looking good 10 days post-surgery
So here's what's up with Oliver. The tumor they removed from his intestines (a big nasty thing-I saw the pictures) was something the pathologist called a 'poorly differentiated tumor'. Basically (as far as I understand) it was so jacked up with evil cells that they couldn't pinpoint where the cancer actually originated. This makes diagnosing the type of cancer that he has pretty much impossible. Yes, they removed the mass but they are pretty sure that there is still some cancer in there just waiting to wreak havoc on the inside of my awesome orange kitty. The bastards.
Because they can't say for sure what type of cancer it is we are going with the vet's gut feeling that this is some kind of lymphosarcoma and treating it with chemotherapy and a daily dose of steroids. When it comes down to it we are taking a leap of faith and hoping that we are treating it the right way. The kicker is that we really won't be able to tell how he is doing any other way than going by the way he behaves. The only option to track progress would be an ultrasound to see if the tumor is growing back or if the cancer has spread someplace else. This is feasible on occasion but could become insanely pricey if done too often.
For some people euthanasia might be the only choice but we decided to do chemo for three reasons: 1. He's young, only 5 (the vet said cancer at his age is very unusual), 2. He has recovered very well from his surgery. His staples are out, his appetite is back to normal, and he is using the litter box. With very few exceptions he seems to be back to his old self, and 3. We love the fuck out of this cat. We've had him since he was a kitten (he was one of our foster kitties) and love his crazy, meow talking, toddler tolerating, peanut butter eating, giant clawed, mischievous ways.
For some people euthanasia might be the only choice but we decided to do chemo for three reasons: 1. He's young, only 5 (the vet said cancer at his age is very unusual), 2. He has recovered very well from his surgery. His staples are out, his appetite is back to normal, and he is using the litter box. With very few exceptions he seems to be back to his old self, and 3. We love the fuck out of this cat. We've had him since he was a kitten (he was one of our foster kitties) and love his crazy, meow talking, toddler tolerating, peanut butter eating, giant clawed, mischievous ways.
come on! how much cuter can you get??
Thankfully the cost isn't as high as we thought it might be. He's getting a shot once a week, taking one drug four times a week, and then a steroid every day. There is no medication given during weeks 5 and 6 and then on week 7 the cycle will repeat, as long as he still seems to be doing well. In the end it only works out to be just a little over $3 day per cycle. Obviously if we decided to do an ultrasound to see what was going on in there it would be more but even with that figured in would only about $6/day/cycle. I can easily cut $42 a week from my spending and whatever I might buy is so NOT as important to me as having Ollie around another day.
