My Gracie Girl...

It was the night before Thanksgiving 1993 and the doorbell rang.  One of Reid's high school friends was standing there with a kitten.  As he approached our front porch he had noticed a kitten sleeping on the lap of a scarecrow that I had sitting on a bale of hay.  He brought the kitten inside and she never left.  She had found her forever home.

We went around the neighborhood trying to determine if she belonged to anyone.  A couple of people told us she belonged to someone on the next block, but they were away for Thanksgiving.  When they came home we were told that she was a stray that had been hanging around and they had fed her once in a while, but weren't interested in keeping her.  So, we became her people and named her Grace.  After all, Grace always comes before Thanksgiving dinner.

Yesterday, Grace's time on earth came to an end.  She would have been 21 years old this summer.  We figured she was 3 to 4 months old that November evening, so she was probably born in July or August of 1993.

In recent years she had become thinner, but never really acted like and old cat until the last couple of weeks.  I noticed she was drinking more water and the Veterinarian said it was probably to compensate as her kidneys slowly started to fail.  She stopped eating a week ago and we tried everything to get her to eat, but it was all in vain.  It was her time.

I'm afraid I was lulled into thinking that she'd go on forever.  She had been doing so well as an old cat and I had hoped she'd set some kind of longevity record.

She was such a sweet cat and never a bit of trouble.  She loved our dogs and would spend time grooming them.  They loved it.  Here she is with Shelby.

After Shelby died she did the same thing with Sophie.  In fact, as recently as a couple of weeks ago she was grooming Sophie.

She never really liked being held, but she loved  to be pet.  She would hit my leg or arm with her paw to let me know.  As she grew older I always stopped what I was doing to pet her.  The night before she died she slowly walked over to me and I sat on the bedroom floor and pet her for about a half an hour. Then she decided it was enough and went back to her bed.  By morning her condition had really deteriorated and I brought her to the Veterinarian for the last time.  It was the least I could do for my good old friend.

I've been looking through old pictures and I can't find any photographs from 1993.  I know they must be in a box somewhere.  It was long before we moved to digital.  I'm sure I'll find some pictures of her as a kitten one of these days.

I do have some of my favorites saved though.

  For a while she liked sitting in the warm dryer.  She was a very young cat here.

Here she is watching some Peregrine Falcons on a webcam.  This might have been around 2000.

Checking out some of my doll stuff.

Sleeping with Zoom - 2010.

I'm going to really miss her, but I like to think she's with Jim now.  He used to like to tell me that he had one dog and I had the cats.  One year I gave him a plaque that said, "Heaven's the place where all the dogs you've ever loved come to greet you."  He took it into the office.  After he died the people at work packed up his office.  In one of the boxes I found the plaque. He had taken a piece of paper and written the words "and cats" and taped it to the plaque so it now read, "Heavens the place where all the dogs and cats you've every loved come to greet you."  He loved the cats just as much as the dogs.  He never had me fooled.

I'll miss my Gracie Girl (that was my pet name for her), but I know she's in good hands.

Never a dull moment...

We've been home a little over a week and things certainly haven't been dull around here.

I had another cat get sick.  I really don't understand what's going on.  Normally our animals are all quite healthy, but while Reid was away Sophie (our dog) and then Roscoe (one of the cats) came down with urinary track infections.  Since we've been home Zoom (our little terror cat) also developed a urinary track infection and she refuses to eat.  That has meant daily trips to the Veterinarian for feedings and fluids.  She's on antibiotics and obviously feeling much better, but she still won't eat.  I'd be a lot more concerned if she wasn't acting quite normal in every other way.  I did see improvement this morning when she licked a little food off my finger, but that's still not really eating.  So, I'll have to take her for more food and fluids a little later.

Meanwhile, my 19 year old cat has personal problems.  Poor Grace is constipated again and will also be seeing the Veterinarian a little later.

Reid continues to do well.  All of his blood work looks very good and I believe the doctor is pleased with his progress so far.  The big problem is the constant fatigue.  He wants to do more, but then does and becomes exhausted.  He no longer needs the weekly IV, so last Wednesday we celebrated by going to Kenny and Ziggy's for lunch after his appointment at MD Anderson.  It was the first time Reid has eaten in a restaurant since before he entered the hospital on December 15th.  In fact, it was his first venture out in public.  We tried to go at a time when Reid wouldn't be exposed to too many people, but that place always seems to get busy!  Kenny and Ziggy's is located in Houston near The Galleria and is a NY Delicatessen type restaurant.  (My kind of place!)  The servings are huge and we got two more meals out of our leftovers!

Did you see 20/20 last Friday with Robin Roberts?  (The link will take you to hulu.com and the 20/20 broadcast.)  If you did, you should have a good idea of what Reid has been through, only he's been through two stem cell transplants within the last two years.  A stem cell transplant and a bone marrow transplant are basically the same thing.

