ME AND CLYDE LAST NIGHT
After deciding that we would take no extreme measures in confronting the lymphoma that Clyde is battling, we sought measures to provide for his comfort.
Clyde had eaten very little from last Thursday through Monday. To boost his appetite and help his body heal from all of the recent trauma, his vet put him on a steroid. As a result, Clyde has regained some strength and is very alert. He is eating, grooming, using the litterbox. He wants to be in bed with us, per usual.
He had been spending all of his time in recent days on the floor.
Now, he is still weak and his mobility has begun to fail. He tires easily. He sleeps a lot. But he is not suffering and, in fact, is showing many of the old signs of Clyde that have been absent since he was rushed to the emergency vet last Thursday and placed on oxygen.
As anyone who's ever taken steroids for therapeutic purposes knows, there is a law of diminishing returns, here. At first you feel like Superman and then there is the gradual return to reality.
Steroids don't cure cancer.
But as long as Clyde is in there fighting, we'll be right beside him. His appetite has returned and that is amazing given where were we Sunday night and Monday when we were saying our goodbyes.
Also, Clyde is kind of being Clyde again. He has a few annoying attention-getters that he would employ in the wee hours to wake us for the morning feeding. He would paw loudly at the air grate in the floor. He would walk on us. He would sharpen his claws on the box spring under the bed.
This morning, he was scratching away at the box spring just like he would have done a week ago before all of this madness began. It reverberates in the bedroom and makes a loud rat-a-tat which wakes us.
It did. And this time we laughed. We haven't been doing a lot of laughing lately. He greedily ate his breakfast.
Thanks to all for your warm comments and prayers and other kindnesses. We truly appreciate the support. We know this ends sooner than we want but knowing that so many people out there are pulling for Clyde makes this whole episode a little easier to bear.
More later,
Mark
3 comments:
Way to go Clyde. I think it is interesting to note that you and clyde have a similiar expression on your faces.
I just read this, and my heart is breaking for all of you. Your description of Clyde's symptoms brought back sharp memories of when Ashley suddenly became ill at 15 in 1999. Whether they are with us five months, five years or 15 years, pets leave indelible paw prints on our hearts. Sounds like both you and Clyde were lucky to have found each other that day at the animal shelter. Praying for all of you.
Thanks for the kind words, Eric and Elise. As you can see in the latest post, Clyde remains full of surprises!
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