Castiel is back to his usual hijinks…trying to steal his sibling’s food and currently begging for my husband’s steak. He’s Castiel just with three legs now. He’s finished all his medicine and seems to be doing well. We’ve been watching for signs of pain and we haven’t seen anything that raises our alarm, although we understand cats can hide pain. One of our biggest fears going into this was that he wouldn’t be like Castiel — that he might get depressed and shut down. Thankfully that has not been the case — and Castiel is nine so middle-aged, and he still seems to be adapting fine.
We’re expecting to have a consult with the oncologist tomorrow, so we will find out more then about whether radiation or radiation/chemo is recommended or whether we need to do anything but follow-up. The consult was supposed to happen last week but the doctor didn’t call — other emergencies, I think. I am expecting they will recommend radiation but we’ll wait and see. I think the fear is always that some some microscopic cells could have escaped. With good margins, I think it is unlikely but cancer can be sneaky. And the surgeon did mention to my husband that there was signs that the cancer was already trying to regrow where it is was removed from the first surgery (before the amputation).
On Wednesday, Castiel will get his sutures removed. It looks like it has been healing well. We’re dressing him in the onesie overnight so we can all sleep and so his one-year-old sister Clover doesn’t bathe his sutures or catch them if she decides to gets feisty. But overall so far so good.
Love this so much
(Bad cells stay away for ever please)
Thank you for all your updates! I’m so glad Castiel is recovering well! I’ve been following along and it’s been so helpful to see your experience. I am still having a hard time deciding what to do with my kitty Charlie. He has cancer in his right shoulder area. We did an ultrasound and there was no sign that the cancer has spread. He has high ionized calcium which could indicate a second cancer but we did additional blood work and they determined that the high calcium was due to diet. So now we have him on different food. Charlie is 13 so my fear is that I will put him through a lot just to buy a small amount of time. When maybe he would be happier keeping his leg. But the alternative doesn’t sound great either… especially if the cancer grows very large or spreads everywhere. His main dr and surgeon recommend amputation. I keep searching for a moment of clarity but it’s just not coming to me. I wish there were more studies of how much time I could potentially buy him with a surgery like this. I love all your updates so please keep them coming!
-Michelle
The parlor panther is BACK! It looks like nothing’s gonna stop your middle-aged love bug from doing what he wants–or getting it! Hope dad gave him a little bite for being such a good patient 🙂
Paws crossed you don’t have to do any extra cancer care! Keep us posted.
Oh yes, he got a little piece of steak. He’s such a good panther. He’s napping right now with his belly in the air, while his humans are trying to figure what if anything to do next. So much confusion.