Every month seems to bring a new challenge for Colleen.
“My poor baby girl.”
Those were the first words that went through my mind when I saw Colleen for the first time this month. Colleen, the beautiful girl with startling green eyes and pretty face, has developed a skin condition on her face, so her usual sparkling complexion now sports some not so lovely brown and black spots. This makes her face look like it just needs a good washing. But it is more than that. Her facial condition is noticeable when you look at her, and I decided not to snap my usual photo of her. I suspect she’s a bit vain and wouldn’t have appreciated having her photo plastered on the website when she’s not looking her very best.
I was wondering if that fact–that she wasn’t looking as lovely as always–wasn’t getting her down in the dumps, for I noticed that when I went to visit these last few times, Colleen was a little quieter. She still looked happy to see me, but she seemed more content to just stay where she was on the comfy blanket and lounge around. Just last month she seemed more raring to go – traipsing around the lobby, on the prowl, so to speak – but now she seemed to be more in need of some well-deserved rest.
Sometimes I wonder if, when I’m not at Tabby’s Place, Colleen doesn’t have a wild weekend or two, which leaves her totally exhausted, and that’s the part that I’m seeing – the “I can hardly keep my pretty green eyes open” aftermath.
I went back the next week again, in fact, and we spent a lovely few minutes together. Colleen looked like a queen, for sure, propped up on a comfy large pillow with a warm crocheted blanket under her. She began to purr immediately when I sat down beside her. She loves the attention and the company. And her face, this week, looked better. Yeah!
Naturally I was concerned, waiting for her latest medical report, but I got to breathe a big sigh of relief. Coleen’s anemia has abated to such a point that the staff will no longer needs to recheck it as frequently. That was good news. Her weight was also down, but that was due to their having discontinued one of her medications in November, a medication that was known to increase appetite. In addition, they gave Colleen a full set of X-rays which revealed nothing out of the ordinary, other than small kidneys, which is an indication of her kidney disease.
The staff reported that Colleen is actually quite active recently, so as I suspected, I must catch her during her “down time.” She can often be found – as Development Director Angela described – in a line-up against the wall in the Community Room with Harley and Franny, all three cats in their comfy beds: ”the Old Folks Area.” I love it!
So Colleen is doing all right as the holiday season rolls around. We wish you the happiest holiday and the healthiest New Year!
As always, thanks for your generous support.