My older cat is suddenly being affectionate after moving.

Hi everyone. My cat, Kato is 12 years old. I've had her since she was 8 weeks old and she has always been an independent cat. She has never liked being picked up, being on peoples laps, and she was always generally very grumpy. Certain people would walk by her and she would just growl and then start purring. She was always just the type of cat to keep to herself and do her own thing and you would only see her when she wanted food. Anyways, she's a long haired tabby and she ended up getting matted fur on her back so we took her to the vet to get shaved, they had to put her to sleep for it because that's just how aggressive she is. When she came back from getting her new and funky lion hair cut, she all of a sudden started acting more affectionate towards me. We were in the middle of moving to a different province so I was only able to sleep on the couch and she slept with me for the first time since I brought her home! A few days later, we left my hometown in our car with the cat and our two dogs, she wasn't very fond with the car ride and was meowing so loud and sadly so I let her come in on my lap (my Mom was driving, I was in the passenger seat). I was so suprized she even came on my lap! So not like her. Any who, We finally arrived at our new home 14 hours later and got all settled in. Set up Katos cat post, her food, litter box, etc and she seemed to be doing just fine. Next thing we know, about a week ago she started getting sores around her eyes, little bumps on her back that felt like pimples and hair loss on her ears. In a scare, we took her to the vet thinking it was either ear mites or fleas.. The vet diagnosed it as fleas and gave her steroid meds to take for 8 days. We we're really worried because in the province we are from, fleas are very very uncommon! We gave her meds and within 2 days we could tell she is feeling way better. She doesn't seem irritated and isn't excessively grooming/scratching herself. Now while I'm sitting on my laptop at my kitchen table, she will just come and sit on my lap and want to be pet and then just sit there and fall asleep. This is very strange for me because she has all of a sudden turned into the affectionate cat I always wanted her to be! I'm just wondering if the over-affection can mean something else? Should I be worried? Is it to do with old age, stress from the move? Also, she has been on the steroids from the vet for 4 days now.

For some reason the change in environment helps sometimes. It also could be age my female was 11 months old when we moved and right at a year she changed. My female was never cuddly never wanted to be pet and would never be caught dead sleeping in the bed with me or my fiance but once we moved with in a few days suddenly she started wanting attention and affection she wakes me up just so I can pet or cuddle with her. I dont really have any answers sometimes its something beyond us that makes them realize that people can be nice and petting is enjoyable.