FANTABULOUS NEWS - Stormy

CatWoman ( diana@wetware.com )
Mon, 8 Feb 1999 11:55:38 -0800 (PST)

People - those Candle Ceremony vibes must have
been working *overtime*!

For those who didn't see it (I'd just tucked the
note about Stormy at the end of another post),
Stormy, my almost 15 year old, started coughing,
a deep, croupy/bronchial cough, around the first of
the year. Cats as they age have problems, but this
guy has more than his share - he had diabetes 2 or
3 years ago; and last year had radioactive iodine
treatment for a thyroid tumor.

We tried antibiotics for a while, and there didn't
seem to be any change, so we had him x-rayed, and
found that the center lobe of his lung was shadowed.

So - he went in for a bronchioscopy (a scope on a
tube is threaded into the lungs, where the lung is
looked at). The lobe was full of crud. They were
able to extract some of the cells, but no definite
diagnosis could be made - but the upshot was that
there was crud in the lungs that he couldn't get rid
of.

So - they wanted to go in and remove that lobe. I
had scheduled the operation for today - the first one
available for the specialist. Meanwhile, I was giving
him antibiotics daily, and keeping him in the bathroom
with warm/damp air.

Dropped him off this morning, figuring I'd be picking
him up sometime around 6 for a fast ride to the emergency
clinic to be monitored over night. Had made arrangements
to take part of the week off to monitor him, and had
gotten a friend to agree to come with me on the drive
in case something happened (lung surgery is *really*
major).

So - I just got a call from the vet - first thought was
that she'd found he was really FeLV+ and it was really
lymphoma.

BUT - she said he looked so good that whatever I'm doing
is *WORKING*! She did NOT want to operate, but to
continue the warm/damp air and antibiotics, and do a
re-check in 2-3 weeks!!!

YAHOOOOO!!

Diana
(whose credit cards are also relieved!)