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Aug. 20th, 2011 04:34 pmSo, about three weeks ago I took Ajé in to the vet, and it ended up that she had a significant abscess in an upper canine that meant that the entire tooth needed to be removed. She went into surgery and came out apparently fine, but with checkup appointments for a week out, and then two weeks after that, which lead us to today.
I brought her in today and they discovered that removing the infected tooth had revealed cancerous cells, which have formed a mass large enough that her lower teeth are catching on it and causing her to sneeze. Because it's in the upper jaw, there's really not mush to be done about it – the doctors consulted with each other and basically advised me that having a biopsy done was useless, because (a) it would be another anesthesia event, which wasn't safe at her age, and (b) knowing with certainty if it was or wasn't cancer wouldn't change the options or, really, the recommended treatment path. And it seems to be at the point where terms like "palliative care" and "quality of life" are coming up in the conversation. She's also lost about a pound in the past two weeks, which isn't a terribly good indicator. So.
They sent us home with enough medicine for a week and an appointment to come in next Saturday and see if anything looks different. I dunno. She's 17 years old, which as cats go is pretty ancient, and she's been healthy up until just recently, and I've kinda been watching her for a while with the knowledge that she might not be around for much longer. I'm not sure exactly how I feel, or how to quantify how I feel, right now. Then, I rarely am.
I brought her in today and they discovered that removing the infected tooth had revealed cancerous cells, which have formed a mass large enough that her lower teeth are catching on it and causing her to sneeze. Because it's in the upper jaw, there's really not mush to be done about it – the doctors consulted with each other and basically advised me that having a biopsy done was useless, because (a) it would be another anesthesia event, which wasn't safe at her age, and (b) knowing with certainty if it was or wasn't cancer wouldn't change the options or, really, the recommended treatment path. And it seems to be at the point where terms like "palliative care" and "quality of life" are coming up in the conversation. She's also lost about a pound in the past two weeks, which isn't a terribly good indicator. So.
They sent us home with enough medicine for a week and an appointment to come in next Saturday and see if anything looks different. I dunno. She's 17 years old, which as cats go is pretty ancient, and she's been healthy up until just recently, and I've kinda been watching her for a while with the knowledge that she might not be around for much longer. I'm not sure exactly how I feel, or how to quantify how I feel, right now. Then, I rarely am.
