“True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice.”
(St. Francis of Assisi)
Here in the Peaceable Kingdom, this time St. Francis is only half right. As this last week has passed in its inevitable blur, Suki’s progress has been scrutinously noticed. Almost to the level of every breath, ministrations and their results are painstakingly recorded. Every moment that demonstrates a degree of healing is met with hope and joy; every moment that does not or that shows what appears to be frustrating decline is met with sad resignation that eventually gives way to tears and despair.
That is from my perspective. From Suki’s, he is more than content to be cared for and readily takes every healing thing mustered up and offered on his behalf. I honestly thought we were going to lose him a week ago but the medication and rest from the excoriating stress of the visit to the vet finally did their job and by Monday Suki had brightened considerably.
Some semblance of appetite returned and we began the slow reintroduction of real food. Since Suki was starting out with no real reserves, it has been a long, slow process. To complicate it, indications are that Suki had suffered an attack of acute pancreatitis and I am now suspicious he has developed diabetes (though which came first, pancreatic problems or diabetes is like asking whether the egg came before the chicken). While this certainly beats renal failure, it is still a serious and oft-dangerous condition with limited treatment available even for humans and even more limited treatment available for animals, for whom the condition is typically caught far later and therefore farther along and closer to terminal in its progression. But where there’s life, there’s hope and there are things that can be done. So I researched and I read until my head began to spin and once again did research into homeopathic remedies, ordering those I do not have on hand along with some immune-boosting transfer factors in what is actually a pretty tasty gel form; all of which, along with supplemental vitamins, have been put into Suki’s daily feeding routine.
On the one hand it’s still too soon to tell; yet on the other hand, after what appeared to be a decent and proper start, Suki doesn’t seem to be bouncing back like one would expect. In the back of my mind is the niggling worry that there is something else brewing here, something that has not yet bubbled up enough to show itself in a blood test so unless there is marked improvement in Suki’s overall weakness over the course of the next few days, we’ll be heading back to the vet for another check.
In the meantime, we continue to pray for him. And we continue to notice.