I've been following Robin's progress closely since she's about three months ahead of Reid in her recovery.  Her transplant was on September 20, 2012 and Reid's was on December 21, 2012.  It was really exciting to see her return to Good Morning America.  Her situation and Reid's were so similar.  Both of them were very fortunate to have a sibling that was a match.  I've read that only 25% of patients have a close relative that matches, but I heard Robin say it's 30%.  Regardless, most people aren't as fortunate as them.  Then Robin lost her mother right before her transplant and we lost Jim right before we learned that Reid had relapsed.  So, there are definite similarities.  I'm thrilled to see Robin doing so well.

We did have a few moments of panic this morning when Reid couldn't find his bottle of Tacro which is the anti-rejection medication.  He hadn't needed it in almost a week because he had a pill box full of all his medications.  It was only when he needed to refill the box that he couldn't locate the bottle. He does carry the bottle down to the hospital on appointment days because he can't take a pill until after the blood draw.  No sense in carrying the whole pill box when the bottle of Tacro fits easily in his pocket.  We knew he had it last Wednesday and finally found it in the car.  What a relief since he can't miss a single dose and it would have meant a trip down there today.

Anyway, things are settling down a little and I've been trying to catch up on lost sleep.  It's not unusual for me to indulge in an afternoon nap.  I have a hundred things I should be doing around here, but right now those naps are a luxury that I'm enjoying.

Tuesday Show & Tail...meet Grace our senior cat

Today it's time for Angela's Tuesday Show & Tail over at her blog West Virginia Treasures.  For more information and a list of this week's participants head over to her blog.

I've decided to feature our senior cat Grace this week.  She's been with us for almost 16 years and is the sweetest cat.  She sleeps by my head every night and on occasion will hit me with her paw.  That's my signal to wake up and pet her for a few minutes.  I really don't mind because she's my best bud.

(I've actually written about Grace once before, but never for Tuesday Show & Tail.  You can read that older post here if you'd like.)

In 1994 I noticed a little kitten around the neighborhood following the kids home from the school bus.  I assumed she belonged to someone.  The night before Thanksgiving was a cold night (for us anyway).  The little kitten curled up in the lap of a scarecrow I had sitting on a bale of hay on the front porch.  One of my son's friends came to the door and brought her inside.

We weren't sure what to do, but decided to let her stay the night because of the cold.  The next day my husband walked around the neighborhood asking if she belonged to anyone.  He was told she belonged to some people on the next block, but they were away for Thanksgiving.  So, we kept her until they got back.  I was kind of annoyed that they left her to fend for herself, but when my husband went over there they told him that she was a stray that had been hanging around and they fed her once in a while.  They really didn't want her.  So, she officially joined our family and we named her Grace because Grace always comes before Thanksgiving dinner.

I hope she has a very long life because I can't imagine life without her.

INTRODUCING GRACE

I said when I started blogging that I would eventually write something about each of our pets. This post is long overdue.

Grace is our "senior cat" and is now a little over 15 years old. I first saw her in the neighborhood following some kids down the street as they walked home from the school bus stop. She was a kitten and was happily running along after them.

I might have seen her once or twice after that, but on the night before Thanksgiving 1994 one of my son's friends came to the front door and found her sleeping on our scarecrow's lap. (I had the front porch decorated with a large stuffed scarecrow sitting on a bale of hay.) It was cold that night and so he brought her inside. She took one look at our dog and the two of them became instant friends and started playing. She made herself right at home.

My husband went around the neighborhood trying to find out who owned her and we were told she belonged to some people on the next block who had gone away for Thanksgiving. When they returned he was told that she had been hanging around for a while and they had been feeding her, but she didn't really belong to them and they didn't want to keep her. So, she found her forever home with us. Since she arrived the night before Thanksgiving, and grace always comes before Thanksgiving dinner, we named her Grace.

She and our dog Shelby were good friends until we lost Shelby to old age.

When she was younger she enjoyed sitting in the warm clothes dryer.

And every year I follow the Peregrine Falcons online that nest on the top of an office building in Jersey City, NJ. Grace thinks it's fun too.

She's just a real sweet cat and I hope she's with us for a long, long time.

30 Days Of Thanksgiving - a day late!

I'm a day late...never had a chance yesterday to post, so I'll do two posts today! I'm already behind anyway because I was a little late finding out abut the 30 Days Of Thanksgiving. Here's Saturday's list:

1. I'm thankful that Reid was able to get a swine flu vaccination while they were still available!

2. I'm thankful for all the good memories I have compiled over the years.

3. I'm thankful for my 2000 Mustang. I've taken good care of it over the years and still enjoy going for a ride.

4. I'm thankful for my backyard. I especially enjoy sitting out on the deck this time of year when the weather is gorgeous.

5. I'm thankful for Grace...our fifteen year old cat who seems to sense when I need her presence. (We'll actually have her fifteen years this month. She arrived on our doorstep the night before Thanksgiving...thus her name. Grace always comes before Thanksgiving dinner.)