99% normal

Whew! I have my kitty back.

Other than a slight limp, which I attribute to soreness from the shots (and which I'll discuss with the vet tomorrow when we're going over the results of the bloodwork), Pan is completely back to normal. What a relief! I can feel the knots in the back of my neck slowly unkinking.

The whole process could have been worse, not that I'm volunteering to ever go through it again. First of all, a good friend offered to drive us, so that I could hold the baby and comfort him in the car. I really think this helped a lot in the keeping him calm department. Usually any time he's in the car*, he lets out one of those ungodly meow-moans every minute or so, just to let me know he's still there and suffering, in case I might forget. This time, he looked around a little, then retreated under the blanket, tucked his head under my elbow, and did his best impression of a cat who wasn't there.

*The only time he ever lapsed into extended silence in the car was moving, first from NC to PA, then from PA to MA, each about 7-8 hours in the car. After an hour or so, grumpy silence reigned. I would stop periodically and offer them food, water, litter box, and they would just look at me like, "Just get us wherever we're going already." Fun times!

Once we were at the vet, I took him out of the carrier again (I did bring it, just in case), and held him until it was time to go in, and while I was talking to the vet tech about the situation, and she had me carry him to the scale to be weighed since he was holding on pretty well, though he wasn't as growly at them as last time he was in. Then the vet came in, they gave him the sedative shot, and we had to wait for it to take effect before they could take him to take the blood. I kept talking to him, and trying to stay calm, which was hard, because my mind was messing with me, thinking of everything that could go wrong, but finally it was time, and they took him, and brought him back, and it was time to go (after paying the bill, talk about insult to injury, but I don't really care in the long run, you know?). It was such a relief to get him home.

Of course, watching him not being himself was hard. His eyes were all dilated, and he was walking wrong, and he'd sit by his food bowl and look at the food like he didn't know what it was. He startled a lot, at nothing I could hear or see, and didn't settle. But by yesterday afternoon, he sat on my lap, just for a few minutes at first, and once he purred, I felt so much better.

I actually had to go out late morning yesterday for an appointment, and I wasn't worried at that point to cancel or anything, so I went, and afterward I treated myself to a bookstore visit for the first time in forever (like maybe since Christmas? I've been trying to be so fiscally good, and bookstores are so tempting). I bought Charlaine Harris' new Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery, and the latest Get Fuzzy collection, and brought them home and read both yesterday, both very good (in of course very different ways), and just had a quiet watching-the-cat-recover afternoon. I had a headache last night, so I didn't do a whole lot else, a bit of cleaning and some TV. Today I have some errands out and some housekeeping in, and I've been providing a lap. Nice stuff.

Guess who just jumped up? His limp hasn't hampered him jumping completely. He says hi! And thanks everyone for their well-wishes, as do I. Means the world to us here Chez Cat Hair. Happy weekend, everyone, and here's hoping for good news when I talk to the vet tomorrow about the test results.