Mortaine’s Blog

I know, everything the last week has been tense doom-and-gloom in my journal.

On a more positive note, however, my friend is participating in Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. If you can spare a few bucks, she and her team would really appreciate it, as would I. Ashley’s dad is a cancer survivor of sixteen years, and will be walking in the Relay as well.

Cancer’s a bitch. Let’s all take a moment and count whatever health blessings we have.

Thanks.

For those of you sick of hearing about my cat, just skip this entry.

For the rest:

I haven’t heard from the vet today, but John and I saw Allegro yesterday and he was obviously feeling a lot better. Much more involved with us, more snuggly– he even laid down on our arms and hands towards the end of our visit (Allegro loves to trap your hands by laying on them– he has a hand fetish).

He was eating regularly throughout the day, and his lab work came back with the happy news that it’s not cancer. Fluid was still collecting in his chest, but it may have finally slowed down.

He may be coming home today, but if so, he will need regular drainings of his chest over the next few days (maybe weeks?) until he’s all better and the inflammation is gone. That will require daily or every-other-day car rides to the vet, but we’re hoping the more local vet will be able to perform the procedure so he won’t have to ride for 30 minutes every day.

It is possible that the inflammation will not go away, however. The lesion on Allegro’s lung isn’t cancerous, which means it’s probably something he inhaled, but which isn’t showing up on XRay or ultrasound. That could mean it’s already gone, or it could be plant material still lodged in there. If it’s a foxtail, it *could* require surgery to remove, and Allegro is in no condition right now to withstand such surgery.

Our plan for after he is home is to set up an additional litter box in the master bathroom and close him in the bedroom/bathroom suite when we are not available to supervise (basically, during work hours and when we’re in there to sleep). This is a decent-sized space and has the advantage of several windows he can look out of, the bed to sleep on, a bathroom if he wants to lay on something cool, and a door between him and Alladin. With luck, separating him, at least through his recuperation, will help him heal faster and be stronger overall. Another option is for John to take him to work every day, but the stress of that may be more than he can be expected to handle, especially compared to a quiet soft room away from everything. Medication-wise, he will need drugs twice a day (no different from now), but not more than that, which is good since we’re not home all day long.