Catching Up

I have some catching up to do....
Capone: In my last post wrote how Capone was not in the best of health. He was weak, not eating, and just not acting like himself. We took him to the vet and found out that he his potassium was extremely low. After about a week of trying to nurse him back to health, he still was not eating and very weak. I spoke again to the vet and made the difficult decision to put him to sleep. I just did not want him to suffer any more. On the day of the appointment I came home from work to pick up Capone. I thought that I would try one more time to try to get him to eat....AND HE DID. Not a whole lot but it was progress. We took him to the vet to be looked at again to insure he was on the way to recovery. His blood work showed that his potassium was increasing. He also seemed to getting his personality back. That night we took our special cat back home! I was alittle nervious because this all happend two days before we were to leave for Ecuador. We are lucky enough that we have an amazing cat sitter that adores Capone. We called her since we've been in Ecuador and she said Capone has improved tremendously. He is eating, playing, and seems to be back to his old loving self. It was such a relief to hear that news! He is truly a cat with 'nine lives'!

Ecuador: We have been in Ecuador for a week and are having a good time. We went to Giuseppe and Vivian's wedding our first night here. It was a beautiful wedding and great party. The rest of our time here we have been shopping and hanging out with family and friends. Tonight for Christmas Eve we will go to church and celebrate with Giovanni's family and Vivian's family. On Christmas we will exchange presents and celebrate with Giovanni's family. For next week are going to try to go to Zerro Blanco, a wildlife preservtion in Guayaquil, to go hiking. We also have talked about going to Cuenca for a couple of days. For New Years Eve we will be going to Salinas (the beach).

My dad: It is difficult to be so far away from my family at this time but I am thankful that I have been able to keep in contact with them while I have been here. My dad is still about the same. He has fallen a couple of times and is very weak and tired. He still is not eating very much. I hope that he will be well enough to spend Christmas with the family, if only for a little while.

For now I wish you all a Merry Christmas.....Feliz Navidad!

This year it seems very difficult for me to get in the holiday spirit. Its not that I don't think this time of year is special and magical, I have always loved this time of year. I guess its because of everything that is going on. This time last year we were excited thinking about how our next Christmas we could be celebrating with our child. Instead, we will be spending another Christmas thinking about how our child is probably somewhere out there spending Christmas without their forever family.
We are going to Ecuador to spend Christmas with Giovanni's family. I am so nervous about leaving and spending this time away from my dad and family. I know that this will be a struggle.
I have been spending this week trying to nurse Capone back to health. He was not eating and was not his happy, loving self. I took him to the vet and found out his potassium was extremely low and he was dehydrated. I thought that the low potassium would have been a common thing since he has been taking lasix for his heart condition but the vet said that side effect only happens in humans not cats. So I have been giving him a potassium jell four-five times a day and giving him an IV with potassium once a day. Yes! I have an IV bag, tubing, and needles. I have to stick the IV needle in the scruff of his neck and try to keep him still until he has the appropriate amount of fluids. I don't think that he is improving. He still is not eating, very weak, not cuddling or purring. It breaks my heart to see him like this. I'm afraid that if he doesn't show some improvement really soon we will have to let him go. I'm not looking forward to having to saying good bye to him.
I hope that in the coming weeks things will settle down and I will be able to somewhat enjoy the holiday.