A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Ninety-Seven

It seems as though Ulysses is doing quite well in terms of his recovery.  He has become more alert, as things have gone on, and seems to progressing as hoped.  In many ways, this is normal in his life, really.  As mentioned, when he was a kitten, he began to have seizures, very extreme and violent seizures that often required overnight care at specialty hospitals, and eventually required us to find a neurologist who could care for him properly.  At the time, we were told that kittens having seizures was uncommon and was always associated with an underlying disease.  In fact, each week, we were warned that he might die, that he might already be sick with an incurable disease of some form.  All of this began within weeks of adopting him, with Ulysses still not even six months of age.  For a several months, Ulysses was in the hospital with seizures at least once a week.  This dwindled to once a month, once his treatment plan was sorted, and slowly decreased to a point where he has not had any major seizure activity in years.  He does still have minor seizures, but we can manage these at home.  The thing is, through all of this, he has remained a sweet and loving animal most of the time.  He can become agitated and dislikes being held much of the time, as he associates confinement with his experiences, but he is generally an extremely sweet cat.  For example, he will stand waiting for our housekeeper to come to work on days when she is due so that he can greet her.  Hearing he was sick, she actually has been texting to ask how he is doing and expressing her love and concern.

The current situation with Ulysses is not one that results from his neurology, as far as I can tell, but is a separate, though extremely concerning matter.  As I mentioned, this is the second time Ulysses has had surgery to remove a blockage from his intestine, and in both cases it was a hairball.  The thing is, were it a foreign object, we could work to keep him safe, but preventing hairballs, especially in a long-haired cat, is a far more difficult matter.  This time, they had to actually excise a piece of intestinal tissue, due to the damage, and I do not want to consider a third repetition.  Honestly, I do not know what we will or can do, but I have to keep hope, especially knowing how much Ulysses has been through already.