Laurie, I'm glad to hear that things are going reasonably well. Will be thinking of you as you wait for further developments -- lotsa good healing vibes and prayers, and lotsa scritches for the kitties.
Tuxedo is doing GREAT! The transfusion was a success, and his red blood cell count is up to 24, about 2/3 of his normal.
He's alert, happy, loving, hungry, and PLAYFUL!
Flowerbelle is OK, not great. She's really out of it. She was purring and wanted a little bit of love when she came home. But overall she seems a little dazed and very out of it. She trembled a little bit when walking, and is pretty nauseous. We called the vet, and he said it's not unusual, just keep an eye on her, and given how she feels, best not to feed her until tomorrow. She curled up in a corner she'd never hung out in before and sat there looking uncomfortable for several hours, but is finally curled up asleep.
Of course her face looks a little gruesome right now with the triangle patch shaved around the left side of her face and the "frankenstein" stitches across her left eye. But she'll be soooo thankful - no more meds and no more cleaning that mess.
Now all we need are Tuxedo's test results....
But we did, finally, get some sleep last night. I actually fell asleep at about 9:30 and slept, only waking up a couple of times for a short while, until 9:00 this morning! And I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get a solid night's sleep tonight. Little by little!
Laurie, I'm so glad they are home. Glad both things were successful! What brave kittys you have, I hope the test results come back OK. Let us know, good luck and well done..!
Flowerbelle has joined the ranks of DOING GREAT! She woke us up in the middle of the night meowing for food! (She's welcome to eat the food everyone free-feeds, but she likes her kitten food and eats it in the bathroom, so when she wants to eat, she's used to meowing for it, LOL!)
She was HUNGRY. And she slept on the bed like usual after that.
And she seems pretty much her perky happy sunshiney self this morning.
Doc said he'd call today. We didn't want to drive him nuts - he was the only vet in at the Animal Emergency center today, but we still left like four messages. But we got off the phone with him literally a minute ago, and ....
Tuxedo does NOT have cancer! Tuxedo does NOT have Leukemia! There are a few other disease tests not back yet, but everything, so far, is negative.
The bad news is his bone marrow is not working, period. The good news is, IT CAN.
The worrisome news is that today he was back to his listless, dull-looking sick Tuxedo. Vet is worried about his current red blood cell count. If it's still high enough, he goes on three meds immediately.
Prednisone we have, and have already started him on it. The other two drugs, one to stimulate white blood cell production and one to stimulate red blood cell production, will be administered tomorrow morning.
If his bone marrow responds, we'll know within 7 - 10 days. If it doesn't, then he'll go on anti-cancer drugs, the intent to block whatever immune response is going on in his body that has caused his bone marrow to shut down.
But the hope is that these drugs will not only stimulate red and white blood cell production, but will then cause his bone marrow production to kick in independently. He cannot remain on these drugs for "months," as cats frequently have an adverse reaction to the drug that stimulates white blood cell count if administered much longer than a month.
C'mon Tuxedo - please, please, please let your bone marrow respond to these drugs and take over on its own!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so glad the nasties are getting ruled out, and there's something to treat. Mega vibes for the bone marrow!!! And of course for the kitty and his humans!