Yesterday, I went to Alexandria with Megan to a cat cafe. What is a cat cafe? It is basically a very nice room in which you can pet about 15-20 cats who are all available for adoption. We paid about $20 a person for this privilege and had a very relaxing time. I had almost wanted to take a cat nap, lol. Megan’s been having a tough time and is a dedicated cat lover (3 cats), so I thought this would be a nice relaxing outing for the two of us. Though I had to make sure Megan didn’t come home with an extra cat. We both enjoyed the company of Sassafras who might not have enjoyed being handled exactly this way.
Megan was drawn, of course, to the special needs cat Pumpkin Shot who had three legs and was recovering from surgery. The cafe had about 15 people in it, but we were all quiet because we are cat people. It appears to be a popular idea for a first or second date because it’s located in the hip Alexandria downtown and there were two young-ish couples who seemed ever-so-slightly overdressed for the occasion and seemed to be awkwardly not talking to each other.
Megan and I had a long discussion about Daybue and so I do want to put a caveat on my pessimistic post before. We both agree that if there is a modest, but true benefit to Daybue, it quite possibly will be masked by Edda’s age. I know something is doing something in her brain because of the increased seizures during the first week of admin. I also think that if she is magically “cured” (like via gene therapy or some other method), that she will never recover fully and be like a regular 19 year old. It’s unclear to me that even with a full cure if she would be able to learn to talk or move well given that she has not practiced her whole life. If Daybue does anything, it would be much more marked in younger patients at the beginning of their neuroplastic development which there is not enough data to show if this is true or not.
I went to a cat cafe for the first time in May. I did not have the joyful experience you had – it just sort of mad me sad! I want to go to one that makes me happy!
I understand your complicated feelings about Daybue. Hopefully it does provide Edda some relief and the side effects don’t negate that. Also, hopefully IT does show that there’s interest in treating Rett’s and more research will go into it.