Saturday, November 6, 2010

Wheel of Life or Go With the Flow Part II

Well, in the continuing saga of life in my world, the trees are gone, and I'm feeling exposed and vulnerable with that at a time when I'd really like just to crawl into a snug hole and ignore the rest of the world, but that doesn't seem possible.  However, Lance delivered lots of new trees in various sizes this morning, so I suspect the yard will evolve as it should into something which is even more me.  Chauncey survived his trip to the vet for teeth cleaning and lump removals (turned out to have two lumps removed), and other than looking sad with long incisions, he is doing fine.  But right after I wrote my last post I noticed that my oldest cat, Sasha, had a massive lump on the left edge of her mouth.  I rushed her right into the vet (same time Chauncey was there), and two vets looked at her, both having very grim expressions.  They did a biopsy and this morning Dr. Alan called to say that it was in fact a very aggressive form of oral cancer and that she's got anywhere from 2 weeks to at best 6 months of reasonable quality of life.  I'm to take her in every two weeks for an antibiotic shot, and she'll also get anti-inflammatory steroid shots every 4 weeks I think, and meanwhile she is now on a soft food, A/D, which she likes (as do the other two cats!), and I'm just giving her all the love I can.  She is 15, but I'd hoped to have her for a good many more years.  Anyway, that news has just really upset me.  I know life is about change and that none of us has any guarantees about tomorrow, and at least I can give Sasha lots of love and affection and keep her as comfortable as possible, but it is rotten, in my opinion.  Other than the cancer, her blood work is excellent, more in line with a 7 year old than a 15 year old, but that's the luck of the draw I guess.  In all this loss I am trying to find the positives--I can see more of my plants now with the big firs gone and I can have the blue-green conifers which are my favorites.  Chauncey is doing great for an old dog.  Sasha seems comfortable and she likes the new food.  Poosa, Thackeray, and Laoise are all fine and healthy.  And so it goes here on Vashon.

2 comments:

  1. Daphne, I'm so sorry to hear about Sasha's diagnosis. I hope, despite it all, that you both DO get lots more quality time to spend together. Her good blood work, the fact she likes the food, and especially all your love and TLC will stand her in good stead! I'll be sending you both healing love and good thoughts! xoxo

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  2. Many thanks for your healing love and good thoughts. So far, Sasha seems to be faring ok and she does love all the attention. As a vegan it is hard to do the canned food, but at least A/D smells less than others! The trick is to let Sasha eat it but not the other two as neither Thackeray nor Laoise needs high caloric food! But we've compromised--they wait (not always very patiently) so that Sasha can have all she wants at any given moment in time (and I'm learning how much to put in her bowl each time as we do this many times during the day), and when Sasha has had all she wants and walks away from the bowl, then the other two get what is left. What a system! Anyway, one day at a time, right?

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