A Rollercoaster of a Week

Thank you all for your kind comments about Jezebel and a quick recovery. Tom and I greatly appreciate it. This has been a very difficult week for us; she's still sick and we still don't know what's wrong. The vet has thankfully ruled out feline leukemia and FIV and now would like to take xrays to rule out tumors. The one thing that we do know is that she is anemic. The vet is concerned that she has immune mediated hemolytic anemia. The prescribed treatment is prednisone, which if I understand correctly, suppresses the immune system to allow the blood cells to regenerate. The literature says it's a swiftly progressing disease and can be fatal, but there's no definition of "swift." In the meantime, we're giving her an antibiotic to take care of any other infection that she might have and she's scheduled for xrays and additional bloodwork on Wednesday.

So, as you can well imagine, we're pretty sad. We've seen Jezebel go from being an affectionate, alert, playful cat to one who is lethargic and wants only to be alone. This is normal behavior for a sick cat, but it's heartbreaking to see. Tom describes her as being insane because the personality change is that radical. There are times when we see the faintest trace of her old self and that sparks hope. But mostly, we're very, very worried.

Add Ernesto to the mix and life becomes even more discouraging. We've collected about 15 gallons of water from the hole in the roof in the sunroom. This is par for the course, although we had to upgrade from a bucket to a large trashcan to catch the water. This storm, however, caused additional roof leaks and that's very worrisome. One is in the upstairs hall bath, in the center of the house, with a full attic above it. I'm worried that we've got a major leak in the main roof. The third leak is in the back guest bedroom and was most likely caused by the lifting and stabilization of the foundation. Evidence on the ceiling and walls indicate that that section of roof has had problems before. Fortunately, the basement has remained relatively dry...so far.

Knitting Progress
In a word, none. I haven't had the heart to knit, although I suspect it would help ease some of the worry, if only temporarily.

And finally, Tom thanks you for the comments you left about his trip report. You've made him feel like a celebrity!