Month: October 2016

He seems relatively okay. He’s got a great big, mother of a long incision, and he’s very wobbly on his feet, but he’s eating and drinking, and if he was in a lot of pain he would be hiding out somewhere, not eating. I’m very stressed however, and I’m trying to relax. The box that I put out to give Finney a place to get away from Bleecker has been appropriated by the tormenter himself (scroll down to see).

Finney’s tumor is relatively small, and hasn’t progressed. Given his age, and his arthritis, and his weird collapsed foot, the vet thinks his best outcome would be from removing the tumor as best they can, and he thinks they have a good shot a removing all of it cleanly, and not doing an amputation.

I’m not saving money, but this is the best possible news except, “We were wrong, he doesn’t have cancer!” Now all I have to do is schedule the surgery. I could do it as early as Thursday, but I kinda want to give him a break and the vet said it would be okay to wait until next week. Still, I have to believe the sooner this is done the better.

Update: We’re doing this on Thursday.

More Halloween decorations in the neighborhood.

I’m taking Finney to the vet in a couple of hours. I wish I didn’t have to face this decision. Why oh why can’t I ever have a cat who dies of old age? Or dies without me having to make a decision about it?? Anyway, lots of annoying baby-cat-talk in this video. I apologize in advance.

I’m going to hand these questions to the vet who may or may not be performing surgery on Finney. They’re going to put him under to do the ct scan, and they prefer to proceed with the surgery right then and there, depending on what they find. They don’t like to put cats his age under anesthesia more than is necessary. So I’m going to ask them to call me after the ct scan. This is what I’m giving him before the CT scan:

1. Now that you know the extent of the tumor, and if the cancer is in other locations, what are the chances he will survive two years? I can’t help noticing that the tumor seems to have grown significantly larger in just this past week.

I absolutely want to avoid making his last months alive spent recovering from such a major amputation. If he doesn’t have good odds for two years I do not want to go ahead with the surgery, and I would prefer to try radiation to shrink the tumor to give him more time, if that might work.

2. How well do you think he’s going to be able to manage afterwards, now that the weird collapsed right front foot will have to take on more weight and balance?

3. Now that you know the extent of his arthritis, how well do you think he will do on three legs?

4. Everything I’ve read indicates that pain management is key to recovery. What will I be able to do for him at home?

5. Would he manage better with a ramp instead of steps to get up on the couch? (I want to either make one or buy one right away if this is the case.)

Creepy hand Halloween decoration. Interesting that I chose to post a picture of a disembodied hand today.

Most people will probably think I’m insane but I’m now leaning towards doing this surgery for Finney. He’s getting a ct scan on Monday and I will have to make a decision right there and then. If the tumor is not ridiculously large and has not progressed to other parts of his body I’m going to do it. If it is and it has, I won’t.

Halloween has begun to appear in the West Village. It’s my favorite holiday, tied with Christmas of course.