The Best Of 2009: Moment of Peace

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

One particular moment of peace that is fresh in my mind happened about 6 weeks ago, after the scary ordeal I went through with my cat Piper. Over the span of 9 days, he went from looking sort of sick, to needing emergency surgery, to not recovering well, until finally some relief. I went through a yo-yo of emotions during this time thinking if I'm doing the right thing, or if I should have just let him go. I wasn't able to get the support I needed from C at the time either because he was too busy with school and work, so everything about those 9 days was rough.

The relief and peace came this one Sunday, 4 days after Piper had surgery. After bringing him home that Thursday night, and monitoring closely I was worried that by Saturday morning, he was still unable to pee (his problem in the first place). I called the vet and they asked me to bring him back. I think poor Piper hit his bottom when he ended up back in the cage in that office and the vet felt sorry for him and felt that he would be happier to just be home. Once I had him home on the Sunday, I knew at this certain moment that the road to recovery was going to begin then and there.

I was laying on the couch with piper on my lap. As gross as this may seem/sound, I felt my stomach start to get wet and then Piper seemed to take a very deep breath and then he fell asleep. The poor guy had no control holding it in, but the fact that he was able to pee was such a relief for him - I could tell by the deep breath that he took. I knew at that moment that he was going to get better and although I had a wet lap, I was finally at a moment of peace. I knew that I did the right thing in getting him to the vet in time and allowing them to operate. Piper is now happy and healthy again and I'll never look back.