Monday, July 28, 2008

Vet Visit

So today I had my vincristine. I got weighed, and I am down to 4.5kg, I was 4.7 kg two weeks ago. This is almost half a pound of weight loss. So it seems the weight loss was not a scale variance. I lost a lot of weight with the doxo last time too, but not this much. I did eat less this time though. Mom is still not happy that the nausea doesn't seem to be quite following the usual pattern. Yes, she kept me eating well by giving me lots of Zofran, but during the second week when I should have been eating my usual can and a half, I wasn't. I still would only eat a little less than a can, and even that required almost-daily shots of Zofran. Finally, I haven't been regularly coming up to snuggle mom and dad at night for two weeks. I do this almost every night when feeling well, yet I've only come upstairs about twice in the past two weeks. This could all still be related to the chemo, and the vets aren't mentioning concern to my mom yet, but she is still worried.

Also, they wrote on the sheet that my kidneys were large and had "abnormal surface". Now, they usually write "large, lumpy" or just "large", so it seems this is just the way my kidneys have healed since the cancer. They did do an ultrasound about 5 weeks ago and found no cancer then, so hopefully this is just the status quo. Mom asked a tech, and they said that yes, it was just a different doctor's terminology, not to worry. And the detailed notes mentioned nothing about the weight loss or the kidneys, and they didn't do another ultrasound, so mommy figures they aren't worried, but she worries just the same.

Oh, I was terribly fractious at the vet's today! I was just a darling angel this morning- mommy picked me up and I snuggled her and she set me in front of the PTU and I walked right in, no problem. I was noisy the whole drive down of course, but did not growl or meow once brought into the vet's. So, Mom asked the the vets if they could try the IV chemo with me today instead of putting me in the gas chamber like usual. Well, before mommy even got back home from dropping me off (it's an hour drive), they had called Daddy and said that I was being fractious and needed the gas chamber. Daddy was home from work today and thought the call was quite funny indeed. He said "Sorry my cat is a donkey" to the vets. But he used the three letter word for donkey. I wonder why he did that. The vets also seemed to find it funny when he said that, maybe because THEY know I don't look anything like a donkey! But the really fractious part about today was when mommy went to pick me up. The tech came out, gave mom my meds and an update on me, and then went back to get me. She came back empty handed and told mom that I was lunging when she tried to close the door to my carrier! So mom had to come back to the treatment room and help. Mom stuck her hand near me and said "see, it's me, mom" but I don't like the smell of the vet place so I hissed and almost bit her whole hand off, so mom gave up that idea. Instead, she had to close my door with a ruler and then the tech distracted me while mom quickly latched the door. As soon as we got in the car I turned right back into a darling angel. :)

Finally, I got some thorough bloodwork and pee-analysis today. Apparently they do this every 90 days or so just to see how things are going, it wasn't out of alarm or anything. Not sure when we will have the results on these, please keep your paws crossed. Mommy was sort of annoyed, they made no mention that they do this, and it added $150 to our bill today! Mommy thinks she might help me add a paypal button to my bloggie. Mom and dad are definitely able to pay for my treatment, but they've spent about 6000 green papers so far to do it, and are starting to get into a bit of debt. They know everything will be fine once my chemo ends in 3 months, but they say the debt numbers are starting to get scarier.

8 comments:

The Meezers or Billy said...

oh Texas, you are so brave, and so are your mommy and daddy. we are purring and purring for you to start feeling better and not lose anymore weight

Castle said...

hey Texie...please don't worry too much bout the weight loss..Stormie lost some weight during chemo and she never ever got back to the weight she was before the lymphoma came to her. she veered between 3.25 and 3.75kg for 18 months, up and down she was!

chemo is so expensive, we fully understand the stress it can cause. is your vet cool about staggered payments? it's worth asking...i have tried to extol the virtues of pet insurance and a few people on the blogosphere have now insured their kitties after I revealed that we spent about £13,000 ($26,000) on her treatment. Luckily we were insured, but we still have to pay 20% excess due to age - we still owe our vet £1200 for Stormie! She was worth it though.

Texas, you keep fighting my little fellow - the meowmies seem to worry because they can't actually talk to us and ask us stuff - they will analize everything when tending to a sick kitty, it's cos they love you so much xxx

Smeagol and Strider, Mystery (Sunnin' at the Bridge) and Gizmo too! said...

We'll keep purrin' hard for you and your beans, Texas. We really hopes you feel better soon.

You sound like me (Smeagol) when I haves to go to the v-e-t!! The last time, I had to come home in a different, bigger carrier 'cause they couldn't get me into mine!! They haven't had to gas me yet, but Mom is always afraid they're gonna say next time they'll have to.

Moki The Wobbly Cat said...

Oh Texas, those vets can be such pains...we think maybe next time you should give them a nice big bitey...

You hang in there and keep up the good fight!

Sweet Purrfections said...

Texas, you are such a brave kitty. I don't like going to the VET just for a checkup and here you are going on a regular basis for all types of treatment. I know you didn't mean to hurt your mom, you were just a little scared. Special purrayers are being sent your way.

The Taylor CatSSSSS said...

Texas, you are very brave!!! We hope that you are feeling better soon.

Anonymous said...

Poor Texie, you have been through it again. Like Castle says it's hard not to analyse every single little thing when nursing a sick kitty.

I hate going to the vets too, but our vets (in the UK) use a product on their hands called Felifriend, it's a cat smell that cats see as being a friendly cat smell and can be quite calming for a cat who is very annoyed about being at the vet. I wonder if your vets have heard of it and if they might consider using it when they handle you?

You take care and rest up after the vincristin.

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Oh Texas, you must eat! It is very important! We will be purring and purring for you to gobble up lots of food.