The week started out simple enough with a trip to see Dr Silverman for a surgical checkup. Vincent’s wound looked great and everything was on track. Mrs H followed up on Tuesday with a visit to her own doc and I had to go see the dentist, so we had a family doctor’s week. Everyone was home for the evening when Vincent started breathing in little gasps with his mouth open. Cats have absolutely no business breathing with their mouths open, so we took him to the Animal ER at once.
We are frequent flyers at the ER and the staff greeted us as old friends. The doc on duty was Dr. Flores, a friend and a magnificent veterinarian. She figured out that Vincent’s pain killers had worn off and his pain was affecting his breathing. They drew some blood and began treatment. Dr. Flores wanted to keep the kitty overnight for further tests and an X-ray. Overnight turned into two nights Vincent’s heart turned out to look a bit funny on the x-ray and Dr Flores wanted to do a heart echo. Dr. Koplos, another amazing physician and someone who has helped us heal many cats, came in and did the test, then sent it off to a cardiologist for a looksy. As it turns out, Vincent had some heart disease but it was in such an early stage and so mild that V’s Doctors suggested we watch and wait, count his breaths and monitor his health at home.
We picked Vincent up from the ER on Thursday and took him back to Dr. Silverman (the surgeon) for a wound check on Friday. Later on Friday afternoon, one of our little FeLV+ cats crashed. Pearl, a very young kitty, had been hit with lymphoma and we’ve been keeping her comfortable for as long as she wanted to be with us. That day, she just absolutely crashed and the kind folks at Desert East helped her over the Rainbow Bridge. We will miss this sweetheart forever.
Saturday morning found me working on finances and sending “Thank You” messages to some new donors. As of 15 Feb, $5,039.75 has been paid on Vincent’s medical tab. And then I was grabbed and told we needed to take Vincent to the ER again – his breathing had gone really bad again. Three hours later we got back to the house with a small ER bill and a referral to Dr Hibbs, a fantastic cat eye doctor who we know very well. Dr Flores at the ER figured out that Vincent’s funny breathing was coming from congestion in his nose instead of anything more serious. She began to wonder whether he had an abscess behind his left eye, perhaps a remnant from his major cancer surgery.
Mrs H found the pet heating pad and introduced it into Vincent’s kennel. Boy, was that cat in heaven. After his meds and a snack he slept on the heating pad, curled up like a kitten. We both collapsed – her into bed and me into my chair with the heating pad and a heated soaker for my feet. We were absolutely exhausted.