I Witnessed a Miracle

I want to share with all of you a miracle that took place this weekend.  

For the past week, my beautiful cat Sara, has been very sick.  

She is only five years old and last week we noticed that she wasn't eating as much.  

No other real symptoms, except over the past year on a few occasions she had begun urinating outside of the litter box.  We had brought her to the vet for the urination issue immediately when it happened and there was nothing out of the ordinary in her tests.  About a month ago, they did put her on some medication that would calm her bladder down and that seemed to work.  They had run blood work then that was completely normal.  Then about a week ago we noticed she wasn't running to be fed.  Then the next day (a week ago Saturday) she just wasn't finishing her food.  We brought her immediately to the vet who ran some tests and could find nothing out of the ordinary.  The vet got her to eat some wet food and so we thought perhaps she had just gotten bored with her regular dry food.  The next day I tried to give her the wet food and she backed away from it like it was the worst thing she had ever seen.  I tried to get her to eat, but she wouldn't.  Sunday night I got her to eat some treats, but she ended up throwing those up the next morning.  I brought her back to the vet on Monday morning and they ran the blood work again.  Tuesday morning I called at 8am when they opened and they told me she had acute kidney failure.  We were in shock.  I brought her immediately in and they started IV fluids and all of the treatment.  Over this past week she wasn't really showing signs of great improvement.   There was a little improvement on Thursday, but by Friday she was not doing as well again.  On Friday we agreed to put in a feeding tube.  The vet offered to take her home with her for the weekend (as our vet is not a 24 hour facility) that way she could monitor her IV and feed her through the tube.  On Saturday the vet called me and said that Sara wasn't progressing the way that she had hoped.  We went to church and lit two candles for Sara and prayed.  I told God that I was leaving this in His hands.  I begged Him not to let my children have to go through this.  I begged Him not to let Sara go through this.
I told Him in silence that I needed His strength to get through this.

 On Saturday night at 9pm, the vet called me and told me that things had taken a turn for the worse and that Sara hadn't urinated in over 8 hours and the end was near.  She said there was a slim possibility that maybe she had a urethral tear and she could do an x-ray while inserting a catheter and doing a dye test.  The test came back that there was no tear, just total kidney failure.  My husband, our kids and I said our final goodbyes.   It was horrible.  The vet gave us our options.  I wanted to take Sara so that she could die at home.  I could NOT agree to euthanize her...I just couldn't.  She did not appear to be in any pain, just extremely weak.  My husband feared that if we took Sara home she may not pass as peacefully as I would hope, and that would not be good for any of us to experience.  Our amazing vet again agreed to take Sara home so that she could be with her and monitor her and let her die with dignity and in peace.  We agreed that she would call us in the morning either way.  We didn't sleep at all.  We were all completely devastated.  I have experienced death before, but there was something so wrong about this.  So wrong that this sweet, innocent cat went from being completely healthy to this in less than one week.  My son asked the vet at least ten times that night if there was any chance of a miracle.  She said she didn't think so.  

The depth of the pain I was feeling is indescribable. 

At 10:15am on Sunday morning I texted the vet, no longer being able to wait to hear.  She texted me back saying Sara seems to be feeling fine and that she was watching the birds.  That text only made me cry more.  My poor sweet Sara...I now feared that it could take longer than we had thought and how were we going to get through this.  How long could we wait for the inevitable?  I text back..."any urine?"

A few minutes later the vet called me, and she was crying.  My heart dropped.  I wasn't sure I was hearing the vet correctly when she told me that Sara had urinated through four towels and that she was meowing.  The vet was clearly shaken up as well and said she needed time to process what had happened.  I asked, "are you saying there was a miracle?"  She answered, "yes".  My son was sitting there assuming the worst and he was at a loss as well when I told him.  The only logical explanation that the vet could come up with was that there must have been an obstruction somewhere and the test I had insisted she perform the night before must have inadvertently gotten rid of the obstruction.  She said Sara appeared to be hungry and that she was going to take her back to the clinic and run some tests.

