Poor Kitty!

Yesterday was a crazy day, and not a good crazy.  On Sunday I woke up to find that Nikolas, my feline, was not able to open his right eye.  For the past several weeks he has had some "gunk" in his eyes that I have been cleaning out, and in the past several days he's been sneezing a bit.  My cat is notorious for ailments.  I figured this was just a bout of allergies, as he and I honestly seem to be sick at the same time, generally when the seasons change.  So, I called the vet first thing yesterday morning. 

As soon as I started my Jeep to take Nikolas to the vet, the engine didn't turn over.  Ay yi yi.  My notoriety lies in my broken vehicles!  I just got both my car and my Jeep fixed less than two weeks ago and the Jeep was dead.  I ended up being able to jump it, but it was idling a lot, but fortunately, it has been running and I'm pretty sure my iPod not turning off for three days and my Jeep not being driven, were the culprits this time.  Regardless, not a great way to start the morning. 

 

Once I got Nikolas to the vet, the vet told me that Nikolas could have an abscess in his eye. I told the vet that I'm concerned about Nikolas' weight, as he seems to be getting thin, despite his healthy appetite. Several hundred dollars later I learned that he has severe diabetes. Nikolas has dropped over half of his body weight since March 2011. I felt horrible. The vet shaved a patch on his back so that I could easily see the little fat that he has and give him his injections properly. He has to have two insulin shots daily for likely the rest of his life. I have to take him in each week for at least the next three weeks to have his blood sugar tested, and then in four weeks he has to have a fructose test done, which is like an A1C test in humans. A normal cat's blood sugar level should be between 70 and 150, and Nikolas' was 358. I took a picture of him earlier, but he looks too sick to even post. I can't even believe I didn't see this sooner. I feel awful. Fortunately, he's still eating and drinking like normal, which the vet said is a very good thing. He also told me that there is no way Nikolas could have had this going on for the past year and a half, as he would not have survived. So, I'm not sure how long he's actually been sick, but I still feel like I failed him.

So, between fixing my cat and my Jeep yesterday, my day was pretty full. I had to go to the vet twice, the second time to learn how to administer the shots. I spent the rest of the evening with my mom.

Today I finally went out and shot some pictures. The last time I used my camera was a month ago! I realized I have been more depressed lately, but I wasn't aware it had been going on for so long. I was hoping to find some good fall color, but unfortunately, a lot of the trees are so dry this year that many of their leaves have either fallen already or are very dead looking. I went to St. Paul and Minneapolis, then back to St. Paul, as I have always wanted to take a picture of the downtown area lit up at night. I waited and waited for it to get dark, and about 10 minutes before it would have been perfect picture-taking light, my battery died. I had my spare with me, but apparently I didn't charge it before I threw it back in my camera bag.

I didn't get many great shots today, unfortunately. Below are some of them.