Good and bad news

[blamebrampton]

 Firstly, you folk are amazing. Thank you all very much for all the human support and cat love; I even managed to sleep for five-and-a-bit hours!

Two vet conversations today. The first one was to check she'd lived through the night. The night vet was a nice chick who confided that she'd nearly rung me to tell me it looked hopeless around 1am but had slapped Min back in the oxygen box and thought to wait ten minutes first. After ten minutes, Min was so much better that she settled down and had a good old sleep. The vet was astonished, and very glad she'd not 'woken me' (I didn't confess I stayed up till 6.30 so I could be sure of talking to her before she went, because I'm only comfortable looking that odd in front of J and you).

Then she popped Min back in her box and Min proceeded to eat up all her food and sit down and have a good groom. Said the vet: I have never seen another cat do that, ever.

Me: Oh Min loves food. When she stops eating, she won't be dying, she'll be dead.

Vet: Great cat, I can see why you guys like her so much! Anyway, I'm much more optimistic about her than I was at 1am. The medical specialist is in at 9am and he'll give you a call when he knows what's up.

The medical specialist just called. He said that she had had a bad attack of fighting for breath shortly after he'd come on duty, so he'd investigated her first and found numerous growths in her windpipe (I KNEW her lungs weren't full of fluid!). He'd scraped several back and collected tissue samples for path. She was actually responding quite well to the increased airway and the oxygen tube, though he was keeping her under some sedation. He said that he thought the most likely story was lymphoma of the windpipe.

"Ooh," I said, deflated.

"No, you see it sounds bad, but that's actually good!" he said. "We have a saying that if you have to have cancer, be sure to get lymphoma, because it responds better to treatment than anything else!"

"Oh," I said, more hopefully.

"So you may well end up with a cat on chemo, but that's not too expensive and it's eminently survivable. We have a Siamese in here at the moment who had it four years ago, and he's fine, except for his broken leg."

"Was that the cat that was yowling all last night?"

"Er, probably."

"So she'll have a voice, still?"

"Oh yes, though she seems very quiet."

"She is, until she wishes to announce to other cats they are about to die, then she's loud."

"She sounds like a real character."

"Easily the most interesting cat I have ever owned!"

At this point I realised I was doing what I do when I get run over and impressing upon the medical people that they want to go to extreme efforts to save this cat/person of great charm. So I stopped. The vet told me that the path would be back on Tuesday and that we would have a plan of action by then. I forgot to ask if we could visit.

Thank you all again for the good wishes and positive vibes, I am sure that knowing her importance in the universe is no small part of Min's resilience in the face of great adversity!

Now, off to research cat chemo!

Comments

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear she's doing better and is probably afflicted with something treatable. I know someone who's cat went through chemo and she was just fine afterward. Min sounds brilliant, so I hope the same thing for her. *hugs again*

[dragonfly-lily.livejournal.com]

Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea! I am so glad to read that. Yea!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Oh that is good news! Was it bankrupting? I forgot to ask! I'm happy I decided not to buy that new jacket yesterday after all this ...
*hugs back!!*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Oh the relief! I cannot tell you! Fingers crossed!

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

It wasn't cheap, but it was affordable. I'm not certain of the exact cost, however.

[lilliputian722.livejournal.com]

Having 7 cats of my own, I know how rotten it can be when one is sick and it sounds like your poor baby is having a really rough go.

Here's hoping she's better soon!

[yodels.livejournal.com]

Well, that sounds hopeful. Good luck!

[empress-jae.livejournal.com]

that's great to hear! :D

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that she pulled through. Scary though. I'm glad you managed to get some rest - I'm sure you needed it.

I know next to nothing about cat chemo so I have no words of comfort to offer but I'll continue with the positive vibes and keep my fingers crossed for you guys.

Life's never just easy, is it?

[sarcasticpixie.livejournal.com]

<3 to the kitty -- I'm a cat woman, too!

[kestrelsparhawk.livejournal.com]

Poor sweetie -- and her family! Cats HATE being away, and it seems so unfair that they are usually when they're sick. I'm so glad for the better news, anyway.

Don't EVER feel weird for wanting to say goodbye to a pet, or for caring a lot. Cats are family, period. Cat persons and dog persons (and birds, etc. for that matter) who live with us aren't human, but they have a place and when they're gone, that place stays in our hearts and hurts us just as anyone else residing in our heart. The grieving process is just the same -- and every other person who's had a pet knows that.

So I've got my fingers crossed, and you have my sympathy. I hope you don't lose her for many years.

[shadowclub.livejournal.com]

I am made of fail! I just commented on your other post!

Yay! She made it! I mean I don't even like animals (as pets), but I wouldn't mind having a pet like Min!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

She would bring you a wide variety of rats in very good condition, and then take them away to dismember them elsewhere when you thanked her but mentioned you'd already eaten!

You are not made of fail, you are made of kind! And it is appreciated. Still a long way to go, but getting through the night is a good first step, and 70% of cats respond well to the chemo, more if, like her, they are otherwise healthy.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Thank you! How do you manage with seven? One strangely dense beast who delights in waking through standing on bladders is handful enough! You are an exemplary cat owner.

