Tag: clean bill of health | A Banana Peeled

Tag Archives: clean bill of health

Good news for my main man, Shadow

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Yesterday, I wrote an ode to my cat, Shadow, that bordered on elegiac. I was prepared for the worst because the vet had mentioned three awful things it could be. Renal failure, diabetes, or hyperthyroidism. They did blood work and took X-rays, which they had to send off to get interpreted. They were going to call me back today with the results.

I gave Shadow his antibiotic this morning, which he did not appreciate. Nor did he eat anything. I was worried, obviously. I went to Cubs to buy things for K’s visit, but also to get a few things to temp Shadow to eat–including Temptations. It was Greenies that I had in the house and while he’s fond of them (but would not eat them yesterday), he is crazy for Temptations. They really are like crack for cats. The other things I bought for him was rotisserie chicken (well, that’s for me, but he likes it, too, especially the skin) and turkey slices.

When I got home, I put pieces of turkey, chicken, and chicken skin in a bowl and brought it into the living room where Shadow was snoozing on the back of the couch. He perked up when I approached and I placed a bit of chicken before him. Nothing. Then chicken skin. He liked that. He also liked the bits of sliced turkey. A lot. I gave him several of those, and he made them disappear. When I opened the Temptations bag, he was definitely interested. I gave him two and he gobbled them down.

I went into the kitchen to spoon out some wet food and put warm water on it. I put several Temptations on top of that. Shadow had followed me into the kitchen (a good sign), and he immediately ate three or four Temptations from the top of the pile before licking vigorously at the slurry. (I mushed up the wet food). I kept adding water, so he ended up eating most of the Temptations and a lot of the slurry. He didn’t directly eat the wet food, but he took in quite a bit from lapping away at the slurry. All in all, he probably ate about a fifth of what he normally would (but adding in the chicken skin and turkey….math is hard). That’s not great, but it’s better than yesterday when he would not eat at all.

Livin’ HEADSTRONG and HEARTSTRONK!

Posted on November 18, 2021 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Before I woke up in the hospital, there were dire predictions of the damage my brain and heart would sustain if I came back at all. That was the first hurdle. I was not expected to come back at all. I’m sure the doctors didn’t say that in so many words, but that’s what my brother got from the conversations. And how hard must that have been for him to digest while he was striving to do all the things. I’ve said several times that I appreciate my brother more than I can say because he held it down when I collapsed onto the ground and ended up in the hospital, unconscious.

But, it’s one thing I feel guilty about. How burdened the shoulders of my brother were while I lay unconscious in a hospital bed. He’s very good at dealing with difficult situations (well, as long as roiled emotions aren’t involved), but he’s not an automaton. His voice shook when we talked about a few of the harder details of my experience and it pains me that he had to go through that because of me. Intellectually, I knew it’s not because of me, but it still feels that way in my heart.

Speaking of my heart. Let’s talk about it. And my brain. I’ve mentioned that I had to wear a heart monitor. The results came back with no atrial fibrillations or any other irregular rhythms. In other words, my heart is solid.

Yesterday, I had an appointment with a neurologist. The nurse asked why I was there and I said because I was told to go. I got big laughs, but it was true. I assumed they wanted to check my noggin after what it went through, but I didn’t know for sure. When the neurologist came in the room, I apologized if I had met him before and didn’t remember–since that’s what happened with my heart doc. The brain doc laughed and said it was the first time he’d met me. I gave him a primer as to what had happened tome. As with almost every other medical person I’d run into, he was astounded by what I’d gone through and how well I had come out of it.

I appreciated that he talked to me in plain English. He did use a few medical terms, but then explained when I asked about them. I mean, it’s unavoidable sometimes in a medical situation to use medical terms. We mostly chatted, but the one pressing question in my mind was whether I could have prevented what happened to me. He said no, which relieved me. I was pretty sure that was the case, but he’s a doctor so what he says has more weight.