We know flashbacks are a Friday thing, but with so many new friends, we thought we'd do it today as a way of introducing our "special" Nimbus. As those who have been reading our blog a while know, Nimbus has had all sorts of things go wrong the last few years, but a year ago December, he was diagnosed with a bad URI (upper respiratory infection) - and diabetes. So we did this post right around the anniversary of his diagnosis to show everyone what he goes through - ever so willingly - twice a day, every day. Beware though if you're squirmy, cause she took a pic of the needle too!
Now Nimbus' problems didn't start there. If you will remember (and who can forget) the big pet food recall 3 years ago, right before that broke loose Nimbus was rushed off to the vet hospital at like 10pm on a Monday night with a blockage - right at the tip, another millimeter and he'd probably passed it. But he was blocked up severely and in a LOT of pain. Well, no sooner than they'd gotten there (it was the longest 15 min drive in her life probably) and got him in, they came back and said they found a murmur! Well, after over a year of worrying and a LOT of money spent (cardiologist alone was over $400 and you can imagine how much 3 days in the hospital cost), that seemed to have subsided. Needless to say, mom NEVER got cheap on our wet food EVER again! She had some of the recalled store brand stuff but it was pre-recall date, but she still thinks it's what caused it. There's nothing else it COULD'VE been. Anyways, fast forward to the fall of 2008. He's sick again, coughing up a storm, to the point one night while she was on the phone, she literally threw the phone (without hanging up) and had to pump her air into his lungs (see, mom loves us!) just to get him breathing again because he'd passed out and had quit breathing. The vet at that time (different vet) tried to say it was seasonal allergies, and she'd been going back and forth with this vet for like 2 months at least. Well, that incident was it. She found another vet, who promptly saw the signs of the URI - but mom just DUMPED every symptom he was showing on her, and she saw the red flags. A blood test confirmed her suspicions (and mom's worst fears) - diabetes. A month or two later, mom was introduced to one of the vet's coworkers who had just returned from a conference about a new insulin that was showing great promise in recently-diagnosed cats, and she got us started on it (but OMG it's so expensive) and she's so glad to this day that she did. Nimbus' infection took a good 6 months and several different antibiotics to get it out of him, but with the help of the better insulin, he's been happy and healthy since. He gained back all the weight he'd lost from fighting the infections - and then a bit LOL. He's had an infection or two since, but now that mom knows what works on him, it doesn't stand a chance! But she knows his immune system's compromised forever now and she is determined to never let that cat get sick again. He's such a trooper about it too. Even when he's trying to hide, all she has to do is wake him up and get him out of his spot, and he goes right to his "poke and shot spot" and waits until it's all done. He hasn't run from the needle in a year probably!
Mom does check us twins now and then just to make sure that we're ok (she's a little paranoid I guess) if we start acting weird, but thankfully both of us are fine (we're not as "docile" as Nimbus is). She has even said she has no idea how she'd deal with it if it was one of us because seeing blood on black ears is nearly impossible! But make no mistake, he may be "special" but that doesn't mean he gets totally pampered - that's OUR job! MOL!
Anyway, that's our flashback... Perhaps another day we'll flash back to when we twins first met our mombean!
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