It will be a haul, but I am at least rationally optimistic today after last night's somewhat forlorn hoping.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The odds are in her favour she will be here in July, somewhat stacked against her for the New Year. But she is otherwise healthy and very tough. If belligerence counts for anything, she will go into full remission.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Immediate crisis over, long haul beginning. And now to decide whether or not I should take a refund on my 440 euro conference tickets for November ...

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

No, it's not. I did have to laugh at night vet's astonishment over her pigsiness, though. She is a bit of a guts, comes from having to live on rats for such a long time.

Apparently 70% respond well and live another 6 months, of that, up to 40% go into remission and gain years. That latter figure is mostly comprised of cats that are negative for feline AIDS and feline leukaemia, and that are in otherwise good health. She is at the older end of things, but otherwise fits that profile entirely, even has all her own teeth in perfect working order. I tell you, these rats are good stuff when it comes to kitty health!

Thanks for the good thoughts, I am feeling a lot better that everyone loves their pets crazily.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Of course you are, you are a Right Thinking Person!

Thanks, she can do with all the love that's spare.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

She seems to cope reasonably well at the vets, so long as she is not put next to another cat. Then she tires herself out looking for ways to eat the other cat. I think she is a bit of a dog cat ... she doesn't mind canines at all.

It was weird trying to cheer her up when she was in her little perspex box. She seemed very calm (and later had a long snooze in the box, so clearly found it to her taste), and I was outside with my fingers like the climactic scene of a boy in the bubble film. It was all very Made for TV ... But yes, we will be packed lunching it for the next few months to pay for the kitty, and that's fine.

Thanks for your good wishes, they definitely help me, and may well be helping her, too.

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

\o/ Yay!

Sorta O/T: So why do you have a dog in your default icon? *cocks head inquiringly*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I really like 15th and 16th century art and advanced the small dog theory of portraiture and group images. Which is: Renaissance Artists who were concerned that their images lacked a certain humour or balance would often use a small dog to inject a note of liveliness.

This is one of my favourite small dogs from the period.

[sarcasticpixie.livejournal.com]

I come from a family of Right Thinking People, it seems -- when my Sylvie-cat went into acute renal failure three years ago, after 14 years of pampering and regular table-scrap feeding and deciding that the best place for a 17-pound Maine Coon to fall asleep was directly on top of her humans' faces while they snoozed, my father made the comment that he "has probably cried more about the cat passing than [he] will when [his] mother dies." My own mother and I were horrified, but amused, and repeated the line all around and snickered and et cetera.

...and then my grandmother passed on last year, and THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. My father is 61 and has lived through some serious hell, but the only time I've ever seen him cry was over Sylvie. Apparently, we totally like our cats more than we like most people, even those to whom we are closely related. (My parents definitely gave my childhood bedroom to Jasper-the-terror when I moved out. Now, I sleep on a couch when I visit because we can't upset the cat, who has stress-related skin problems and who is on cat antidepressants due to the new neighbors' cats taunting him through the window, and last year he pulled all his fur out in frustration and my mother had to introduce him to the Thanksgiving guests as "This is Jasper, our Ethiopian exchange animal." His front half has grown back to normal, but his rear end is still scraggly, despite my father feeding him tenderized steak on a daily basis and my mother leaving the nature channels on while they're at work so he doesn't get lonely.)

....er, the point of all this is that I ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT understand your love and devotion to the Min-cat, and she'll be in my kitty thoughts as Jasper and I duke it out for the honor of sleeping on an actual mattress tonight.

[calanthe-fics.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a complete drain and very stressful, but I'm really pleased. I hope you get to bring her home soon.

[norton-gale.livejournal.com]

Sounds like most of your LJ friends love cats. :)

I dreamed last night that I got a package from you. It was Min in a crate! She was very small and angry. I put her in a cage (nothing I'd ever do in real life) and she ran back and forth. I think your card said she wanted to visit my cats.

Glad the vet thinks she's curable. A lot of diseases are different in cats than humans. I don't think treatment will be cheap, but I don't know anything about the cost. I do know radioactive iodine for my cat's thyroid condition was about $900.00 US for a one-time treatment. Yes, that's a lot of money, but it's four years later and I have a healthy cat.

OH, thanks for your very kind comment on my earlier post: sorry I haven't answered yet *embarassed*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I think you've been too busy being supportive over my cat crisis to answer any other blather from me!

That dream is hysterical! Min would be furious if I left her in a crate for a flight, though she found the car interesting last night (it was her first time!) She would eat your cats, though. All cats are for eating, with the grudging exception of soft grey kitty next door who is her ally in the war against Tigger the tabby over the back fence. The lesbians who own soft grey kitty are so nice to Min that I think she feels too guilty to try and eat their cat.

I do have a package for you, though. It's been sitting in the front room for three months, missing sundry event deadlines as I look for the one final thing I wanted to stuff into it. I actually thought I'd posted it one week, then realised I hadn't. I think the cat may sometimes be smarter than me.

My guess is that treatment won't be cheap, but I am hoping that it will be drawn out costs rather than a big single one. I know we're at up to $1500 for the last two days plus the boarding, and if the chemo is then a few hundred every week or two, that's a lot more manageable than several thousand in a one-off stint.

I may need to switch to cheaper cosmetics and resole my old shoes. It can be done!

Just saw mum on telly leading the '78ers at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, I thought of how you'd laugh if you were here.

And yes, my flist is full of kind people, and kind people always understand the love of a good mad cat.