Hi Bernard ~
It's interesting that you cited this:
You reminded me of an old saying, "Be gentle with all you meet for everyone is fighting a difficult battle."
That's a paraphrase of the words originally spoken by "Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" by John Watson; or his words are a paraphrase of the original ones, by A.D. Hope, which you've cited and that I actually prefer. I brought Watson's version here [somewhere] sometime in 2006. The saying was placed beneath the painting for March, in a calendar made by my friend, Harimandir. The painting was one she'd done, depicting children looking closed, distrustful, disenchanted, or distressed, and adults behind them, whose faces can't be seen... it's titled "Nothing Personal." It was an appropriate offering for March, as well, in that March here is a month that's historically been considered surprizingly harsh. In complaining about the weather [this was in Michigan, but by extension, even in North Florida, it can be a cold month] it's not been uncommon to hear some say, "Beware the Ides of March", the original, Shakespearean line possessing a foreboding of doom... here, just a slightly more creative way of doing everyday complaining about the weather
.
I feel either version of the saying is worth following. I don't always manage it; sometimes other things [including me] get in the way; but it's not for lack of trying, and I always feel better when I do.
My moggy [that must be the Aussie, and maybe Brit, too, word for cat
] is doing questionably. It seems Hallie has ear mites, but they were so deep down, and the typical symptoms were atypically not visible. She's a black cat and her ear skin is the same, so anything further down the canal [where the evidence was] had nothing for contrast, even if it were at a good vantage point, which it wasn't. The vet flushed her ears and I already had on hand some of the very antibiotic he was suggesting, so when I got her home, I started her on the regimen. I will also get some ear mite medicine on Monday.
He didn't feel it was anti-freeze poisoning, which was my concern, due to her dilated eyes and loss of equilibrium. I've seen this happen with some of my cats before [won't go into that horrible story], so am sensitive to it. Her breath smelled normal, however, and with anti-freeze it doesn't. So, I hope he's right. The bill was $103 USD and the blood tests available to start narrowing it were $85 or much more, depending on the test. I just didn't have that kind of money [multiple flights just booked that very same day] and it all had to be paid on the spot. I still have the rest of the month to go, financially, and so I kept asking different questions, to try to be sure I didn't absolutely need to proceed in that direction.
For example, she was purring... and would she be doing that with anti-freeze? He said she wouldn't, and I know it can also be a stress signal, so even that's not totally conclusive. I didn't recall my others, who were still alive, purring with the anti-freeze poisoning, except Taylor. His purr, however, was clearly one of stress and distress, not of contentment, as Hallie's sounded, as she snuggled into me for that protected feeling whilst in a strange place. A vet I spoke with [prior to taking her to this one] at another ER clinic, just as far the other direction, but even more expensive, had confirmed that the extreme dilation of her eyes could be a normal reaction to stress... and that anti-freeze isn't the only thing that could cause the loss of equilibrium.
Last night's vet said if she's not better by Monday to take her to my regular vet. She ate some this morning [I couldn't get her to last night, either before or after the vet trip] and her eyes are dilated slightly less. I gave her the antibiotics both last night and this morning. She still purrs. Her loss of equilibrium is still there, but it
seems [wishful thinking?] that she's not as stumbly as she was last night.
So, in a rather large, multiple-compartmented nutshell, that's how she's doing. Thanks for your concern and for your asking.
Now, I must confess, that with the timing and physical placement of your Song for me, I had to wonder if it might not have duly carried a subtitle of "A Warning," as I couldn't figure out the latter section; as much as I tried, it seemed to go one of several directions... and I just couldn't tell which.
Initially, I thought perhaps you'd felt I was too harsh in my response to Jiminy. Then, I thought with "beware your fear before you fall," that perhaps you were suggesting that my perspective of his poem was too fear-based and, in that, could cause a fall. Then, I thought with that same line that, perhaps, beware was used in the sense of "pay attention to your 'fears,' no matter how insignificant they might seem," and hence be a comment on my reaction to the fear I felt whilst hitchhiking and that I acted upon; hence, your line an endorsement of that.
So, the bottom line is that I'm not really sure what you meant... and it may have been totally apart from any of the scenarios I've mentioned. However, there wasn't time to go into any of this last night, so I decided to just focus on what was clear to me, and bring the rest of this up today. Any clarifications you care to make
?
Thanks for the beautiful Song, Bernard.
Love,
Lizzy
Update at approx. 2:00 PM [my time on Sunday]:
The
first written estimate [that the vet tech brought me for signature last night], outlining the suggested protocol for this situation totalled $388 USD [that's only a
tiny bit less than what I paid for my
round-trip flight from Toronto to London
] and this bill had to be paid out-of-pocket to the clinic. I said, "Oh, no... this is impossible. What can be eliminated here and still not be a disservice to my cat's health?" We whittled it down to $103 [which was difficult enough!].
What really made it worse, regarding the ear mites, was that when we started eliminating things, the vet tech said that when he did a slide, he didn't see any ear mites at all. I reacted to that, of course, "Now wait a minute. The vet is saying that he's seeing tons of them deep down there, mothers, fathers, babies, and family reunions... and now you're saying you see nothing at all!?!" He 'clarified,' "Well, the only thing I used was off his scope that he used to look down there, so nothing apparently adhered to it... and I did that as a courtesy. If we do a regular slide on it, I'll be getting a sample from the ear canal, itself." I finally opted to pay $25[!] for him to do that... this is something that I don't really even recall my regular vet charging for... it was just a simple matter of getting a swab and looking, as a matter of course.
I guess they collect according to the person's ability/willingness to pay. I know that having animals is an expensive proposition, and I'm willing to bear the financial responsibility of that [which has, in fact, impacted my financial life in huge measures]; yet, it seems the medical community... be it human or animal... is prone to exploit and gouge, according to the situation. In this instance, it's the emergency nature of the visit. Now, I'll need to pay even more, as I'll likely still visit my regular vet tomorrow, and she'll probably do bloodwork [which I hope will be less than this would have been]. Meanwhile... at 2:08 PM on Sunday, the dilation of Hallie's eyes have returned to near normal and her appetite is returning to hearty, but she's still stumbling. I'm hoping the course of antibiotics will be the key to resolving that, as apparently mites can bring a bacterial infection with them, and the infection can cause the loss of equilibrium. I only have a 7-day supply, and he suggested 10 days, so I'll still need to get 3 more days worth from my regular vet.
So... there you have it ~ more than you ever wanted or needed to know
... but, definitely, as any Paul Harvey fan will know... "...the rest of the story."
... in fact, quite flowery