sunset

deery-lou.
in december 05 i went to see a fortune teller. he told me that the year of dog, which i am, was currently in a 3 year rut of bad luck. apparently 2006 was the third year of this bad luck. the teller couldn't have been more right. with only 12 more days until the lunar new year the last month of the dog has been nothing but grim. it first started with stomach problems. granted in the past i've been struck with such problems but they only seemed to last a day or two at most. this on again, off again problem has seemed to last well over a month. yesterday, i went and got more magic pills/powder from the pharmacist. they seem to be doing the trick. although the power stuff tastes awful. then there was the news of my friends death which i spoke about it a previous post. i received her obit this morning. as i read it, there were things i didn't even know about her. it didn't really sound like the shortcake i had come to love in sf.of course it was written from her parents perspective so perhaps they had a different vision of her. whatever the truth may be, it made me sad to read it. for it only confirmed that which i had hope was all a bad dream. as if these two things weren't enough, on saturday i got word from misty that my kitty wasn't doing well. misty's been taking care of aikea since i left for korea. at the time i left, aikea was ill. she had stopped eating and was hiding in my closet as i packed. at the time i figured it was because she knew something was up. that was three years ago and with some fluids and love from misty and ted she seemed to be doing much better. when i was sf back in august last year she seemed to be her old perky, bitchy self. meowing as i tried to hold her and only coming to me on her own terms. i felt happy because i knew then and there that aikea had adjusted to her new life with them and was doing fine. but as life goes on, things change. during my conversation with misty on saturday she informed me that aikea had stopped eating again. they took her to the vet but the x-rays turned up nothing. the vet suggested doing an ultrasound but misty held off wanting to speak with me first. we came to the decision to wait and see if the anti-nausea pills would do the trick before having an ultrasound done. i didn't really want to put aikea through much more. she's never enjoyed going to the vet or anywhere in the cat carrier for that matter. we also discussed future events. i told misty my thoughts on everything and let her know that whatever she and ted decided was fine with him. after all we needed to think of aikea. i always knew that i didn't want her to suffer and i believe they feel the same. on monday misty informed me that the vet had gotten back the blood work. aikea's kidneys have completely failed and there's nothing that can be done. sadly this lead to only one solution: putting her to sleep. putting one's pet to asleep is always a difficult thing but when you have to do it for a friend it must be extremely tough. i feel bad that my dear friend has to deal with this matter. i know it's hard but i completely support her. after all i'd be doing the same thing if i was home. aikea's live a great life and there's no way i want her final days to be in pain. knowing that aikea gets completely traumatized when going anywhere, misty has arranged for a vet to come to the house. i'm thankful for that because i know that her final hours will be in a place she feels comfortable and with people who love her. i only wish that i could be there with her to say one final goodbye. i will surely miss her screaming, bitchy self. she's truly one of a kind.

about two weeks ago ted sent me a video of aikea. its hard to imagine so much can change in such a short period of time. i'd like to share that video here.



stay gold & be well…