A 'Quality of Life' Question

"...then it becomes a 'Quality of Life' Question."

That was the vet on the phone to me today. We had been talking about Rascal, the 17yo cat who has apparently responded rather badly to General Anesthetic.   We had both been hoping she would recover.  But she cannot stand, has little control over her hind end, and is apparently incontinent and hypothermic.  I had just related this to him when he made the above statement.

Other than that, she is fine.  In fact, she is being spoiled rotten: Eating, drinking, meowing loudly to get ...stuff delivered to her bed, which is now in the place where the poor dog's bed used to be, -the best spot in the house- purring contentedly most of the time, with her own heating pad, clean sheets, and food and drink delivered often. Grace and Joe bring her treats and fuss over her, the other cats are staying well away, and Grace even knit her a special fluffy blanket.  She seem doesn't miss activity at all. Cats sleep about 20 hours a day anyway, and at 17, she has no desire to climb trees, jump on counters or chase ...anything

In fact, from her standpoint; right now her quality of life is probably the best it has been since we adopted her about 8 years ago.

Now I know she is at risk for pressure sores, atrophy (physical and mental), infection and a host of other stuff. I am not discounting that. But right NOW her QoL is fine. If I could just sit with her for 7 hours a day and scratch behind her ears, and maybe organize a little pool of sunlight into her spot, all would be perfect... 

It is MY quality of life that has suffered.

I spend a lot of time in this room anyway, but I have been loathe to leave it in case Something Bad happens. I slept down here the first night, which messed up my back. I have been squatting down to give her food and water, change bedding, and clean her. Squatting for some reasons makes me feel very faint. I don't generally have orthostatic hypotension, but  squatting seems to do the trick nicely.  Who knew?  I could just sit on the floor to do these things, but that aggravates my back even more. My hands are flaring; -I think from the stress.

She is happy as a clam and I am a mess.

Now this is only a tiny example in a little house in suburbia. A teeny,  weeny example involving a cat.  But it got me thinking about the whole "Quality of life" question, in light of recent news.  Because that is something I always wanted to know. When people talk about "quality of life" whose life do they actually mean?  It is implied that it is the life of the disabled person. But I really wonder.  Do they really mean the carers QoL?  Or is it a more general thing, like they QoL for the whole family? 

And how the fuck does one measure "Quality of Life" anyway?

I really want to know.

Comments

[yanub]

You raise an intriguing issue. There are real quality of life issues sometimes, with both pets and people, but often it is the caretakers quality of life that is really at stake. People get tired of being caretakers, even when the person they are caring for is content, or relatively so, with their life. And this is why society must really give more attention to the issue of caretakers. No one should be expected to be a sole caretakers, or to do it constantly without regular reprieve. It needs to be an act of joy and devotion, not numb duty.

Now, to the serious cat issue. When I had my cat put down, I felt guilt because I hadnt figured out what was going on earlier so I could have at least gotten him pain killer for his last couple of days. The vet assured me, however, that it is almost impossible for an untrained human to recognize suffering in a cat. They wont let on. The purring? Purring is self-soothing as much as it is a sign of pleasure. Dont put too much stock in it. Pay attention to the other cats. They sense distress, which is why they are hanging back. Ask the vet directly what to expect. You dont want to be kicking yourself for not understanding how dire things are, if they are indeed actually dire.

[truthseker]

Interesting, yanub,I never knew that purring could be an attempt to self-sooth, which could be a sign that the cat is in pain. I'll watch my own cat more closely.

And quality of life - sure, I think it is good to look at the quality of life of everyone in the family.