I took Ms. Momma back to the vet because her paw is still swollen. They think that it just needs more time but that overall it’s improving. I am supposed to massage her paw a couple times a day to help with the swelling.
I’ve noticed issues with her breathing and mentioned them. Wow that is a quick way to run up a bill. It looks like she has heart failure and the outcome is poor. I had a choice to do nothing, to tap her and wait & see how much fluid comes back or to give her a low dose of Lasix and see if that will help. I chose the Lasix route, this will have an affect on her kidneys but they were in good shape as of the last blood work. Right now the time estimate I have is that I will loose her in the next 3 months.
I know my cat and I knew there was something else wrong and this fluid retention thing is new. It looked like she was trying not to drown the other night and I thought that was rather odd.
I am in a bit of shock but I am kind of peeved about the bill I got. They charged me $40 to do an ultrasound but no one asked me if it was okay, they just did it. Like I have deep pockets or something. Yeah she probably needed it and it’s what provided the insight into the fluid level but it would have been nice if someone would have asked me if I was okay with it and told me what it costs before they just did it.
As for the time frame to live, I had the sense that I am going to lose her. I think it will be soon but I honestly don’t know what soon translates to as for the time. Ms. Momma is a tough old woman who gave birth to 4 kids and 1 of them had a death diagnosis all the time but he outlived all of them until they finally gave up on telling me a time frame. I think that could easily be the case with her. You think the worst because of the findings you see today but in a couple weeks you could get a whole different picture and that could easily change things maybe speed things up or maybe slow thing down.
So long as neither of us is suffering I will do everything I can for her because I love her. That doesn’t mean taking out a 2nd mortgage on the house because I know in the end it’s a loosing battle. But I’m willing to spend a little bit on her if it buys me more time. I am already in shutdown mode and slowly trying to prepare for the inevitable. While at the same time trying to enjoy the time I have with the other two cats. You just never know I could go before any of them. It’s not likely but it is possible.
I kind of wish I had someone with me to help me absorb the news and comfort me but hey I’ve been down this road before and it’s not fun. It’s a road that you want to get off of as soon as you can because it’s quite the emotional & financial rollercoaster. I want to keep them forever but I know that just isn’t possible.
This is not the way I wanted to start off the week. I’ve given her the first dose of the Lasix and I hope that it works it’s magic to get rid of the fluids but that it doesn’t dehydrate her terribly. I wish that there was a pill that would just target the excess fluid around her lungs and not totally dehydrate her but such a pill doesn’t exist.
I’ve got homework to do in that I have to monitor her heart rate and chart it. Then bring all that data with me to the next visit which will be in 2 weeks. I’m seeing a different vet them, one that is a little more cost friendly. I do look forward to the day I have no pets in that I won’t have to deal with this vet. I’m only going there because I know they provide the best care. They aren’t the cheapest. If I get another pet after these 3 fur balls have passed away I will choose a different vet because I’m really over being taken to the cleaners financially. I know I could switch now but again it’s about the level of care. I have every confidence in the world that I am getting world class care but I am also getting world class raped when it comes to the cost.
Here’s hoping that things go up from here. 2020 isn’t off to the greatest of starts but the year still has 11 more months so things have plenty of time to get better.