I blame the cat...

How many times have you seen this as a meme...I can honestly say it this morning. I blame the cat.

So George had two very frightening episodes. The first he came out of within an hour, the second landed him at the emergency vet overnight. The current thinking is it's something to do with his neck. When he has these episodes he can't stand up and gets frightened and distressed, as do I.

He is on gabapentin every 8 hours. 6 AM, 2 PM, 10 PM. Prednisone every 12 hours 6 AM and 6 PM.

I have calendarized all his pills and set alarms on my phone. The alarm goes off - I check the calendar notification for the pill to be sure. I do this because the first night he was home I gave him his gaba, 4 hours early at 6 PM because 6 was stuck in my head. It was a mistake - I called the emergency vet and they said, not to worry, he will just be extra sleepy and wait 8 hours to give it to him again. So 2 AM...Over the course of the week, I have been able to get him back on the regular schedule, by messing up one more time.

I am sleeping on the sofa. George is sleeping on blankets and towels that cover 90% of my floor. I had 80% covered but he kept going to the spot where his slumber ball was, and no longer is. I don't want him there because it's in front of the entertainment system where he had flailed about. I don't want him hurting himself.

Yesterday he was pacing to find his spot to settle in; I kept leading him back to the center of the room. Skesicks waited until I was in the bathroom, looked in at me from the end of the living room (yes the door was open, I am single and own a greyhound and a curious cat - I am rarely alone) then proceeded to go to the exact spot I didn't want him to go and laid down. Meanwhile, I am hollering from the throne - I can't see him at this point - George, George? George! don't lie down there! George! Lie on your bed! George? George! When I came out, he was there on the bare floor. The stress in my shoulders and neck tightened like the knots in my cousin Betsi's necklaces. I did pause to wonder, why couldn't it be my abs? I would have rock hard abs by now.

I put blankets around him and finally helped him up an hour later when he wanted to get up, it was an I told you so moment, but I didn't tell him so, because where is the win? Poor bud. So now 90% of my floor is covered.

As I mentioned I am sleeping on the sofa; we are all camping out in the living room. That is one of my silver linings. I always wanted to go camping with George. We are now camping together, all of us, including the cat, who I might add has been really patient and has taken a back-row seat. No longer demanding my attention, just sleeping near George.

I have been sleeping with a small light on so I can immediately see everything when I wake up, either to an alarm or random noise.

I was asleep on the sofa, and I heard something - the cat was trying to wake me up. Meow, meow, pat my face, meow...I thought I had heard a ding from my phone, in 10 minutes the alarm would go off.

I said give me just one more minute Simba, I was exhausted. I closed my eyes and then I heard Simba playing with and chewing on the elastic band on my Kindle cover. Over the years of trial and error, he knows that's the fasted way to get me to react, not a hairball, I can tackle that in the morning.

I realized I had fallen asleep. I had missed George's 6 AM pills but by how much? George was asleep, sort of, with one eye on me. I fumbled for my phone but picked up my apple tv remote instead. I couldn't find the alarm I was swiping my fingers all over it - there wasn't one - it was the bleeping tv remote.

I woke all the way up and went into the kitchen. I looked at the clock on the stove and saw I was a half-hour late. Pulled out the hot dog, pulled out the pills, stuffed it all together and was about to give George his meds, when I thought - double check! I went to my 'real' phone, fumbled to the notifications - yes - "Next up - Gabapentin and Prednisone at 6 AM". It pays to double-check - I have made two mistakes already.

I brought George his hot dog pill packs, he looked at me with surprise and chomped them down. He was relaxed. I was tired. I decided to wait before I fed him. He was comfortable. I laid down, then he was up on his elbows panting. I was doing the math. Last time he was out was midnight. That was 6 hours ago, prednisone makes him thirsty, when he's thirsty he drinks, he needed a pee. Up and shoes on, harness on, dog bags, keys, spied the cracks between the blinds and the window and thought it's still pretty dark, but it's also summer's end. Don't have to worry about how I was dressed for sure.

I reached for the door handle and saw the alarm control panel. 1:33. Damn, I thought - how did the time get changed on that? It was supposed to be 15 minutes off of the actual time (it has been that way since I moved in). I opened the door. It was truly dark outside; there was no glow on the horizon. I closed the door. I walked to the stove and I re-read the time. 1:47. How had that happened? I had specifically looked at the clock, I had specifically looked at my phone... apparently, when I look at a clock, I can focus on the last two numbers and not see the first? I remembered the disappointment that my phone alarm didn't go off, but the notifications were there...as they always are under "Next Up".

I took George out, then called the eVet. Lacey answered. Sweet Lacey, sounded so awake and chipper. She double-checked with the Dr. it should all be okay, no more pills until their next scheduled pills after 6 AM arrives.

I tried to tell her that I blamed the cat, she laughed and said she blames her cat when she has to do laundry, or the dishes or cleaning... no, really he woke me up...I caught myself before I went into detail about how magical he is, he can tell time, woke me up for 5:30 AM conference calls when I forgot to set my alarm... Thank you, Lacey. No problem - have a great morning she said, ah um okay...

I slept for 5 hours. George slept for 5 hours. George had no choice. I gave him gabapentin 4 hours early again. The cat, bless his furry feet, looked contrite.

George wants this camping trip to end, the cat wants my full attention, and I want a shower before I take a nap.



psiloveu.