Listening to the Voices in My Head

Brett from Lawnswood brought Ziggy home yesterday afternoon.

I’m now wearing the sealed locket containing a bit of her fur.

Also, they went a bit extra, and not only brought her home, brought some of her fur home for us, too.

Much crying has and is being done.

 

At 10:17pm, September 4th, 2019, Ziggy was helped across the rainbow bridge.  She had been rallying but she took a sudden down turn, was laboring to breathe.  Took her to emergency Vet, and ultra sound showed her cancer had progressed to the point that it was only the fresh O2 feed keeping her oxygenated.  Move the O2 and she would start gasping with her mouth open again.

It was time.

We made the heartbreaking choice, while she was purring, alert and calm, to help her cross.  We all spent some time with her, and when she was given a relaxing sedative, her head drooped, and she stopped breathing. She had been breathing from sheer force of her will. When she was given the sleep shot, it took took less than 2 second for her heart to stop. She was ready. 

We gave her g’bye cuddles, whispered in her ear how much we loved her.

Heartbroken now. I see her things, like her basket, empty.  I’m going to have to do something to remove these reminders, or I will be crying every few minutes.

Vet report on Keito - the vet was very pleased at Keito's recovery. Not only has the surgical site healed perfectly, our moggie has put on some weight. He should be seeing how much he's been catching up on missed meals.

Regarding the diagnosis of lymphoma: There are three treatments.

We could just treat the symptoms, which would suppress them a while, and it will come raging back in 3 to 6 months.

Another option: there is a treatment for small cell lymphoma. It does work, but it's toxic. Keito doesn't have small cell lymphoma. So gave that one the flick.

Third option: It's the most used one. It has a 25% chance of cure (wishful thinking) and a 75% chance of a 1 to 3 (or longer) year remission. The protocol is given by weight, so his low weight isn't an issue. AND because the lymphoma was caught early, gives him a damned good chance of remission. We have chosen option three. The vet said I have reasonable expectations. Sure, a cure would be great, but that is a slim chance. He said remission is very likely.

Also discussed Ziggy and her coughing. We were given the name of an OTC cough remedy that would work to break up the mucus. It's not a cure, but it will help her breathing. As long as she eats, does other cat things, and her gums are pink and her ears are pink and warm, she will stay with us.

She has lung cancer, more than likely already seeded from when she had mammary cancer. There is a silver lining to it because of the type it is. She isn't in any pain or distress, still eating and "Catting". She just won't have the breath to do a lot of running around, or other aerobic activities.

It will get worse, but there's no real time scale, as it took a year for it to even become noticeable. Vet said months. He said she could prove him a liar and last out another year.