Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

I adopted her in 2013 and the thing that you first noticed about Pickles was her tail was only half as long as it should have been. I don’t know what happened, I wish I did, but I promised her that nothing bad would happen as long as her dad was around. I hope she doesn’t think I broke that promise because I did everything I could. I just wanted her to be okay. I was right next to her at the end, I know she saw me. But still. It just breaks my heart.

She was my baby for so long and through so much. She loved to lay right on top of me, something I had to try and stop her from doing when I had a colostomy bag but she still tried. She was happier when I got rid of the bag than I was so she could take her seat back on me again.

Pickles was one of those cats that just always wanted to be a good girl, and she always was a good girl. She was just always so good and so sweet. She loved her good girl treats, her wet food lunches, and her annoying baby sister Darla. She loved laying in bed between mom and dad. She loved being brushed, and scratches behind the ears. I know she’s now with her big sister Lucy somewhere. I just wish they were both still here with me.

Subscribe now

I had to get used to pooping in a new way as well. I spent 30 years pooping a certain way and then all of a sudden I got a bag on my side to empty in the toilet. They had to explain how it works to me twice because I was drugged out on pain meds the first time they tried. I woke up one night and the bag had exploded and soaked the bed. Not fun. A colostomy bag is nice to have if you’re visiting Paris, keeps your valuables safe from pickpocketers. For those who don’t know how colostomy bags work, there’s a small piece of your small intestine that sticks out of your abdomen at all times that connects to the bag. It doesn’t have any nerve endings, but it was still wild to have a piece of your insides on the outside. It does tickle though when you don’t chew up your food completely and you have a big piece of French fry make its way through. I can still feel that.

I got pretty bad before surgery too, in and out of the hospital because the medicine I had been taking for years to treat Ulcerative Colitis had stopped working. And then I got c-diff. I couldn’t stand up without passing out from the blood loss. Busted my nose on the door at home. One night in the hospital a nurse’s assistant came to help me onto the bedside commode, and she walked away for a second to grab some toilet paper and I passed out and fell off the toilet and busted my face on the ground. I woke up with a bunch of doctors around me because she had pressed the emergency response button, and they helped me back to bed. I was covered in blood, and one of the doctors asked where it had come from. It was from my butt.

Anyway, I had a colostomy bag for six months and there were many ups and downs with that, but I felt a whole helluva lot better than when I was sick. The worst days with the colostomy bag were still better than being sick. After six months the surgeon reconnected my insides into a ‘j-pouch’, so my small intestine works like my large intestine used to. I’d be lying if I said this whole thing wasn’t traumatic, or that the hospital food was good. Not just on me, but for my mom, dad, and sister too. I was out of it a lot of the time, they were the ones who were awake for it all. Without them I wouldn’t be here.

I still poop about ten times a day since I ain’t got a large intestine no more and space is limited, but I’m thankful to still be here. And thankful to my surgeon, Dr. B.

Subscribe now

Subscribe now