| WELCOME TO
GEORGETTE'S
RAINBOW BRIDGE
PAGE On Thursday, November 16, 2006, we euthanized our cat, Georgette, after her battle with cancer. Presented here is the story of Georgette's life, as sent via e-mail to folks who knew her. Click on any of the thumbnail pictures for a larger version. Click here (3.2MB, RealMedia format) or here (6.5MB, Windows Media format) to play a few minutes of "Her Heart's Desire" by Max Highstein. We played this music while administering Georgette's feedings, subcutaneous fluids, natural supplements, medications, energy healing, etc., and played it at the vet clinic while she was being euthanized. She seemed to get a lot of comfort from this music, which is from Highstein's CD entitled "Gentle Music For Massage, Volume One." On the CD, the actual tune is 30 minutes long and is quite peaceful. We find it perfect for acupuncture, meditation, etc. You can find the CD, and more of Max Highstein's work, on this Amazon page. If your system's not set up to play RealMedia files, click to download the free player: http://www.real.com/ As it relates to DooDoo Voodoo, we'll be posting more pictures pertaining to cleaning up vomit and blood on our Case Studies page. Suffice it to say that DooDoo Voodoo proved its worth in spades during Georgette's illness. It amazed even us...and we invented it. Click here to go back to the Rainbow Bridge page. Friends,
We had to euthanize our kitty
Thursday afternoon after she took a turn for the worse. She had collected air
in her abdominal cavity (which the vet drew off easily via syringe), began to
be involuntarily incontinent of stool & urine and got incredibly cold, which
is a sure sign a cat is, as two of our vets have often said, "trying to die."
We took her back to our primary veterinary clinic, where we had just been with
her for 5.5 hours (but had returned home from) and she began to have acute
respiratory distress just as we were preparing to euthanize her, so we more
expeditiously euthanized her via a cardiac stick. This was not the way
we desired for our little gal to pass, but it had to be done. Julie, I and energy healer Kathy Barr were all
with her when she passed. Here are 4 pics from Georgette's last hour:
Georgette at the clinic awaiting her appointment a couple days before she passed away. She was still acting totally cat-like and was grooming, walking with her tail straight in the air, etc.:
Here's a pic of Georgette during her prime of life:
Julie scratching Georgette's chin in the sun by the garden tub in our master bathroom a few weeks ago. Georgette loved this room, probably because that's where her stomach-calming basil plant was. She was drawn to eat basil when she had an upset stomach, which was most of the time for the last 3½ months before she passed on. She'd vomit, then immediately go eat basil. "Basil," our plant, was amazingly tolerant of this. Interestingly, if you'd pull off a leaf, Georgette wouldn't eat it, even right there next to Basil. She had to bite the leaves while they were attached.
Before she started feeling poorly, Georgette's other favorite place to be was on top of the cat tree. She'd bound on the bed adjacent to the tree, then up to the top of the cat tree to get brushed and petted. This picture was taken after she was diagnosed, but before she really began to decline. The second picture shows Georgette's, uh, transformation over the years. Georgette was famous around our house for her large, round pupils. We called her "Monkey Girl" or "Stinky."
It seemed that no matter where Georgette was, she'd run to the spindles along the upstairs hallway overlooking the stairs & foyer so she could be there for petting as I went up or down the steps. She'd run from a comfortable spot just to assume her position there to fulfill her part of our ritual. I could always count on her.
Georgette quit eating by mouth and, before she got terribly thin and unhealthy from the effects of her cancer, we decided to have a feeding tube put in. This was done through the side of her neck and went down to the end of her esophagus, just above the cardiac sphincter, which is what closes and opens at the top of the stomach. Unfortunately, Georgette's body wouldn't open the sphincter, so food & supplements just accumulated there at the bottom of her esophagus, then ultimately would come back up. We then had the esophageal tube removed and instead had an abdominal feeding tube implanted. This worked out far better and Georgette's vomiting lessened a bit. Georgette went through the procedures with her usual grace, and acted as if she'd not had anything done to her. For 3½ months, we fed Georgette via the feeding tube(s) with liquified prescription catfood Julie drew up into large syringes. The feedings were spaced from 1.5 hours to 4 hours apart, 24/7. Georgette would often vomit after the feedings, so there was cleaning up and re-feeding to do. We also administered lots of natural supplements, including noni juice, which has anti-cancer properties. Nightly, we also administered subcutaneous fluids to keep her hydrated. Georgette was extremely tolerant, and we're convinced she knew we were trying to help her. Here are some pictures taken after Georgette's second tube-insertion surgery. Notice that she's acting totally normal.
