Friday, March 27, 2009

And Now, Back to Your Regular Life



Mom ate a little food yesterday. I wasn't sure whether this was worth celebrating or not. It's good she's improved, is interested in food, and was able to swallow it. It also means that the waiting game is going to continue a bit longer. This morning, I made a decision. We are officially off death watch. We're headed up there today, and I'm going to find some fun things we can do while we're there. There are lots of museums and such in the area, so we're going to take advantage of some of those things while we're there. A colleague and I will meet to do some worship planning. We will spend time with Mom and Dad daily, but we're going to do other things as well.
I'm sure there will be times when their health issues will once again seem all consuming, but for right now, we're going to live as normally as possible. In light of that, a lighter story for today:
Kitten is a brat. She's almost 3 years old now, and she still is a brat. She still won't use the litter box all the time. She still empties the trash looking for things to chew. She still likes to chew on plastic bags and electronic wires. I've lost count of how many earphones she's destroyed by chewing through the wires. She also likes to chew on the hoses for the cpap machine I use for my sleep apnea. I made a long fabric tube to put over the long hose, and I hide the mask with the short hose that connects it to the long hose under my pillow every morning. This has worked well. Or it did, until last night.
Now Daughter and Cat learned long ago that it is not smart to wake me up in the middle of the night unless it is a dire emergency. They have learned that it is dangerous to wake me up in the middle of the night. Cat sleeps calmly at my feet until my alarm goes off for the second time in the morning. After the second alarm, he occasionally will come up to the head of the bed to say good morning. Kitten isn't that smart. Kitten doesn't learn. Kitten likes to live very dangerously.
Last night I was awakened by a crunching noise, not once, but twice. Kitten was right up next to my face chewing on the short hose. Both times I bellowed and she was thrown rather rudely from my bed. I suspect all she learned is that she has the opportunity at night to get at the hose that is so well protected from her during the day. Lucky for her she's cute. Sometimes I don't think even cute will protect her indefinitely. Fortunately for her, she is now at the cat motel for a week. Maybe by the time we pick her up I will have forgotten her newest trick. I wish I had hope that she will have forgotten it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

sSpray bottle on the night stand usually cures our cat's nighttime "munchies". In his case, he muches on the telephone cord if I forget to hide it out of reach. (Something in basic psychology about operant conditioning....must condition kitten before kitten conditions you!)
KJK

Munchkin Mom said...

Yesterday we "renewed" my mother's hospice membership. For six months, we have waited for her to die, as the progression of the Alzheimer's makes it inevitable.

So of course, now we are re-enrolled. Good for you that you have stepped back and carried on as usual. I doubt your mother would want you hovering around waiting. I sure would. Hugs.


As for kitten, we have her long lost cousin here. Pancho is a squirt, always getting into things, but every morning he accompanies me into the bathroom when I get up (originally we did this so the dogs could be let out and not chase him). We have our time, which consists of him sitting on the hamper while I shower and brush my teeth, then I cuddle him and we go on with our day. His cuteness every morning has kept him alive...

Reverend Mom said...

KJK,

I'll try the water-- or I may steal your sock idea. for the short hose.

MM,

I knew it had been a while since your Mom had started hospice, but I didn't realize it had been that long. It's amazing the power animals have over us.

Linda B said...

The spray bottle is a good idea. Our cats really don't like that. I love cats to death but oh that chewing behavior! One of ours loves to chew plastic, another has to get inside plastic shopping bags-sticks her head through the handle and walks around with them-doesn't matter what is in them. So far our youngest one doesn't do anything too anoying. Oh wait, at 4:00am she pats my face for me to stick out my hand and then she sucks on my thumb! She's reverting to kitten-hood. Have some fun enjoying museums, etc.