The care instructions for Nysse’s post-surgery period are intense. Three kinds of medications, each on different schedules and in different fiddly formats, plus physical therapy. I have detailed daily checklists and schedules to make sure I don’t miss anything.

There’s an opioid to be applied on the mucous membranes of the mouth, which I find rather tricky to apply, and easiest to do if he’s mostly asleep. There’s an NSAID suspension to be given orally either directly or with food. And then one more painkiller in the form of little powder-filled capsules, of which he needs half a capsule daily, which has me dividing small mounds of a white powder into equal tiny parts. Weird experience.

The initial instructions had him on six-hourly doses of the opioid, so I got up at 3 o’clock at night to make that happen. But it seems to be making him way too lethargic and he has had very little appetite, which is most unlike him, so we’re tapering that down to eight-hour and then twelve-hour intervals already.

He may be eating less than usual, but he’s not picky about his food. I’ve mixed both the NSAID and the painkiller straight into some wet cat food, and he gobbled them down without batting an eye.