A few weeks ago, she joined me in the basement while I was working on a DooDoo Voodoo project. She enjoyed walking on the bar and looking out the window that looks out at the hot tub and the back yard. I had the window cracked, so she could hear the sounds and smell the smells. She really enjoyed this time.
This one is from 1999 after Georgette was spayed and declawed. She didn't feel good when we brought her home, but recovered quickly, as you'd expect from a cat with her happy-go-lucky attitude. Captured from video:
Also captured from video, but a few months later after she'd healed. As shown by the other photos, she obviously filled out considerably over her subsequent years:
Georgette loved to lie in this basket, made by my mom. She would often scratch with her front paws to leave her scent and stretch her muscles. (Georgette, not my mom.)
Toward the end of her life, Gracie and Wendy, our other housecats, seemed drawn to spend more time around Georgette. Wendy gave Georgette lots of baths. Notice that Georgette was lying with her sisters, but had her eyes open, which is typical of a kitty who feels crappy. The three girls were quite an inseparable trio.
In January of '05, the three girls showed their demon eyes when lying together on the bed in the master bedroom:
The week before her death, Georgette still was getting enjoyment out of the afternoon sun, which probably felt good on her tumor-riddled belly. It's great to see an ill kitty still derive enjoyment from life. This picture ties in with the next one and its description.
Early in her time with us, Georgette and Gracie had quite a peeing contest all around our house. You name it; they'd peed on it. One time, after we'd had a carpet cleaning company come out to pull back the carpet, replace the tack strip & pad, clean both sides of the carpet and put the carpet back into place, I was cleaning the area up and Georgette walked right up in the middle of what I was doing, turned around to put her butt toward the wall, looked me right in the eye and sprayed urine all over the place. She and Gracie did NOT like each other. Luckily (not that luck was what stopped their poor feelings about each other; it took a lot of work on our part to assist them), they finally buried the hatchet and ultimately got to the point where they actually seemed to, in a low-key way, enjoy being around each other. After this picture was taken, they actually began to lie more like "spoons," which years ago we would have had a hard time believing. Seeing them enjoy, or at least tolerate, each other was very gratifying to us, and showed how much the two girls' souls were growing. Georgette loved to lie under this desk lamp in Julie's office. After Georgette's death, Gracie really seems upset by Georgette's absence...even more than Wendy does.
I don't have a ready picture of
it, but toward the end of her life, Georgette ceased being scared of our dog,
Heidi, who used to terrorize her if she dared come into Heidi's area. This
irritated the heck out of Heidi, who couldn't understand why Georgette no
longer ran when Heidi approached her. Georgette would just ignore Heidi, and
this incensed Heidi. At the end of Georgette's life, we surmised this was
because Georgette knew she was dying and thought, "To heck with Heidi. I'm
not gonna waste my time being afraid of her." That's a lesson we can all take
a cue from, indeed. Here's a picture of Heidi after major surgery:
After nearly a quarter century
in animal welfare, we've been through our share of euthanasias, but we'd
been spending 24 hours a day with her with subcu. fluids, tube feedings
('round the clock for 3.5 months), vomit cleanups, acupuncture, B12
injections, energy healing (us and a professional), etc., so we got
really bonded to Georgette. We know she's in a warm, sunny place,
feeling light and airy...and that she'll be there waiting for us one day,
but, boy, what a void she's left in our lives.
