It has been a while

It has been a while since I blogged. I will admit I have been to the store 3 times in the past week and half. I went to BiLo (doubles coupons up to $.99)on the 22nd.
I didn't take a picture but I got
$50 Best Buy gift card (Christmas gifts) and got a $10 off your next order coupon.
I then bought-
3 Luzianne Coffee ($.60Q) on sale for $3.50
1 Progresso Broth ($1.25IP) on sale bogo
1 Eggo Waffle ($.75Q) Bogo sale and that made them free
2 Sargento Cheese ($.55Q) on sale $2.50
Used my $10 off your next order coupon
Total out of pocket was $1.12

I then went to CVS they had some free after ECB, Loreal eye shadow, halls, Right Guard deodorant...spent something like $5.xx after my Ecbs and used a gift card to pay. I got back somewhere around $15 in Ecbs back.


I went to Harris Teeter on Christmas Eve. I didn't really want to go anywhere (which I will get to further down) but I had to get our Christmas dinner meat. Husband said he would come with and honestly I am not sure I would have been able to do it alone. I actually spent over $130 which I haven't done that in MONTHS, maybe even a year. I did get a Beef Tenderloin and a Rib Roast, soda, pies, ice cream, rolls and sparkling wine. The nice thing is I had a rebate for 10% basket ring up to $10 back and a rebate for the pies. So I still saved over 50% in the end.

The reason I haven't been blogging and haven't been my usual grocery shopping self.
One week ago today we had to take Black Kitty to the vet. I actually had taken him on the 18th and they told me he was very sick. He had lost 40% of his body weight and since he was only 3 yrs old that is a big deal. He had been shaky for a few weeks off and on and hadn't been wanting to go outside, plus since before Thanksgiving he had been having potty issues AGAIN. I didn't realize at the time he was sick. On the 18th while I was baking cookies for my husbands Christmas party that it occurred to me the cat might be diabetic. The weight loss, peeing, lack of interest in food at times, eating CUPCAKES....Anyway they said he was not diabetic. They did a Feline HIV and Leukemia test both of which came back negative. They took more blood and sent us home. We went to the party that evening though Black Kitty was on our minds. When we came home he wanted to go outside. He was out all night, the next morning he was waiting at the back door to come in. He acted normal, wanting his milk, wanting food, wanting whatever I was eating, typical Black Kitty.

Later that day the Vet called and said they got the bloodwork back and everything looked normal EXCEPT his white blood count was around 1500 and it should be 3500-14000. She then told me we can do more to find out what was going on, at a cost of $500...but the cat was once again acting normal.

The next morning he was acting very funny. He could walk very slowly and wanted to be outside. I called the vet and I got a prescription for him. He just laid there barely moving. He kept on wanting to go out although he could barely walk. Finally that evening he came in and just laid on the floor, and would follow me around. He was starting to meow every once in a while and would just lay there. When I went to bed I told him good night and was prepared for what I might find in the morning.

The next morning I got up and he was laying near my sons room (which was very odd, he doesn't normally lay on that side of the house). He could BARELY MOVE. I mean he couldn't walk a straight line at all and would do this loud meow every so often. We took him to the emergency vet. He just laid in my lap the whole time never moving. We got to the Vet and they immediately took him in the back. They put us in a room and the vet came in and said he was VERY VERY VERY sick. He was barely moving. He said he would do blood work again and we will go from there. The blood count came back and this time his WBC was 650! The vet said he could do an Xray to see if anything showed up that way. The Xray came back normal too. The vet then explained that with him loosing so much weight, his white blood count so low there was really nothing more that could be done and it was most likely Lukemia or cancer, neither of which are curable. And even if they could figure out what was wrong with him, chances are he wouldn't survive. He also said if we committed to going forward it was going to be ATLEAST $1000 just for the next couple of days. Now let me say that the money wasn't really the issue. We had the money, I have been doing pretty well on ebay this season so the money is there and we would not have to put it on a credit card.

After talking with some stranger, the doctor and each other we decided it was in his best interests to not have him subjected to all these things just to have him die anyway. That was by far the worst thing I have been through. I felt horrible. This cat loved me and I loved him. My husband loved this cat like no other animal he has ever had (including growing up). THANK GOD they let us leave and said they would bill us. We were blubbering when we left. For the first 3 days I cried and cried. I missed my "Boyfriend" (that is what I called him). I still miss him. Today is the first day that I have actually felt like getting dressed.

We have been through a lot with this cat (as I have blogged about, plus more I haven't) and he really was a part of the family. We will never find a cat as cool as him again! He will always have a place in my heart.