One of Mom's, and my, worries down.) Then I asked the doctor if there was something she could prescribe, nothing addictive, because we are too poor to risk becoming addicts, which could help Mom sleep. Mom not having had a decent night's sleep in a month. The doctor gave her a prescription for Flexeril. (Another of Mom's concerns taken care of.) And finally, Mom asked about exercises or something to help her (Mom) not feel like such a slug, just laying around and nothing else. So the doctor ordered physical therapy. (The third and final of Mom's concerns gone!) When we left that appointment, Mom felt ten times better, not even having had the first pill or PT appointment!
Friday night, she took her first Flexeril and slept like a rock. She was so happy the next morning! Of course, as one might have guessed, she then proceeded to do too much, at least in my opinion, over the weekend, so she was rather tired when she got up this morning. Other than her PT appointments, she is going to rest and recuperate this week! So Patient #2 is doing better and I'm feeling useful, so all is well in Roselandia!!
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