An animal communicator & "medical intuitive" we work with told us during our first session that Georgette had been with me as a dog my family had when I was young, but which my mom & dad took to the Humane Society due to behavior issues they didn't deal with, where I'm sure he was euthanized. The communicator perfectly described that the dog had not lived long, what he looked like and how old I was, plus the fact that he "lived" in the side yard, but wasn't allowed in the house much by my parents. This, of course, just increased my bond with Georgette. The communicator also told us that Georgette had chronic post-nasal drip (a trait I shared with her). We thought this was very intuitive of the communicator, as we'd actually had Georgette to the vet more than once, including for an endoscopy, for her repeated swallowing. Once the communicator told us it was post-nasal drip, the chronic swallowing made perfect sense. (To learn more about animal-related energy work and massage, see this article, which I added to this page 8-10-14. --- Ed.)
Georgette wasn't a needy cat,
and had never been unhealthy, so, though it isn't fair to say we took her
for granted, we never allocated the amount of time or attention to her that
we have to other needier or sicker cats. This now makes us very sad. I
said a few weeks ago that I got the sense that she was saying, "I've been
here for 7 years; what took you so long to notice & love me?" I tearfully
said at the vet's that we had tried to pack 7 years of love into the last
3.5 months.
Georgette was unbelievably
graceful throughout the course of her illness, causing Julie and me
continuous awe and respect for her. The animal communicator told us
Georgette had the ability to detach herself from her illness, and we saw
evidence of this on a daily basis. Georgette would vomit profusely and then
would purr and curl up with you for some energy healing. We can all only
strive to be as elegant in our adversity as Georgette was in hers.
The two days leading up to her
death, we were awaiting cytology results and pathology results from the
cancerous nodule the vet removed from Georgette's side. We were holding out
hope that her cancer was lymphoma, which is treatable in cats.
Unfortunately, Georgette let us know in no uncertain terms that she was
ready to move on, so she was euthanized before the pathology came back. The
day after she was euthanized, the vet called to tell us that the pathology
indicated that Georgette had adenocarcinoma, a deadly, highly
aggressive form of untreatable cancer. They said that due to the cell type,
her cancer likely started as a mammary tumor and spread throughout her body
to her liver, spleen, pancreas and more, even manifesting as small tumors
right below her skin. Julie and I were relieved to learn that the cancer
was a type that couldn't have been helped had we gotten a handle on it
earlier. This lessens our emotional load greatly. We are sure that the
noni juice, acupuncture, energy healing and all the supplements we gave her
greatly improved her quality of life toward the end and helped her live
longer and better than if she'd not had these supportive treatments.
We believe that Georgette's love of lying on top of a CRT computer monitor
may have instigated her cancer. Here's a picture of her in one of her
favorite places a few years ago. We subsequently replaced the monitor
with an LCD unit just so she couldn't lie there anymore, due to our concern
for her health. Too little, too late, perhaps.
Georgette showed us just how much
strength a soul can have...and how much reserve we have and can tap
into when we need to. We didn't buckle under the pressure and 24-hour
workload, but there were times when it wasn't easy, that's for sure. We
knew Georgette needed us to stay strong for her, so we did our best to.
:-)
When we first rescued Georgette,
who showed up under a pine tree near our front porch, we tried to find her a
home. Here's the flyer we did to promote her. When I read the last line
today, after having not seen the flyer for some years, I said out loud here at
my computer, "We weren't." I had tears in my eyes as I said it...and do again
now as I'm typing this.
During her 3½ month decline, we
had this poster taped up in numerous places around our home:
We loved our little girl like
nobody's business. She was such a strong, happy soul that she's left a big
void in our lives, but we wouldn't trade our experience with her for
anything. We STILL love her and she's STILL a strong, happy soul.
Thank you to all who cared for,
and about, Georgette for all your thoughts and prayers on Georgette's and
our behalf. She appreciated them...and deserved them more than you can
ever know.
Eric Smith
11-21-06
P.S. Here's what we
learned, veterinary-wise, from Georgette's ordeal.
|
