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Cat has a mass on her shoulder. It started out small, now it's very big. Weeks and weeks of working with the vet and it's finally been identified as a fibrosarcoma. A big one. A very, very aggressive one. Now I'm being told that we need to do a CT scan to see how deep it is. Then surgery (probably including amputation of a front limb) to remove it, if it's not too deep in the ribcage or something. Then they think radiation is necessary, but of course there's no place locally here in Utah that does it. Closest place is Fort Collins, CO. 7 hour drive in good conditions. And even if everything goes super well with all that? Median survival time afterwards is only 3 years. And we're talking thousands and thousands of dollars for only 3 years. gently caress every goddamn thing.
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Dec 15, 2022 20:53
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 08:27 |
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CT Scan shows the Fibrosarcoma going all around the shoulder, coming closeish to the spine and ribcage. They're not sure they can get good clean margins. She'll definitely lose the leg even in the best case scenario. Waiting to hear from the oncologist if it's too close to the ribs. Good(ish?) news is that there's a local vet that's expecting to install a radiation device down in SLC which is ~30min drive for me, in early 2023. So maybe metronomic chemotherapy to keep the sarcoma in check until that becomes available? Trying not to get hopes up, trying not to get all defeatist. Frustrated and angry and anxious (Mostly anxious, had a moderate panic attack over this last night) but gonna fight it to the best of my ability. Luckily I've been saving for emergency so financials aren't an immediate worry. khy fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Dec 16, 2022 |
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Dec 16, 2022 20:23
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Tell me something, PI. Is it a bad idea for me to consider the surgery? Is losing a limb but staying alive worth it? I've heard so many 'heartwarming' stories about cats with 3 legs that get overlooked at adoption and then find the perfect forever home, and they always go on about how the cat does well with 3 legs, but... it's a drastic operation, amputating an entire limb. Is it really a good thing to keep her even with such a loss?
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Dec 17, 2022 05:18
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OK I totally posted all this without thinking about how it'd look because I was overly emotional. And when I re-read it I wonder if I haven't given off a bad impression. 1st post - I wasn't complaining about the money. I was complaining about the time. I want more than 36 months with my cat. She's only 4 and it feels unfair not to be able to spend more time with her. I was angry and frustrated and scared to death because I just got off the phone with the vet and it felt like she was going to leave me right away, and even fighting the cancer (Surgery/radiation) was not going to give her that much more time. I'm still going to fight this. Extra time with her is worth it. But my father brought up how much losing a limb might affect her quality of life. He felt like such a drastic step as amputation might make her unhappy during the remaining time, might make her quality of life bad and when I found out how he was feeling I had doubts. I wondered whether or not I was doing the right thing keeping her with me. I don't want to lose my cat, and I felt like maybe it was selfish of me to want her to stay even after losing a limb. So... I'm sorry if I gave a bad impression. Just wanted somewhere to vent and ideally get some feedback from others about how things might turn out.
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Dec 18, 2022 09:18
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Thanks guys. I appreciate the well-wishes, honestly. The good news - Cat was dropped off today for Surgery. They were able to remove by far most of the cancer, though they couldn't get good margins everywhere due to where it was located. If nothing else though she should be in much, much, much less pain. She did lose her leg but given how bad the tumor was I don't think there was ever any hope she wouldn't. The bad news is since they couldn't get good margins she'll be on metronomic chemo - on and off trying to slow down the tumor as much as possible until radiation therapy becomes available and we can fight it more directly. I'm just gonna spend the next few months doing what I can to make her as happy and comfortable as possible while fighting it. If we succeed.... fantastic. If not? I will make her as happy as I can for as long as I can. EDIT - Cat's back home. Seeing her try to walk is very, very heartbreaking. Nothing I can really do about it except just give her her space and give her time. I hate not being able to actively do something. khy fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Jan 6, 2023 |
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Jan 4, 2023 00:58
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After the Biopsy, she kept scratching at the suture site and reopening the wound. I was worried she would do that after the surgery too. So we got her a 'Suitical' to use in place of a cone. Can't lick and can't scratch the site. I take it off when she's supervised and leave it on when she's not. She does not enjoy it, but it's for her safety. That's the 'cleanest' picture I could get, the surgery site is very, very big and not pleasant to look at but the suitical made that image much less ugly. khy fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Jan 9, 2023 |
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Jan 8, 2023 19:49
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Biopsy came back - it was a FISS (Feline Injection Site Sarcoma). I hadn't heard of these before but apparently it causes very, very aggressive tumors in cats. Ideally would treat with radiation first then chemo, but as the radiation isn't available in my area and I can't send to Colorado for treatment, going to do 5 rounds of chemo with a 3-week delay between rounds. Don't know how everything'll turn out but I'll do as much as I can.
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Jan 11, 2023 19:12
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 08:27 |
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Unfortunately despite all efforts, she passed away this morning.
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Jan 12, 2023 18:49
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