Thank you for all the ninny directed energy. She's out of the deep woods and came out quickly. She's not ready to leave us yet. The vet called today and said she was feeling much better, in fact she was trying to bite him right then (James and I cheered).
Ketoacidocis is very dangerous, but we caught it right away and she stabilized quickly.
The vet says it will be less stress on her to be at home with us and start the insulin on Monday when we have our sugar cat (I like that better than diabetic) appointment. The doc seems to think her glucose levels will stay out of the danger range until then. There's no doubt we're on a complicated road here, she's likely going to need two or more shots of insulin a day and a daily urine/ketone test (yes, she's going to love that we have to hold a test strip in her urine stream whilst she's in the box) but the docs said she is certainly not ready to leave us.
It's so hard when the kitties get older. I had to make the choice for
Hotspur after he had what amounted to a severe heart attack (he had cardiomyopathy) that left his back legs paralyzed. It was the hardest thing I've had to do, but also my sacred responsibility. I held him and told him it was ok to go as he closed his eyes. As much as it hurt to have him leave it was the best thing. And I'll know when it's time for ninny. I'm so close to these kitties that I don't doubt they will let me know. Dr. Bryan, our vet in SF, said I must have some serious connection with them because I keep getting them into the doc before they even begin to show symptoms of serious ailments.
She's just not ready to go yet and I'm glad about that. As long as she can have a good miss ninny type life where she can creak at us (she doesn't meow, she creaks, loudly like a haunted mansion door) bite our noses, every so often thwap the boys, and go to sleep on my chest then we'll do everything necessary to give her that life.