Scotty Update

Several of you were following my posts about my big orange studmuffin Scotty, who was so very sick in early October, up through the time when
I finally brought him home on Oct. 9, after 10 days in the vet's intensive care. And we then began a new regimen, where I learned how to care for a diabetic cat. I had to stick a needle in his ear and make him bleed every morning and every evening in order to get a glucose reading. Depending on his glucose reading, I would determine the quantity of insulin I had to give him. He, of course, hated all that sticking. And I was still in my one-handed gimp state that made the process doubly difficult for both of us. And it broke my heart to hurt him. I frequently ended up in tears.

But we did settle into a rhythm.

Something weird started happening in late October. I was so suspicious of it that I have not written about it 'til now.

Depending on his glucose reading, he got insulin shots twice a day.

But on October 30, his glucose wasn't high enough (180 was the threshold) to warrant any insulin. Nor on the 31st. Nor on November 1st. Nor November 2nd or 3rd or 4th. So I started doing testing less frequently. And now we're to November 10th, and his glucose reading is still consistently in the normal range.

When I started seeing these normal-range readings I talked to my vet. And she told me that occasionally – and rarely – a diabetic cat can "convert" back to normal, but that she didn't really expect Scotty to do so. Now it's been two weeks of normal readings. I don't know what the heck's going on. But I am hopeful. And incredibly grateful that he seems so much healthier.

October was a miserable month for me. My cat at death's door. My hand paralyzed. I'm feeling now a little like someone who saw so much going away, then finds it all being restored. Like Job, I managed never to curse God. I was buoyed-up on the prayers of friends in my local and virtual communities. I know that God is not a genie or Santa Claus or some magical talisman. I know that many people suffer miserably, for absolutely no reason. I am just flat astonished at the blessings of healing I have seen in my life in these last few weeks.

I wish I had wise words with which to conclude, but I don't. I am just grateful for these unwarranted blessings. Profoundly and inarticulately grateful.