Cream Puff the TriPawd

December 11, 2017

Cream Puff is deteriorating rapidly. She limps badly now, and falls over occasionally when her leg won’t support her. She hides all day. A week ago she had a slight limp. How could this happen in a week? Is this what an ‘aggressive’ cancer is?

I drove to U. C. Davis Veterinary Hospital for our appointment. It was at 10:30 and it was a long, traffic-clogged drive with Kitty crying all the way. I got in the parking lot at 10:15 AM. But I parked in the wrong place. Actually, I had a wonderful spot in the right place. But the sign said that I had to check in at building A. So I lugged the cat carrier to Building A. It turned out I should have gone to Building B. I was worn out by the time I got her there, and I had to turn around and carry her back to where I started. It was the first of many disappointments.

My appointment turned out to be for next Monday, not today. How could I have misunderstood? They had first made an appointment in Emergency for today, but I was changed to Oncology a week from today. I got the time change, but not the date change. I was upset, so Raymond the coordinator talked to me. He said he would call me at the next cancellation. I was bitterly disappointed and Cream Puff and I went home. She cried the whole way. She spoke for both of us.

I spent the rest of the day working at the computer and ignoring that Cream Puff was in pain. But Raymond really did call. I had thought that he was trying to get rid of me. He was kind. I have an appointment tomorrow at 3 PM. I will have to drive to U. C. Davis during rush hour but I don’t really care.

December 5, 2017

Dr. ‘L’ called and said she had the radiologist’s report on Cream Puff and it was ‘not great’ news. Not great? What an understatement.

Cream Puff probably has a form of cancer called Osteosarcoma. It is a cancer of the bone. Her left front paw must be amputated immediately at the clavicle. That is if we are ‘lucky’ and the cancer has not metastacized. If it has metastacized, then the ‘accepted treatment’ is euthanasia. Dr. ‘L’ was sorry she did not pick up the cancer when she looked at the x-rays. She was looking for broken bones and hairline fractures, not osteosarcoma, she said. She said it is rare in cats.

Dr. ‘L’ asked if I had any questions. I didn’t. I could not think. How had we gone from a ‘slight limp with minor soft tissue injury’ to ‘amputation’ to ‘euthanasia’ in 24 hours?

But I am lucky. I live 35 miles from U.C. Davis – the #1 ranked veterinary medical school in the world. I would not accept my vet’s diagnosis. I would take Cream Puff (at great expense) to the best in the world! I called and got an appointment for December 11 at 10 am. That time bothered me. Part of the freeway (near Vacaville) in under construction and further up the road (near Dixon) they are installing a new overpass in an earthquake retrofit. (I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, lots of earthquakes). In addition it would be the tail end of rush hour, and that is always bad. I would have to leave at 8:00 to get there and parked by 10 am. I was relieved when they called me back and told me I had spoken with Small Animal Emergency and not Oncology. They changed the appointment to 10:30. I took that as an omen that things would be all right.

December 4, 2017

I first noticed something was wrong on Friday, December 1. Cream Puff was slightly limping. It grew worse over the weekend. On Monday it was painful to watch her. I called the vet at 8 am, and got an emergency appointment the same day at 10 am. They wanted me to come in at 9:15, but I am not that fast.

I easily tricked poor Miss Cream Puff and put her into the cat carrier. She did her usual, which is cry piteously all the way to the vet’s office. She intermittently hissed at me. She is terrified in the vet’s office. Her heart beats frantically, and the vet often suspects a heart issue. Today she shook visibly. She hid under the examination table, but was good as gold. The vet likes her, I can tell. Even the receptionist said that Dr. ‘L’ loves Siamese. Cream Puff’s teeth are down from three teeth to only the two fang teeth remaining. (Cream Puff was adopted two years ago at age 8 from a rescue shelter. She once belonged to a hoarder).

Cream Puff was scared, and so adrenaline kicked in. She felt no pain and refused to limp in the vet’s office. But Dr. ‘L’ put an end to my fears. She could feel that Cream Puff put more weight on her right side than her left. She examined Cream Puff’s pads, toenails. and leg. She has no punctures, and her nails and pads are great. Her diagnosis was a soft tissue injury, probably from jumping off a cat tree and landing wrong. It will heal itself. Dr. ‘L’ did not want x-rays, but I insisted, although it was costly. The Vet gave me three pills only. They are anti-inflammatories.

Read this for important information!

Welcome to Tripawds. Please read on for important tips. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging. Don’t miss our helpful WordPress tutorial videos if you need help getting started with your new Tripawds blog.

PLEASE NOTE:

Tripawds Blogs shall NOT be used for commercial OR fundraising purposes.

The free Tripawds Blogs platform shall not be used by an commercial entity. Any blog created by a veterinary clinic, product manufacturer or any other commercial endeavor will be deleted and all users removed without warning. Please contact Tripawds regarding guest article submission opportunities.

Direct appeals for financial assistance to help cover care expenses will be deleted without notice. Everypawdy in the Tripawds community faces their own share of high expenses related to surgery, recovery and care. Veterinary financial aid resources can be found in the Tripawds News blog. Please see the Tripawds Fundraising Appeals Policy for more information. Thank you for your understanding.

Do not reply to this post!

Please publish a new post (or edit this one) to share your story. The Tripawds community is only notified of new blog posts in the Recent Posts widgets found throughout the News blog and discussion forum pages. Members will not be notified of any comments made on this default first post. You can also choose to edit or delete your sample page.

• See the Help videos in your blog dashboard or post in the Tech Support forum with any questions!

Publish a blog post or your site may be deleted!

Please be sure to publish at least one blog post to let us know you that you may use your blog. NOTE: Failure to do so may result in your site being deleted. If you upload photos to your Media Library, but fail to publish a post, we’ll never know they are there and they may be gone forever!

Another way to ensure your site does not get deleted, is to upgrade it with a Tripawds Supporter subscription.

By default your site will be indexed so Tripawds members will be notified of your update in the Recent Posts lists throughout this community. If you change your Privacy settings to discourage search engines, your posts will not be indexed! 

To limit the amount of spam you receive, any first comment a reader makes on your blog will require moderation. Be sure to “Spam” any inappropriate comments, and approve those from your readers so their future comments appear immediately. You can change your comment options from the Settings -> Discussion tab in your dashboard.

Thank you for sharing your story, and happy blogging!