Holiday weekend full of emotions and some yoga

I started my Thanksgiving holiday weekend with a Wednesday night Hatha yoga class with Baxter. I love his energy and humor. And he gave the class a Thanksgiving theme, which made it even more fun.
Thanksgiving morning Namaste Grand Lake hosted a 2-hour Day of Thanks workshop. Seventy-five people signed up. The workshop was $25 and all the proceeds went to the Alameda County Food Bank. It was a great way to start the day and weekend.
After class there were free chair massages offered with donated tips going to the food bank as well.
Friday morning my plan was to take Joey to his 8 a.m. fluids appointment and then take the 10 a.m. yoga class. At the vet’s office they got very concerned with Joey’s continued weight loss. They gave him an appetite supplement and special food. I was told if he didn’t eat by the end of the day I needed to check in with Dr. Miller. I came home very upset and just wanting to keep the furbaby safe, warm and comfy. I decided to skip the 10 a.m. class.
Dr. Miller and I chatted mid-afternoon. There was no improvement in Joey’s eating. So Dr. Miller said I should bring him in the next day (Saturday). Dr. Miller really loves animals and Joey and you could tell how sad and sorry he was that Joey’s health was declining. I, of course, was even more upset, crying and just drained from the emotional exhaustion.
I skipped the evening yoga class as well. I did debate whether it was better to skip or go. I just didn’t want to even drag myself out of the house. And I wanted to stay close to the furbaby. He did have a little bit of milk supplement on Friday night.
Saturday morning we took Joey in to the vet. He saw Dr. Lawrence as Dr. Miller was off. We talked about everything going on with Joey and that we didn’t want to hospitalize him for extra fluids. We just thought that would be too stressful for him and may not help. We decided to run tests on him to see how the kidneys were doing and give him another dose of fluids and another appetite supplement.
As we waited for the tests to be run I was so sad and crying. I mean, I have had Joey for 17 ¹⁄₂ years, since he was 6 weeks old. I am trying to prepare myself. But it’s so hard.

Dr. Lawrence told us that all of his results were registering the same as the week before and that they found that Joey has an abscess/lesion/ulcer on the inside of his mouth, which is very painful and a side effect of the renal failure and likely the reason he hasn’t been eating. Of course, I don’t want my furbaby to be in pain, but we were happy for this sort of goodish news. He got an antibiotic shot and was sent home with pain meds.
And I am happy to report he is eating a decent amount and seems chipper.
Even though yesterday was good news I was still drained from the emotions of everything going on. I debated whether to hit the 11 a.m. yoga class. (Because of the appointment I missed my regular Saturday spin/abs/body conditioning.) I didn’t go to yoga.
But I did this morning. Trying to get back in some sort of routine I hit the 9 a.m. Hatha class. It felt good mentally and physically.
And I am so happy my furbaby is feeling better and getting back to his old self. (Joey has been posting updates on his blog. Check them out.)