We went to see Sara this afternoon, and the vet agrees that this was God's work.  

We spent some time with Sara who for the first time in a week was walking around, meowing and rubbing up against us like her old self.  Her blood work is improving and they are going to be closely monitoring her and hopefully she will be home in a few days.  She isn't eating on her own yet, but she is acting hungry and is tolerating the liquid diet significantly better. It's hard for me to completely relax, but I truly believe (as does the vet) that she is on her way to a full recovery.
Ironically, today is exactly five years to the day from when we brought Sara home.

We are all so ready to ignore our inner voice.  Mine was screaming at me so I had no choice but to listen.  I refused to let the option of euthanizing Sara even be discussed at any length. Something inside me told me not to give in and I didn't.  I wanted it to be God's decision when to take Sara, not mine.  She was not in any pain and she was not suffering.

Never underestimate the power of prayer.

I have never experienced a miracle before.  

I am in awe of God and His hand in this.  

This experience has changed me forever.

  

-Judy

Introducing Sara

Debbie-Doos is having her pet party today, so I just had to have Sara be a part of it.

Sara is 4 1/2 years old.  Sara was not a planned addition to our family.  One Saturday in October, 2006 we were running errands.  One of our errands that day was to stop at the pet store to pick up some hamster food (we had one hamster).  We were going to stop at one pet store, but drove by a little too fast, so we ended up going to Petsmart.  We walked in and they were having a small adoption fair in one corner of the store.  My kids, then 5-1/2 and 8-1/2, wanted to know if they could go over to "look" at the kittens.  I grew up with a cat which lived to be 22 years old.  She was a grey/black Tabby cat.  For years I had told my kids about my cat growing up.  So I went to get the hamster food, and my husband and the kids went over to the kittens.  By the time I came back with the hamster food (no how long could that have possibly taken...two minutes), my  daughter was holding a kitten.  She was a stray that was found in someone's backyard.  Long story short...some pleading and begging later...next thing I know we have a new addition to our family.  It didn't hurt their cause any that she looked so much like the cat I grew up with.

Here she is as a kitten...there was something about that cute face.  I couldn't resist.  They say pets sometimes chose you.  I really feel like that was the case with Sara.  Instantly we all felt a bond with her in the store.  She was a calm, gentle kitten who loved to be held.

We bought Sara a really nice cat bed...she has NEVER slept in it.  Instead she has found other locations she deems more suitable.  How cute is she in this little crib (which was mine when I was little-same with the high chair to the left).

Here she is on her first Christmas.  She is such a good little cat.  She is a very calm cat.  We have always felt that she is more dog-like than cat-like.  She runs to greet anyone who enters our home.  She follows me around all day long.  She loves to be held.  She really is not shy.

She loves to be part of the action.  Here she is on the towels that were going back out to the pool house.

Like I said, she likes to sleep almost anywhere except for her cat bed.  Here she is asleep on my daughter's bed (one of her favorite locations).  She reminds me a little of the dog in Peter Pan.  You know how the dog looks after the children...that's Sara.  In the morning she makes her rounds checking on each child as they get ready for school.

She follows the sun during the day.  You can always find her in the room that has the sun shining in.  See what I mean?  Who has it better than her?

She definitely thinks she is one of the kids.  Every morning when my kids come down for breakfast, she is already sitting at the counter waiting for them.  She usually starts in the middle seat, but as soon as my son comes down, she knows to move one over to the left.  Then she just sits there during breakfast...doesn't make any attempt at the food, just wants to be with us.

Sara turned out to be one of the best impulse decisions we have ever made.  She is the best kitty ever.

Hope you join in over at the party.  Let me know what you think of our sweet Sara.

-Judy


Also, I'm so honored that Erin from House of Turquoise has featured my daughter's room makeover.  Click here to check it out.
I've also been featured at Be Colorful for my guest room makeover.  Hope you come check it out.