The vet hospital here in town has kept me well-informed on Aleksey's status and he came through the surgery well. His recovery was up in the air last night. They had to remove his spleen because of the bleeding (I may have mentioned that), and his heart rate and blood pressure were somewhat low. He was also suffering a bit from anemia. This morning they called me around 9:00 AM and said he was doing much better than last night. His heart rate and BP had stabilized and he was up and bright and alert. They even had him walking outside without any help to be able to walk. He's still a little anemic but they're thinking about giving him another bag of plasma to help that. Most of you probably know that with animals as with humans, the first night after a surgery is the critical night, the prognosis improves drastically if they make it through the first night without further complications, so the hopes are very high that he'll be able to make a full recovery.

This whole event has really brought my life into perspective. I almost lost Aleksey because I didn't have enough money to help him...that can't ever happen again. I've been so lazy the last couple months that it should be a crime, and I almost paid very dearly for it. I'm not going to let it happen again...I don't care if I have to work twelve hours a day, I'll do it. Not to mention the outstanding bill I'm going to have with the hospital here. Things aren't resolved yet, Aleksey still has a couple of days of observation and recovery to go through at the ICU, and I still have to process the wire-transfer tomorrow from mom and get it into my bank account so my check won't bounce. Then I have to work hard to get a new job, not to mention the close care and observation I'm going to give Aleksey.

I haven't been eating, but I finally forced myself to eat two pieces of toast this morning. I wouldn't have but my mom asked me to. I haven't had an appetite since I took Aleksey in yesterday morning. It seems like it's been so much longer than 30 hours. It seems like it's been ages since Aleksey's been home and it feels odd to think that it's only been a bit over a day since I took him in. I cried last night even though I knew he went through the surgery well. It was almost all good news but I still cried because I missed him. Every few minutes I'd look for Aleksey and remember he wasn't here. Every time I'd stand up from the couch, I'd look for him to give him a quick pat on the head or a scratch on the neck, but he wasn't present. Every time I got out of bed I worried that I'd disturb Aleksey only to remember that my bedroom was empty. It's not a nice feeling I can tell you that. Never having had a mate...or even a boyfriend really, I wouldn't know...but I assume this is what it would feel like to lose a lover, even if only for a short while. It really makes me realize how incomplete I am without him. I need him....and that's why I have to work hard to make sure if anything else happens, I can give him all the care he needs.

Thank you all for listening again, and thanks to all who have left comments, notes, and well-wishes...you all make it a little easier to deal with his absence, so thank you.


~Ossy