I came across an interesting post on Wired today, referring to a Dutch study that just made me shake my head. The study found that obese people actually save society money versus healthy, thin people. While they are alive the fat people cost more, but since they die younger they end up being cheaper overall versus the healthy people who live longer and require care as they age.

I guess that this means that we should all live fat, die young, and save society from the cost of supporting us in our old age. Yeah, that sounds like a really good idea… and if I start smoking heavily, I can die *really* young and save society even more money!

I can picture an ad campaign from a fiscally responsible government already. The camera pans slowly to show the expansive dimensions of a family of huge people scarfing down super-double-extra-biggy-sized burgers and fries, slobbering and snorting as the shove vast quantities of food into their gullets. The Dad keels over dead, and the family keeps on eating without skipping a beat. Text gradually fades in saying “The Johnsons are doing their best for Canada’s future… are you?”

Susu, one of our cats, has been very ill the last few weeks. It started with sneezing and runny eyes, and progressed to her curled in a corner and refusing to eat and drink. This is an emergency situation for cats, and so the vet was called in. A bit over two weeks ago the vet diagnosed Susu as having a severe upper respiratory infection (sinuses and a touch of pneumonia) and gave us antibiotics and subcutaneous fluids to give her. I was taught how to wield a needle to insert the IV, and we spent a few days nursing her at home.

We had to force-feed Susu, and she’s extremely adept at not being fed. We ended up wearing the food, along with the majority of the liquid antibiotic. She was a perfect angel for the sub-cu fluids, but that wasn’t enough for her. So after a couple of days we took her to the vet again and this time put her under full time vet care.

The vet took over force feeding and IV fluids, along with injected antibiotics. Susu rallied for a few days, getting a bit of energy back, but then collapsed. According to her daily blood workup, her kidneys were shutting down. She stopped meowing (a big deal for a very talkative cat), and stopped taking interest in her surroundings. After a week of full time care, she looked at food and water as if it sickened her, and curled around herself as if in constant pain. At the end of that week, last Saturday, the vet advised us (tearfully) that Susu wasn’t likely to survive more than a day or two. Her breathing had become laboured, possibly from vascular leakage related to her kidney problems. We asked if we could take her home, to make her last couple of days comfortable. The vet thought this was a great idea, but reminded us that she really didn’t have much hope. They left an IV catheter in her so that it would be easy to administer the euthanasia drugs for that nearly-inevitable decision. We made an appointment to bring her back on Monday evening, to end her life and release her from her discomfort. The vet told us to stop forcing anything on Susu, to just enjoy our last few days with her: the only thing we were to do was to continue the IV fluids, and that was not stressful for her at all.

Susu was a sorry sight indeed when she came home. It was a warm day last Saturday, so we took her out in the back yard for a closely supervised outing. I took dozens of pictures, almost certain that these would be the last pictures I took of her. I picked out a tiny handful of the best of those- the ones where she was looking engaged in the world, at least a little bit. Irene and I went through our old picture albums and I digitized a couple of Susu’s kitten pictures from 14 years ago, so we could build a little memory album here on the website gallery.

But she fooled us all. Monday morning she went to her water bowl and drank…all by her self…and drank. She went back a little while later, and drank again. She took a few licks of yogurt from our fingers. And a bit later, a few licks more. This was the first food and drink she had taken willingly in something like ten days. Her breathing became less laboured. We delayed our vet appointment…

Here we are, on Friday. Susu is eating and drinking more or less normally. She jumps up on the counter to get her meals, and meows to demand her share. She’s trotting around the house, wobbly for sure, but with purpose. She’s meowing at my wife and I, curling up on our laps, purring. The vet is amazed: she calls every day to make sure Susu is still progressing.  The vets and staff at Central Langley Petcare have been fantastic…they really gave Susu a lot of love while she was there.  Maybe Susu was just ready to get better…or maybe coming home gave her something to fight for.

Susu wasn’t supposed to be alive today- maybe she’ll regress in a few more days, maybe she’ll continue to improve. We don’t know- maybe in a few weeks we’ll have some tests done to see how her kidneys are doing. Frankly, I almost don’t want to know- its just good to have her still with us.

Irene has been aquasizing for a couple of months now as part of the recovery process from her hip replacement operation.  She’s going an amazing five or six times a week, and it really has been helping her: she’s walking better and better, and has even been able to go on some quiet rides on her horse Spirit. 

When Irene started going to the Y we bought a family membership, and I started going a couple of times a week to run on the treadmill and use the fancy gym equipment while Irene takes her class.  I’m pretty much a walking blob of flab- my strength and endurance are way down from where they were a couple of years ago when I was regularly working out using our Bowflex.  But the sessions at the Y seem to have been helping me a bit as well…I’m feeling a bit more energetic (barring the occasional bout
with IBS), and I’ve even started feeling like joining Irene once in a while on her walks with the dog.

We just got back from such a walk… its a warm day here, I’m guessing heading for the mid-20’s celsius, and sunny- not a cloud in the sky at this time at any rate.  Despite my slight increase in energy, I’m happy here in my cool dark little cave.  Something in my personality craves the mental distance…I imagine in the old days I might have been a scholarly monk, or a hermit in a cave somewhere.

The sun hurtses us, it does….yesss, my preciousss, it does..