CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

what a roller coaster ride . . .

i can't believe how quickly things in our lives can change and send you and every being around you for a loop. friday started out like any other day. i subbed for a teacher at my school . . . it was the last day of school with students i had taught in the first grade. i had a fun day! i couldn't wait for the evening to start because i got to scrap at scrapbook station with linda, karen and jeri. hold on . . . make sure you are sitting down for this one . . . i finished three layouts . . . yes . . . i said 3! lol!!!

bo helping me get ready to go scrapping . . . hehehehe

the night ended well, and i headed home. everything went downhill from there!

ryan had friends staying the night . . . typical weekend . . . however, he was eating ice cream in the living room straight from the container. he has been talked to over and over about this. i sent him and his friends to bed and stayed up for a while to make sure they had gone to bed. this was around 12:30ish. at about 2:00, richard got up to see where i was and noticed that the door in our bedroom that leads to the backyard patio was open and both kittens were missing. i went on a frantic search for the kittens. richard found bo across the street in a neighbor's yard, but bella was nowhere to be found. i looked until about 3:30 in the morning.

i was up early the next day to look for bella again. i still couldn't find her. i had work that needed to be done for school, so i started that while periodically going outside to holler for bella. no aswer. at around 1:30 on saturday we got a voice mail message from animal care. they found bella! we were so relieved. i tried calling them twice but was unable to get in touch with an actual animal control officer. i didn't hear back from her until sunday morning at 8:00. by the time i woke up and realized it was the phone ringing and then ran to the kitchen, it had stopped ringing. i called back immediately . . . couldn't get in touch with her. called again at 10:00 and still couldn't get her. we didn't hear from them all day.

on monday, i drove richard to work and then stopped at school to get some teacher's manuals i needed to plan for the new school year. on the way to pick bella up, i called to make sure they still had her. hold on tight folks . . . were heading downhill again! they said that when they picked her up that her eyes were a little cloudy. they had not been like that when she left home on friday night. i talked them in to letting me come pick her up and take her straight to the vet. i broke all speed limit laws trying to get to marysville fast. when i got there, they said they had taken her to the vet and that i could go straight there . . . and they didn't charge me any fees . . . heading back up?

NO! i couldn't believe what i saw when i got to the vet. it was soooo heart-breaking. i immediately burst into tears and had to hold onto the table. my poor sweet bella . . . her eyes were completely white . . . no color whatsoever. here beautiful yellow eyes were gone . . . ooommmmggggg. there was dried blood on her nose and she was coughing. she looked so frail and helpless. my poor sweet baby! the vet said he had never seen anything like this. he thought that maybe she had been exposed to chlorine gas and that it had burnt her eyes and her respiratory system. she was completely blind. he said there could be other damage to other organs as well. she was sufferin so much and was soooo not the sweet feisty little kitten i knew and loved. i held her so close and cried. i kept telling her over and over that i loved her and that i was so very sorry she was suffering. after talking to richard and the vet, it was decided that the best thing for bella was to euthanize her. omg . . . i wanted to die right then and there. it was the hardest thing i ever had to do. i just couldn't let go of her. i knew that if i did i would never see her again. i finally handed her over to the nurse and left. i couldn't stay to watch them do it.

we love and miss you so very much miss bella!

i got in the car and screamed the whole way home. i felt so helpless. i know that she is no longer in pain and that she is in a much better place . . . but it hurt so terribly bad to see her that way and to know that she had been suffering for two days before i was able to help her. i was a complete wreck on monday.

and my poor bo kitty . . . omg . . . he is soooooo lonely. he did nothing but sleep or walk around meowing since friday night. he is sooo very depressed. richard and i talked about it and thought that the best thing to do was to get another kitten so that he had a companion. i go back to school in two weeks and didn't want him at home alone and depressed. animal care felt really bad about what had happened to bella and how the whole situation was handled. they told us that if we wanted another kitten that they would give us another one for free. heading up the slope now!

so i went to their offices and found the most adorable little kitten. ryan and i went back to pick her up at 4:00. we were so happy! richard called several times to see how things were going and to find out if we had a name for her yet. he came up with the perfect name . . . chai! if you know me well . . . you know that is perfect!!!

ladies and gentlemen . . . let me introduce . . . chai kitty . . .

our newest addition . . . chai

she had spent four days in a cage at animal care and was completely filthy . . . so the poor little kitten had to have a bath. richard was brave enough to do the honors. how pathetic does this little kitten look? lol!!

first bath . . . poor wet kitty

so things are on the uphill part of the roller coaster ride . . . . right?!?! . . . . WRONG!! bo has completely changed since we brought her home. he wants nothing to do with the kitten . . . which i understand . . . there is always an adjustment period. but . . . he wants nothing to do with me anymore either . . . and that breaks my heart. when i pick him up, he just meows at me and complains the whole time i am holding him and can't wait to get away. richard keeps telling me everything will be okay . . . just give it some time. i know this is true . . . but i feel so bad. i got the kitten for bo cuz he was hurting so much and that made me sad. now i worry that i have made a mistake and am only causing him further stress. man . . . why can't life be easy?!?!?!

so right now we are resting somewhere on the flat part of the ride . . . keeping my fingers crossed that we will head up again soon!