He Lives on the Second Floor
A break in format again. No self-promotion, not for this edition.
Luca has kidney failure. We received the diagnosis two weeks ago, when we brought him to the vet for what we thought was just his arthritis acting up. Right now, he doesn’t seem to be in any pain. He still plays with Nadia’s hair tie like an apex predator. He still climbs up to the top of our wardrobe to chill out or keep an eye on us while we sleep. But this awful news makes real the nebulous eventuality that every cat or dog’s human has to face.
We’ve started switching up his diet and, on top of his arthritis supplements, he’s now also on medication. Even as we adjust to these new routines though, we still need to look further down the line to when medication just won’t be enough anymore. I was devastated for that first week after the diagnosis and spent much of it coming to terms with the fact that I’m now saying goodbye to my perfect cat.
Part of that’s accepting that it’s largely out of my hands, which I’ve always struggled with, but I’ve had to mostly overcome. Because while he’s still around, there are pats and chin scratches that he deserves. There are moments to appreciate—when he rubs himself against my calf, when he deigns to come down from his perch and curl up in between our legs at night, and even when he smacks my face to wake me up in the morning for food.
A turning point for me was just chatting with Kyle about it over dinner last week, but through it all, Nadia has been my rock, while she herself shoulders the sadness that this news brings. “One day at a time,” she always tells me in our toughest periods. “One day at a time, together.”
One day at a time indeed—and every day, every hour, every minute with my sweet little boy’s a blessing that I’ll treasure.
If you can and want to help us with vet bills—and all you dog and cat humans out there know how much those can be—you can send cash via PayNow if you’re in Singapore. Just reply to this email for my number, if you don’t already have it. If you’re not in Singapore, I have a Ko-fi account that’s connected to my PayPal.
I’ll only withdraw the amount whenever we hit a minimum of $200, so that we can use every cent, and only when it needs to be used for vet visits.
If you can't donate, honestly, a kind word will be very welcome and appreciated too.