Start of the semester and sick cat

The start of the semester has hit me hard, as it usually does, so I should know by now! I've got lots of wonderful new and returning students, with all the fun and challenges that comes with learning to work with new voices. In another couple of weeks when I know their voices better and have seen how they progress with the assigned repertoire, I can plan ahead more and not have to constantly think on my feet. Don't get me wrong, I love thinking on my feet, but after 5-7 hours per day of listening to people sing and considering what techniques and repertoire will best help them, I'm beat.I took Varda to the vet today for a follow-up test of her kidney function. The doctor is going to call later today with the test results, and I'm bracing myself because I can't imagine they'll be good. Her blood pressure is up in spite of the medication (rubbed into her ear in a transdermal gel because she refused to eat if she suspected there might be a pill in her food). Her weight is down to 5.13 from 6.something. She doesn't act like she feels bad, though it's hard to tell with Varda. She sleeps a lot but still trots up and down the stairs vigorously. She drinks a lot of water and the vet says she is well hydrated. She's an easy cat to ignore because she doesn't demand a lot of attention, so it is really hard to judge how she feels. She can climb into my lap while I'm at the computer and lie so quietly that I forget she's there.Poor little kitty, I can't imagine she'll be with us much longer. I haven't had to deal directly with the death of a pet yet, because the two dogs I grew up with died while I was away at grad school. I'm thinking I'd like to bury her in the back yard, but I'm not sure what the local rules are for this, e.g., how deep the grave needs to be and so forth. A cursory web search didn't turn up this information.In the meantime, I'm going to give her lots of hugs and hope we can keep her feeling ok for as long as it's possible before it's time for her to go.