Carried Over a Threshold

(This post is not about a cat, really.)

Monday I took my cat to the vet. I had been putting it off for awhile. I find I am spending more money on cat food and litter than I'd spend if I took her to the veterinarian and addressed her health issues. I believe she may be diabetic. She's getting fatter, goes pee a lot, drinks tons of water, has a voracious appetite and she can't clean herself very well because her fat belly is in the way. She has ultra-clean front paws though -- that's about as far as she can reach with her tongue. The vet told me that cats are the model they use for human adult diabetes type II. Diabetes is a common illness in cats. This illness can present a vicious cycle. She's fat. She doesn't move much. She's too busy eating and peeing to be interested in much else -- doesn't that seem kind of like a human?

I delayed taking my cat to the vet. It's not like she can get herself there. She's at my mercy. I'm nice to her most of the time though I suppose my delay in taking her to the vet could be construed as not being nice. I like to think of myself as more of a dog person (without the dog). I inherited these cats. I have two of them - Mingus and Luka.

I asked the vet for validation of my diagnosis. This validation cost $311.00 with lab work and "toxic waste elimination fee." (Hopefully the bank doesn't mind if I skip part of my house payment this month). In addition to validation of diagnosis, the vet told me that February is Pets Dental Health Month and this means I can get a "discount on teeth cleaning or any dental procedure for [my] cat!" Then he offered an estimate of $347.00 to fix my cat's teeth. I never even look inside her mouth. Why does he have to? When is it going to be Pets Gynecological Health Month? Oh, yeah, that's the month I trade in my cats for a goldfish and pair of tweezers. I reminded the vet that February is Black History Month. I thought since my cat has partially black I should get an additional discount during February. The vet tried to argue with me but I said that my cat was at least as black as Obama. Unfortunately, I lost the argument. There is no discount for being part black, fat, and feline with bad teeth. 

As a joke I asked the vet about cat dentures? He said we *could* make her a grill. I thought if she had a grill, she might not be able to eat as much food, and by not eating, her diabetes might go into remission which would save on future vet bills, food, insulin and cat litter. Hopefully once her insulin is regulated, she'll stop making that annoying squeaking noise too.

In my spare time I have been wondering about thresholds (and unfortunately if people don't start buying more high-end bath and kitchen products, my time will continue to become more spare). 

What does it take for a person (or a pet) to realize they need to do something about their health? I am certainly guilty of this. While busy watching repeat episodes of the Real Housewives of Bullshit County, I reached beyond any threshold I ever thought I'd reach with a cancer diagnosis. The lymphedema threshold has been met without as much fanfare as the cancer because I acknowledge(d) and deal with it daily. There is a woman with lymphedema whose leg is enormous and chronically infected. I want to know what her threshold is, and is the reason she's in dire straights with lymphedema a lack of health insurance or can she still hang on with her disease, pretending she can survive the next infection? 

Do you wait until you weigh 500 lbs or a toe falls off inside your shoe or your foot is too big to fit into your car? If we know that something is wrong with our health, for instance, a doctor says "You are pre-diabetic" -- why does a person wait until they actually are diabetic instead of dealing with it at the pre-stage? When a doctor says 'pre' anything, we need to consider this a moment of grace. The doctor just might be saying -- Now is the time to do something before you're sick, tumor-filled, or dead; before you reach beyond a threshold.

In fairness to my cat who was never given a choice in her situation, I thought I'd take her to the vet to find out what's going on before my house smells like dead cat corpse. And late last night I found out that I was correct with my diagnosis. She is diabetic. Now I have to get a second job to buy her insulin and special cat food. I will have to give her insulin shots daily and somehow force her to exercise. It has taken me long enough to force myself to exercise daily. Isn't it enough that I set a fine example?