blamebrampton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blamebrampton) wrote2008-03-06 01:53 am
blamebrampton) wrote2008-03-06 01:53 am
Min update -- last chance kitty
The thing that really irks me about diagnostic medical dramas is that they start off with something relatively innocuous, like asthma, then progress to more extreme probabilities, such as pneumonia and lymphoma, and then in the third act the tests come back and the chief medico (in this case Richard the understanding and sympathetic uber vet) breaks the news that it's not as he hoped and is in fact a carcinoma. At which point either a miracle cure is effected as the last crucial piece of information falls into place, or it becomes a maudlin exploration of death with dignity.
So, to be the bearer of bad tidings, the Min cat is down to her last thin hope.
It could well be a thyroid-based carcinoma, and, if it is, it may be one that responds well to radioactive iodine. Otherwise she has a few weeks to a month, maybe two at the very outside.
I didn't ask for percentages, because it either will or won't and there's really not much point playing maths for the next two days until those tests are back.
In happier news, she's at home and breathing quite well. As Richard said, it is bizarre that she has improved markedly over the last two days, and, aside from being near death, she is in excellent health. It seems extremely unfair. J and I are trying to be all jolly as she bounds up and down the hallway and leaps out from her hidey hole under the study bed to scoff salmon.
So we will be on constant kitty watch for the next four days, wait for news, and assess our options. In a worst-case scenario, we'll see about day boarding her at the vet next week so that she won't be alone if she has a bad attack while we're at work. I'm taking tomorrow of and J is taking Friday.
On Min's part, she is happy to be home and appalled that other cats have apparently been in her garden. She is hiding under her favourite bed and being a bit freaked out, despite the fact we have put the cat box away. She knows Things Are Afoot. I can see her keeping her Stoic front up so that any bopping on the head is delayed for as long as kittily possible. And of course, aside from the fact that her windpipe is being closed by cancer, she is in excellent condition. But she could do with a spot of luck for once.
As things are, we will be spending tomorrow in the garden, with the expensive salmon, and a water gun so she doesn't need to make any effort should stray cats appear.
So, to be the bearer of bad tidings, the Min cat is down to her last thin hope.
It could well be a thyroid-based carcinoma, and, if it is, it may be one that responds well to radioactive iodine. Otherwise she has a few weeks to a month, maybe two at the very outside.
I didn't ask for percentages, because it either will or won't and there's really not much point playing maths for the next two days until those tests are back.
In happier news, she's at home and breathing quite well. As Richard said, it is bizarre that she has improved markedly over the last two days, and, aside from being near death, she is in excellent health. It seems extremely unfair. J and I are trying to be all jolly as she bounds up and down the hallway and leaps out from her hidey hole under the study bed to scoff salmon.
So we will be on constant kitty watch for the next four days, wait for news, and assess our options. In a worst-case scenario, we'll see about day boarding her at the vet next week so that she won't be alone if she has a bad attack while we're at work. I'm taking tomorrow of and J is taking Friday.
On Min's part, she is happy to be home and appalled that other cats have apparently been in her garden. She is hiding under her favourite bed and being a bit freaked out, despite the fact we have put the cat box away. She knows Things Are Afoot. I can see her keeping her Stoic front up so that any bopping on the head is delayed for as long as kittily possible. And of course, aside from the fact that her windpipe is being closed by cancer, she is in excellent condition. But she could do with a spot of luck for once.
As things are, we will be spending tomorrow in the garden, with the expensive salmon, and a water gun so she doesn't need to make any effort should stray cats appear.
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*gingerly pets Min*
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The vet said that he thought it "Could well be" a thyroid tumour and that "It may then" respond to iodine, though apparently that treatment is immensely more successful in benign tumours than carcinomas. But she really is due a spot of luck.
Thanks for the pats, she purred.
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I know I am always asking you for photos, but do you have any pics of Min that you could post? I'd like to see what she looks like.
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I know, it's getting very late for you. I was surprised to see your post at this time.
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