I’ve never been one to believe that saying “X is going well” is a surefire way to make X go sour – to “jinx” it, that is.

But, boy, China, you’ve sure got some ‘splaining to do for the way you’ve been scaring us since I announced that you were “clearly not planning to go anywhere soon.”

In the two-weeks-and-change since our happy last update on China, the calico drama queen of the Community Room has had more drama than I’d wish upon ten billion cats combined.

No sooner had China moved out of our Hospital and back into the Community Room, than she began flaunting wacky blood glucose (BG) levels, hypoglycemia scares, vomiting and diarrhea, and a most disturbing shade of…yellow.

Now, in most cases, any cat color is a cute color. But when China’s skin, gums and the whites of her eyes started going school bus-yellow, there was nothing “cute” about it. Our cat of many colors was icteric (jaundiced), and her liver was going south.

Thankfully, our eagle-eyed Senior Vet Tech, Denise, caught China’s yellowing, and (yet another) trip to the emergency vet forestalled disaster. It was determined that China’s liver values were soaring (higher than our vet has ever seen in a living cat, in fact), her weight was plummeting, and her time on this planet was looking mighty short. The emergency clinic placed an e-tube (esophageal feeding tube) in China’s neck, and the scary stuff happening to our girl was, at least, slowed.

But, this time, I’m afraid I can’t end on such a bouncy note as in China’s previous post. Our glamour-girl is nowhere near “out of the woods” yet – in fact, she’s still so deep in the thicket that she could really use a map, or a flashlight, or, preferably, a miracle.

The fact is, we honestly don’t know what is wrong with China. More than once, we’ve found ourselves wishing for veterinary medicine’s answer to Dr. House this month, as China’s symptoms just don’t seem to add up to anything we can identify, much less treat.

Until today, China was something like “stable” back in our hospital. She’s been receiving receiving multiple daily feedings through her e-tube (in addition to the chow that she is, fortunately, eating) and more careful hovering and monitoring than the best mother hen could ever imitate. Yesterday, Danielle brought our brave girl back to the Community Room for a brief visit, and China humored our efforts to tempt her with treats by eating a couple of morsels.

But, today, China’s just not doing right, and as I type this e-mail Danielle is taking her back to the emergency vet. I hate feeling so helpless to change China’s world, to understand what’s got her so skeletal and sad and sickly. My heart is taking all the hope it can find in the fact that China is still alive – and, as my Mom has always said, where there’s life, there’s hope.

In this spirit, we brought China out for prayer at the Blessing of the Animals (pictured at right) during this past Saturday’s Open House & Microchipping Clinic at Tabby’s Place. Along with Tony, Albert, Molly, Esme, Yasmine and Tashi, China drank in the wise words and prayers of Father Dominic. I can only pray that she’s already healing “underground,” where we can’t yet see it, and that her restored health is about to burst into bloom.

In the meantime, dear friends, please pray, dance your happy China dances, think your good thoughts, and just love this calico girl along with us. She’s only eight years old, and I believe she’s got a lot of love – and even more sass – yet to give.

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