Maybe. The harsh truth is we will never know, about much of anything, actually, except perhaps mathematics, which is described as a perfect discipline, although...All my previous objections to bringing Krista down to the vet at the first sign of trouble seem foolish and reckless now. I wonder how much time I may have had for her if I wasn't so stubborn about not wanting to stress her out. Or myself. I don't like vet bills, worrying about findings and results, and cleaning up after a stressed cat. But none of that seems to matter if I could have caught something earlier, before it became a big enough deal to punch through my anxiety and stubbornness. I'm not saying that's what's going on here with you and Tarifa. I'm just musing for myself. If I wasn't so vet averse myself, maybe Krista could have achieved remission earlier, could have seen a specialist about her treatment, could have gone on IV fluids before it was too late, could have, maybe, perhaps...
What I hope you do remind yourself about, though, is all that you DID do for Krista, which I hope you'll feel, as I do, got her more quality time than she would otherwise have had. And though no one lives on this earth forever (who'd want to? IMHO, it's not really all that. But anyway.), she had unconditional loyalty and love -- she gave it, and she got it from you, all the way along. How many living beings of any species get that? She had so much of excellent quality. You gave that to her. She knows that!
I didn't know you were "vet averse" -- I could never have ascertained that from all of the care you did get for Krista. I've gone both ways, and when I was with my ex, who made good money, we got a lot of care for anyone needing it. Now I have to be extremely careful financially; and also, as with my own health care, I know no one gets out alive, and that if preventive care is maintained, stress is lessened as much as possible, and love is given, we have the ability to maintain our own health. Tar's been with me from 11 months; she'll be 18 next month. She's always been perfectly healthy. Never a problem at all. That's a pretty good record. So, we'll see what the vet says. And does.