My Cat, Pollard

I know everyone says it but I truly do have the best cat in the world.  Pollard came to us shortly after my husband and I bought our house.  I picked him after just being dropped off at a local pet store because he was inquisitive, but not too rowdy or cranky.  My husband named him Pollard after the great Bob Pollard of Guided by Voices.  He has surely lived up to his name by offering big kicks and a howling cry.

After only having him two weeks Pollard became very ill on a Friday while we were both at work.  When my husband came home Pollard had thrown up three times and couldn't lift his head.  Soon we were off to the emergency vet where they gave him some fluids.  They couldn't keep overnight because at 9 weeks he didn't have all his shots yet.  Pollard came home still weak, but feeling a bit better.  I stayed up with him that first night feeding him some molasses on his nose for calories.  After a couple of days, poor Pollard broke out in a rash all over his body and the little pads on his feet were so red he couldn't walk.  Turns out the little guy was allergic to Penicillin.

Pollard has given us other problems too.  He's a big, neutered, male so he gets urinary & bladder infections.  On top of that he gets constipated too.  His most favorite thing to do when he's not feeling well is to stop eating.  If you know about cats, you know it doesn't take long for cats to go into kidney failure without food.  We've gone through home cooked chicken, baby food, and even peanut butter to get him to eat.  He's had subcutaneous fluids, x-rays, & ultra-sounds.  Pollard and I were meant for each other.

Because of all he has gone through, he is great for me when I'm not feeling well.  On nights I can't sleep he comes to curl up next to me.  If I'm having a particularly rough day, he gives me lots of rubs hoping it will help me feel better.  He's the first to greet me everyday when I come home from work, and cries every day when I leave.  We should have named him shadow because he's always under my foot.  Pollard is my best friend.

So on April 25th, we will celebrate Pollard's 7th birthday.  While 10 times bigger than he was on the day we brought him home, he is still my little kitten.  I work with many cats in volunteering at a cat shelter and he is still the best cat I've ever come across.  Pollard with get lots of presents, treats, and a wet food "cake", but he still won't realize how special he is to me.

Happy Birthday Mr. P!

Another Setback

Seems to be I've had a little (or big) setback in my recovery.  Over the past couple of weeks I've been feeling more tired and have been expiriencing some more pain in my butt.  Ha!  A pain in my butt that didn't have to do with work or my kitty cat.  The spasms, imagine a charlie horse in your butthole, were getting stronger and becoming more frequent.  Was I having a baby out of my rear?  Ever being the optomist I figured it was probably just something I ate that didn't agree with me and not something serious.

In this time I had also been experiencing more frequent discharge from my girlie parts.  This happened before after the Bartholian abscess was drained.  I assumed stopping the antibiotics led to a little more discharge, but my body would soon adjust.  Now it's just getting worse.

Over the holiday weekend I began noticing some more unusual and frightening symptoms.  The discharge began to have flecks of poop in it.  I hoped to dismiss it as some leakage that worked its way forward, and I'm still hoping that's the case.  I also noticed when I had to fart out my butt it came out my girlie parts instead.  What?!  If it wasn't so disturbing, it would be a pretty cool magic trick.  I also began to run a low-grade fever at night along with tons of pain in the region.  I feel like I'm carrying a bowling bowl in my pouch and the pressure is crazy.  I have a multitude of fissures (little papercut like tears on my butt) that KILL when I use the potty.

So needless to say I'm not feeling my best and I placed the long awaited call into my GI doctor.  She thinks it's a recto-vaginal fistula or a little opening going from my butt to my girlie parts.  Sometime in the next week I will be scheduled for a MRI to see if this is in fact what is causing my problems.  In the mean time I was given a nice little muscle relaxer to help with the spasms.  It seems to be taking the edge off.  So I will be waiting anxiously for when the MRI is scheduled.  If in fact it is an RV fistula, most likely my diagnosis will be changed to Crohn's.  Not exactly big news, but it could change my treatment plan and actually offer more drugs covered by insurance.  Good news maybe?

On the upside, the Entocort seems to be helping with the pouchitis.  I am happy to report the one thing that is not bothering me at the moment is the pouch.

Admitting I'm Sick

I sit here debating whether or not I should make a phone call to my GI.  I know I should.  My symptoms have been getting progressively worse.  I know they will not improve on their own.  Every day I wake up and go through the day with the same symptoms; spasms that bring me to a sudden stop, severe urgency, fissures, and leakage.  I think if I just make it through this one more day, then all is fine.

See the problem with calling the doctor is that I then admit I'm sick.  I hate being the sick one.  I've played out that role.  It's time to move on with my life, but I'm not quite able to yet.  If only calling the doctor meant I had an appointment, got some medicine, then got better.  This isn't the case though.  Calling the doctor with me has lead to too many procedures, blood work, and hospital stays.  I don't want to go through all of this again.

So I sit trying to debate whether or not I am sick.  Whether or not to call the GI.  I will give in eventually I'm sure, but it probably won't be tomorrow or the next day.