December 12, 2017
I repeated my drive to U.C. Davis Hospital, and again I got a great parking space. This time I went to the right building the very first time.
My doctor was Dr. ‘G’, a nice student. She loved Cream Puff. Everybody does. They redid the x-rays from Redwood Pet Hospital. I had told Dr. “L” at Redwood I thought Cream Puff was limping because she jumped off the top of an 8-foot cat tree and fell. So the x-rays she ordered looked for broken bones and hairline fractures, not cancer.
Dr “G” and an assistant took Cream Puff and did tests on her – bloodwork, x-rays and ultra sound, among others. It took hours and hours. I went to Scrubs, the cafeteria, and hung around until it closed.
I had hopes that U.C. Davis would come up with a brilliant diagnosis that did not involve pain and suffering. But they didn’t. I found out that Cream Puff is in a lot of pain, and her bone disintegrating inside her body. She probably has Osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, but they cannot be sure. It might be a fungus. They tried three times to biopsy the spot where Cream Puff’s bone is disintegrating, but all they pulled out was blood. Osteosarcoma in cats is far less dangerous than in dogs. It is also far more rare. Amputation of the affected limb ‘cures’ the cancer unless it has metastacised to another spot, around 80% of the time. The x-rays and ultra sound showed no sign that it had spread, but there could be developing cancers, called microcancers.
Because of the speed of Cream Puff’s deterioration, they scheduled the surgery for Friday, December 15. I am to bring her in on the 14th. Dr. ‘G’ thought Cream Puff might be able to go home on Saturday.
I was dejected as I drove home. It was late, but at least rush hour was over.