The Pastoral Artist
  • Home
  • Book
  • Blog
  • Contact

BLOG

Julie

9/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
First of all, before I get to the main part of this blog, I want to congratulate Shelby, Cindy and Mary for acquiring an etching for their art collection.  There are six more prints left if you are interested.

And now, about Julie...


Mom’s cat is dying.  Julie (the name of said cat) is a rescue.  Mom took her in 18 years ago, add at least a year onto that and the cat has been on this earth for almost 20 years.  That’s a good life for a cat.  Mom is determined the cat will live so for at least a year, Julie has been getting insulin shots twice a day.  Since Dad can’t remember and Mom can’t use the left side of her body, guess who does that?

Actually, Mike does it most of the time.  He gets up early and before work, drives to their apartment and gives the cat her shot.  Then again after dinner.  I fill in when needed.  I think Mike wants to do as much for his parents these days as he can.  He’s always been a caring and thoughtful son, but he knows his time is running out and he wants to make it all count.  He’s wearing himself out in the process.

A couple weeks ago, Julie started having convulsions.  Dad called and one of us took her into the vet.  I don’t remember if it was Mike or me because there have been several vet visits in the past few weeks.  Julie has stopped eating.  Her blood sugar levels have been fluctuating wildly.  Not only does she have diabetes, but now she has congestive heart disease and the medications are making her nauseous.  Mom does not want to face the future without Julie.  Again, I take her to the vet.  Is there anything else we can do? 

Now, in addition to working and elder care, we are going over three times a day to hand feed (read that force feed) the cat with a syringe on the very off chance that with enough food in her, she’ll take her medicine and with the medication her strength will increase so she’ll last another year or more.  Part of me just shakes my head.  The cat is failing, let it go in peace.  But Mom has hope, and hope is important.  I look at how Mom’s life keeps closing in on her.  She can no longer walk, getting out and about isn’t impossible but it’s pretty darn hard.  Most of her friends have died and Dad’s dementia makes it hard for her to form new friendships.  But she does have her cat. 

With that in mind, Mike and I do our best to make the animal as comfortable as possible and pray for the best for all involved.

Postscript:  Sadly, on September 14, Julie died.  Mom is doing her best to deal with yet another loss.

0 Comments

    Archives

    July 2024
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Donna Kemper

    Donna Kemper put aside her art career to care for a mother she hadn't seen in over a decade.  For seven years she followed her mother's journey into dementia, caring for her and putting forgiveness into action.

    Categories

    All
    Abandonment
    Adult Care Facilities
    Advocacy
    Alzheimers
    Alzheimers Research
    Art
    August
    Automobiles
    Ballet
    Beauty
    Birds
    Birthdays
    Book
    Books
    Burnout
    Camping
    Cancer
    Care Giving
    Cat
    Colonoscopy
    Community
    Compassion Fatigue
    Computer Issues
    Creativity
    Daughters
    Death
    Dementia
    Difficult Parent
    Discovery
    Documentary
    Dreaming
    Elder Care
    Experimentation
    Faith
    Family
    Father
    Father In Law
    Father-in-law
    Fatherless Daughters
    Fear
    Forgiveness
    Friendship
    Frustration
    Gardening
    Genealogy
    God
    Gold Leafing
    Good Man
    Gourd Art
    Grandmothers
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Growth
    Health
    Hero
    Hope
    Human Trafficking
    Humor
    Husband
    Justice
    Kayaking
    Kindness
    Life Adjustments
    Listening
    Loneliness
    Loss
    Lost And Found
    Love
    Love In Action
    Mother In Law
    Mother-in-law
    Mothers
    Moving Forward
    Music
    Neglect
    Offering Help
    Paintings
    Patience
    Poetry
    Prayer
    Process
    Psalms
    Questioning
    Recovery
    Relevancy
    Restoration
    Rocks
    Rumi
    Sacrifice
    Sadness
    Shakespeare
    Slavery
    Snow
    Social Media
    Sonnet
    Spiritual Formation
    Storytelling
    Studio
    Suffering
    Transformation
    Transition
    Vineyards
    Water
    Worship
    Writing

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

STAY CONNECTED!


© The Pastoral Artist 2022 | Designed by Tech with Tasha

  • Home
  • Book
  • Blog
  • Contact