Happy 2s Day!

It's 2/22/22 or 22/2/22 depending on where you live.  And it's Tuesday.  How much fun is that??  I'm going out tonight to celebrate, because I can.

Here's a gratuitous orchid pic for everyone sick of winter.

maybe progress?

I took Kitten for her follow-up vet visit.  She was feistier this time, so I took that as a good sign.  She heard me getting the cat carrier out and hid under the bed.  I had to coax her out with banana bread cricket bars, which they sadly no longer make.  I don't know why, but she loves these bars more than I do.  She wakes from a sound sleep when she smells one in the house.

 

 

Her leg is still swollen, but at least it's no longer bleeding.  The prognosis is it's likely a tumor.  However, she's rapidly approaching 16 years old, and I'm unwilling to subject her to a bunch of medical nonsense to increase her life.  I feel the same way about me.  Death with dignity for all.  

For now, I'm managing her wound and not doing a bunch of biopsies and surgeries.  She's eating well and limping gracefully around, tending to her feline duties.

two limping steps forward and one backward

Maybe she's getting better?  She started bleeding again, and I panicked and put the cone back on when I went to the gym.  And again, she wouldn't let herself relax while wearing it.  As soon as I took it off when I got home (I skipped celebratory lunch after working out), she walked a couple steps and collapsed into a nap.

My workout partner/friend noticed something was obviously wrong with me, especially when I said I was skipping burgers afterwards.  And I told him about Kitten.  When he was talking about various things to try, I suddenly remembered this stinky stuff that my brother recommended to me for my wounds.  It was made for animals but worked great on me, too.  So I rushed home to try it on her.

 

 

It stinks, just like I remembered, but it temporarily stopped the bleeding again.  In the meantime, the vet called me back, and I explained that I was having a hard time with the powder application.  He told me that it was a squeezie bottle and to shoot it out.  So now my house looks like an 80s coke party.  Perhaps some even landed on her injured leg.  I had previously been trying to shake it out like salt on a fine meal.

The vet also explained better why he thought it might be cancer, because the inflammation didn't respond to the initial cortisone shot.  She turns 16 soon, so at this point, I just want her to be comfortable in her final time in this simulation.

the downside of pets

My cat began limping a couple weeks ago.  I assumed it was old age until the bleeding started.  I took her to the vet, always a traumatic event for the both of us.  They barely looked at it, said it was a bug bite or something, gave her antibiotic and anti-inflammatory shots, and sent us home with a big bill.  But at least they treated her with dignity and were gentle, despite her hissing and yowling.

They wouldn't wrap the wound.  After cleaning up blood from way too many surfaces, I fashioned a type of bandage on her that held a day until it scabbed over.

 

 

Yesterday, she started bleeding again.  It had been ten days.  She saw a different vet at the same clinic.  He unceremoniously dumped her out of her carrier (WTF) and let her jump from the table to the floor.  Again, WTF??  Now she was in a foul mood.  But at least he took it seriously afterwards.  He shaved the spot to see it better, and then x-rayed her to see if the bone was affected.  He didn't seem to think it was, but still threw the cancer word around several times.

He gave me unrealistic instructions to follow, even when I tried to tell him it was impossible.  I felt like a bad mom for not being able to.  Again they wouldn't wrap the wound, and he gave me a powder to sprinkle on 3x a day.  WTF!  Try holding a cat down and turning their leg so you can sprinkle powder on the inside back leg.  It's a two person job.  And he gave her a cone to wear to keep her from licking it.  

 

 

I watched her pace the house, bumping into every wall, getting stuck on the stairs and in corners, for three hours.  It was horrible.  She was exhausted but wouldn't lie down and sleep.  In my struggle to put the fucking powder on her (yes I used a fucking towel, two in fact), her cone came off.  I finally powdered a bandage and tried to wrap the wound again.  I was also tired of following her and cleaning blood everywhere.  Once it was wrapped, I left the cone off, and she fell asleep about five steps from where she was.

She stayed there a couple hours until I lifted her onto the bed with me, on a few towels of course, in case the bandage came off.

This morning she ate her antibiotic pill in her pet pocket without any fuss.  I'm debating the whole powdering nonsense, but that much stress can't be good for her.