Sometimes it's just like that...

I had a helluva weekend. Mine started at about 11am on Thursday. I was at work and started to feel really, really sick and felt myself getting sicker by the minute. My throat was swelling and my sinuses were blocking and I was getting dizzy. I went home to bed! Some Tylenol and salt water gargle were just the thing but for the next three days I was miserable.

If that wasn't enough, my little Brigitte cat had not been acting herself all week. She was hiding alot and hissing at Arnie which she never does. Then over the weekend she had some kind of episode that scared me. She lurch back, made this horrible guttural noise and her eyes rolled back in her head. She was like that for about 5 minutes and then she just as suddenly snapped out of it. But after that she didn't seem able to use her back legs very well. On Monday morning she was cowering behind the bathroom door and I was all but convinced she was about to die. Thankfully, Alex talked me through this. He's a rock! I got her to the vet who, after a brief examination, said he thought Brigitte had a stroke! They kept her over night to do some tests and observe her.

I picked her up today. She did indeed have a stroke but there was no neurological damage and she is once again able to use her back legs. Her glucose was pretty high which the doc said was from the stress and the only other thing wrong with her was she had a slight impaction in an anal gland which they just squeezed and fixed. Brigitte was so mad at me when I went to get her. As soon as she saw me she started meowing loudly at me. She did it all the way home too. When we got inside Arnie just about did a back flip when he saw his best friend finally home again. She came out of her crate and ate right away. Then she went and hid for a about a half hour.

I was beginning to think she was going to hide all night but finally she came into the living room, jumped on my lap and head butted me about a hundred times which is "I love you" in Brigitte-speak. So, all was right with the world. Until...

I had to give her her first dose of medication. I dabbed the pill in butter, gently reached down and touched her head under the auspices of petting her, suddenly gripped her head firmly while forcing her mouth open with the same hand. I slid my buttered pill finger down her throat and then clamped her mouth shut until she swallowed. She did it but she immediately ran under the table. I thought she was probably going to spend the rest of the night angry at me but instead she rubbed against my ankles and then climbed on the couch where she likes to snooze. She's there right now, with her pal Arnie, and, yes, all is right with the world.