Decisions, decisions
Oct. 8th, 2009 12:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieI took J to see the specialist yesterday. Dr. S confirmed the diagnosis of high-grade, aggressive lymphoma, and gave me a list of options ranging from "fight to the last ditch" to "make him comfortable and let him go."
The thing is, we already know the cancer is going to win. It's just a question of when, not whether.
Aggressively fighting this kind of lymphoma in a sixteen-and-a-half year old cat involves weekly trips to the specialist (which means more than an hour's worth of travel-time, round-trip), lots of injections, lots of bloodwork, and has about a 50% chance of doing any good. Even if it does any good, we're still only talking about 4-6 months, statistically speaking.
Making him comfortable is a range of options at home, from giving him daily pills to doing nothing more than giving him the super-yummy prescription food.
It wasn't an easy decision. It would have been harder, but bless him, J made it about as plain as he could that he did *not* want to take any more long trips to the vet. He complained a lot (for him) on the trip up and the trip back, and when I got him home, he walked out of the carrier, flopped down on the floor, and gave me a look that clearly said "Wow. That was uncomfortable and exhausting. Can we not do that again?"
Okay, kitty. We won't do that again.
We're going to keep giving him the steroids (Dr. S. switched us from prednisone to prednisolone yesterday, as it's better processed by cats), and we'll give him the leukeran pill, and we'll keep giving him the supplements and the prescription wet food and as much love and TLC as we can. He's doing pretty well right now; his appetite is up, he's a bit more active, and he's not in any pain. With any luck, we'll have a few weeks of good-quality time with him like this. And then, when the time comes, we'll let him go.
Yoicks. I'm getting choked up just writing that. I am going to be a complete and utter basket case when it actually comes time to do it. Fortunately, Jake has already raised the question of after-care with us, and we've made that decision, along with the decision to euthanize at home when it comes to it.
It is good to get these decisions made while I can make them with a semblance of rationality. Goodness knows I won't have any when the day comes to say goodbye.
The thing is, we already know the cancer is going to win. It's just a question of when, not whether.
Aggressively fighting this kind of lymphoma in a sixteen-and-a-half year old cat involves weekly trips to the specialist (which means more than an hour's worth of travel-time, round-trip), lots of injections, lots of bloodwork, and has about a 50% chance of doing any good. Even if it does any good, we're still only talking about 4-6 months, statistically speaking.
Making him comfortable is a range of options at home, from giving him daily pills to doing nothing more than giving him the super-yummy prescription food.
It wasn't an easy decision. It would have been harder, but bless him, J made it about as plain as he could that he did *not* want to take any more long trips to the vet. He complained a lot (for him) on the trip up and the trip back, and when I got him home, he walked out of the carrier, flopped down on the floor, and gave me a look that clearly said "Wow. That was uncomfortable and exhausting. Can we not do that again?"
Okay, kitty. We won't do that again.
We're going to keep giving him the steroids (Dr. S. switched us from prednisone to prednisolone yesterday, as it's better processed by cats), and we'll give him the leukeran pill, and we'll keep giving him the supplements and the prescription wet food and as much love and TLC as we can. He's doing pretty well right now; his appetite is up, he's a bit more active, and he's not in any pain. With any luck, we'll have a few weeks of good-quality time with him like this. And then, when the time comes, we'll let him go.
Yoicks. I'm getting choked up just writing that. I am going to be a complete and utter basket case when it actually comes time to do it. Fortunately, Jake has already raised the question of after-care with us, and we've made that decision, along with the decision to euthanize at home when it comes to it.
It is good to get these decisions made while I can make them with a semblance of rationality. Goodness knows I won't have any when the day comes to say goodbye.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-08 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-08 09:44 pm (UTC)I'm here if you need anything.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-09 05:08 am (UTC)Hugs-
-Ry