Treatment
Diary: November 1-5
Friday,
November 1st
- This morning Hector jumps up on the counter and there is blood
everywhere! Slits have opened up on the top and outside, and the
tumor is draining as I have been told it should.
He
is acting like his usual self - trying to get out the kitchen
window, dogging the door...
Saturday,
November 2 - this morning he jumps up on the counter for breakfast,
opening the wound and causing it to drain so much that the scab
is not forming properly to stop the bleeding. I quickly photograph
it, then attempt to bandage it, but even with the ecollar to prevent
him from chewing the bandage off, he shakes and shakes and shakes
his leg to get it off. The shaking makes the bleeding much worse
and he soaks the bandage. I rebandage and shut him in his travel
crate and he somehow gets the bandage off. But he lies pretty
quietly with the bandage off, so I sit him on the coffee table
and watch over him to see if he starts again. A few hours and
I let him out and put him in his basket, he lies quietly. I watch
over him all day, but the bleeding has finally stopped.
Click
here if you'd like to see the morning's
photo - be warned, its very bloody.
Sunday,
November 3 - before he has a chance to get out of his basket
I bring his breakfast in to him so he won't get up. But when I
go back to the kitchen, a few moments later he appeared, jumping
up on the windowsill (I had bloxked off the counter so he wouldn't
do that again) and once again it starts bleeding. I pick him up
to carry him back to his bed but at that moment the dogs push
through the bedroom door (which must not have latched when I closed
it) and Hector pushes himself out of my arms and makes a flying
leap over the dogs who have come running up, dashes into the bedroom,
into the far hallway and out the dog door. In a panic I run after
him, and we play keep away until he jumps up on the tree and I
manage to grab his back legs and haul him back inside. There is
a lot of blood all around the yard, on me, on him, on the tree.
He seems exhausted at this point and lies down in his basket,
and lets me hold a gauze pad on the wound until the bleeding stops
(see photo, below) and even lets me bandage it up aftewards with
no shaking. This has me worried. He sleeps the entire day, though
I keep waking him up to check on him. That night he eats his dinner
in his basket and still seems tired. I'm worried about him.
Monday,
November 4 - I wake up at 6:00am to check on Hector, and he
doesn't look right. His nose, usually pink, is white. His gums
have some pink to them when I press on them, but something is
wrong. I offer him canned food and he eats it though, and gets
up to use the litter box, but then goes right back to his basket.
I wait until 8:00am and then as soon as the vet opens, call and
get a 10:00am appointment to bring him in. I decide to try a different
vet, Dr. Nancy Scanlan, at the Sherman Oaks Vet Group. She is
an alternative vet who treated my dog with acupuncture many years
ago. Unfortunately, she only works Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,
so I make the appointment with another vet, Dr. Lisa Woolf. I
hope since they work in the same office she might be a bit more
understanding of what I'm doing to my cat!
She
is. In fact, she's great. She listens to me and checks out Hector,
and says he does look anemic but his activity level seems ok (he
growls at her and tries to get away from her). We decide to check
his blood levels to make sure. They come back terrifyingly low
- 12 PCV. Transfusion may be necessary, however because his activity
is ok and his eating are normal, she says taking him home securely
re-bandaged and bringing him back in 24 hours for a recheck is
safe. She suggests feeding him some raw chicken liver, which is
high in iron. The raw food I am feeding him does have chicken
liver in it, but he doesn't like the raw food so he's not eating
much of it, considering how much of the canned Felidae I'm having
to mix with it.
Hector
gets a bandage all the way up to his elbow, and sleeps the rest
of the day. I get a tub of chicken livers and he eats right out
of the tub. Easy.
Tuesday,
November 5 - Blood level is up to 14. His nose is back to
pink, though 20 is still anemic and 30 is normal. Make an appointment
with Dr. Nancy Scanlan for Wednedsay.
Wednesday,
November 6 - Dr. Scanlan has treated other pet cancers with
Cansema before, successfully. What a relief to have someone who
can monitor the progress! She takes off the bandage, and the wound
looks like a flat red disk, almost indented, like the skin has
been scooped out. She says it looks good, but to keep it securely
bandaged to prevent further excessive blood loss. She also gives
me a sheet with specific supplements to help build his immune
system and fight the cancer. They include a liquid vitamin B,
vitamin E, glucosamine and Omega Oil (or cod liver oil), all common
known cancer fighters. She recommends having him eat as much raw
food as possible, also the raw chicken liver. She says even just
a little bit, like the size of a quarter of my pinkie finger,
is enough. And not to let him eat more than two full fingers worth
a day. She rebandages his foot so that it looks like a baseball
bat. That way he won't eat through it, or use it. She says bring
him back in a week to recheck, but if he gets the bandage off
to get him in right away.
Wednesday,
November 7 and 8 - Hector is back to normal, though mostly
leaving the bandage alone. He chews through one layer of the tape
and gives up.
Next
> November 9 and beyond
