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I just lost my mother in June of 2007 and now it appears that one of my beloved cats has cancer. He's been losing weight but otherwise has appeared fine. His blood tests came back normal but my vet didn't like the fact that he'd lost 3 pounds in a 4-month period and offered to get an appt with an ultrasound internist, which I booked as soon as possible. Yesterday they did the ultrasound and my vet told me that they found something that looked like cancer in Hoagie's small intestines. They did a fine needle aspiration and sent it out so that we can know what we are dealing with for sure.
No one wants to heard that awful word and I fell apart right away, to the point where I barely heard a word she said. I asked her to come back in when I was a little less hysterical and explain what was going on and what I could do about it. It appears that he may have lymphoma and that we caught it early, which may give him more of a chance to live. They treat this sort of cancer with oral or injectible chemo and apparently there's some success with it.
Aside from the weight loss, Hoagie is acting normally (well, normal for him!). He's eating (with much gusto), drinking, purring, grooming, watching birds outside the window, and head-butting me as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning. He does not seem to want to leave this earth just yet and I want to give him every chance to remain here. And when he's ready to go, I will help him then, too.
Maybe I'm selfish but as long as he remains symptom-free and is not suffering, I want him with me. I love this cat. He has helped me in my journey of grief over my mother and I don't want to be grieving for him, too, if I don't have to.
Can I ask for healing energy for him to help him fight this, because that's what he seems to want to do?
And if there's any energy left over for me, I could use it, too. This is all very overwhelming. And the ever-present anger has been rearing its ugly head and I don't want it to rob me of the energy I need to help Hoagie through this.
No one wants to heard that awful word and I fell apart right away, to the point where I barely heard a word she said. I asked her to come back in when I was a little less hysterical and explain what was going on and what I could do about it. It appears that he may have lymphoma and that we caught it early, which may give him more of a chance to live. They treat this sort of cancer with oral or injectible chemo and apparently there's some success with it.
Aside from the weight loss, Hoagie is acting normally (well, normal for him!). He's eating (with much gusto), drinking, purring, grooming, watching birds outside the window, and head-butting me as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning. He does not seem to want to leave this earth just yet and I want to give him every chance to remain here. And when he's ready to go, I will help him then, too.
Maybe I'm selfish but as long as he remains symptom-free and is not suffering, I want him with me. I love this cat. He has helped me in my journey of grief over my mother and I don't want to be grieving for him, too, if I don't have to.
Can I ask for healing energy for him to help him fight this, because that's what he seems to want to do?
And if there's any energy left over for me, I could use it, too. This is all very overwhelming. And the ever-present anger has been rearing its ugly head and I don't want it to rob me of the energy I need to help Hoagie through this.
I'm going through something similar with my cat and have discovered he's in early liver failure and also has thyroid problems, (we originally thought he might have lymphoma and as he old and I chose not to do the ultrasound or biopsy, he still might).
I, too, have chosen medication and comfort support measures. Like yours, he's still eating and acting normally. And like you, if he begins to suffer, I will help him here too, as you say.
Yes, there is some success with chemo and oral meds but in general the life expectency is shortened. On the other hand, you could get a couple of years. Mine has survived about a year and a half now. Also there are new meds and techniques coming out all the time, so there is always hope.
So here's positive energy coming your way for you and Hoagie. I know it's hard but try to let go of the anger. Anger will wear you down. Instead, focus on what can be done and then do what you can.
Good luck to you and Hoagie.