- Joined
- Apr 2, 2020
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- Purraise
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I’m going to try to keep this complicated history as brief as possible, I’m sorry it’s so long. I’ve had a lot of sick kitties over the years but I’ve never had a nightmare like this. I’ve been to every emergency clinic and hospital in the area. We don’t have a regular vet because I fired my last one after learning she declaws cats. I can’t even have a telemedicine appointment with a new one at this time because of VCPR and COVID-19. I am very mistrustful right now and just need to talk to someone even if they are on a freaking cat forum. I want anything that I can bring up with the surgeon tomorrow.
He’s a neutered indoor DSH about 12-years-old.
3/2
He presented to hospital #2 at 9.4lbs, he weighed 8.8lbs yesterday, he weighs 9lbs today (I feel like that’s just poop). He lost 2.6lbs total in March. I believe they chased this cancer diagnosis to make money. NO ONE has mentioned hyperthyroidism and whether they’ve checked for it on bloodwork, though from my 3/2 bill it seems the clinic did a T4 slide. NO ONE has said anything about malabsorbtion. NO ONE mentioned IBD until the small intestine biopsy results despite knowing he had history of soft stool. Sure, he could have cancer, but I’m not touching that chest mass no matter what it is--I’m not putting him through anything else--so why don’t we try medication as a last resort on getting his weight back up?
I will be calling the surgeon tomorrow to discuss IBD/hyperthyroidism but if anyone else has suggestions I’m all ears. This is my last shot. I’ve made sure an in-home euthanasia vet is available during the crisis; if he loses anymore weight he’s just going to fade away to nothing. He’s fought so hard and came back to life only for me to put him down days later? Really?
P.S.: I’m leaving out incredibly egregious things that occurred with both hospitals. I think I have a malpractice suit, that is how much I don’t trust hospital #1 or this surgeon. Hospital #2 saved his life but they don’t want anything to do with this, they’re very avoidant about even discussing it. The clinic also won’t discuss anything with me unless I schedule an appointment and bring him in again for no reason ($). I’ve requested his records multiple times from the clinic, they say they’ll send them and never do. I’ve requested his records from hospital #1, they won’t give me anything past 3/19 and claim it doesn’t exist. I said, “No records or notes exist on his second surgery, his cardiac arrest, his nine day hospital stay, his biopsies...?” The receptionist said yes. I said that’s just not possible and she hung up on me. If I were to reveal all the details of this story you would not even believe me, I barely do when I lay it all out. I have nowhere else to go.
He’s a neutered indoor DSH about 12-years-old.
3/2
- presented to a 24/7 clinic for vomiting bile
- only weighed 11.6lbs which we didn’t notice visually (he’s typically 13-14lbs)
- bloodwork normal
- x-rays revealed incidentally full bowels and a thoracic mass, presumed cancerous. referred to 24/7 hospital #1
- weight loss was rapid and significant since 3/2
- internal medicine specialist noted a heart murmur but echocardiogram deemed him fit for surgery
- abdominal ultrasound revealed a pyloric mass
- surgeon performed an exploratory celiotomy with complete excision of the pyloric mass, no signs of metastasis. histopathology later determined it was a benign leiomyoma. surgeon suspects the mass caused the vomiting but not the weight loss. he continued to suspect the chest mass for cancer/cachexia despite it possibly being an enlarged lymph node.
- returned home with buprenorphine 0.2ml
- ate normally and started to recover
- food was rejected, returned to hospital. no abdominal fluid detected.
- subcutaneous LRS
- cerenia
- mirtazapine
- that night he had very loud, gurgling stomach sounds
- clearly uncomfortable and vomited blood, returned to hospital. he was almost sent home to die until we asked for an ultrasound. ultrasound revealed very large amount of abdominal fluid and a distended stomach.
- hospitalization began for postoperative ileus
- IVF
- NG tube placement and aspiration (300ml of fluid)
- cerenia
- metoclopramide
- protonix
- buprenorphine
- after research I suspected buprenorphine could be causing the ileus. I had no idea why he was still on it when it should have ended much earlier ($). I called to take him off but the ER vet had the same idea and did it on 3/19.
- he started getting walks around the building to try to stimulate GI
- hearty appetite but no drainage, had to be aspirated every 12 hours
- aspiration was stopped for 24 hours to, from what I understand, “see what happens.” he vomited up the NG tube.
- surgery to determine if it was mechanical ileus or otherwise. that morning I rescinded the DNR for the surgery and insisted we see him beforehand despite quarantine measures, surgeon agreed. when we arrived the surgeon told us he’d already started surgery, woopsie, but also his heart had stopped. when they began intubation he vomited, urinated and entered cardiac arrest
- they successfully resuscitated him
- surgery continued and revealed pyloric obstruction, surgeon installed a bypass instead of a j-tube
- surgeon noted spots on liver that weren’t there before (no kidding, he hasn’t had nutrition in 2 weeks). took biopsies of liver, pancreas, small intestines and stomach again.
- results recently showed no cancer, no pancreatic issues, but extreme inflammation of the small intestine. no treatment recommended “unless necessary”
- would not eat or drink post-surgery
- continued to not eat/drink. they suggested I force feed him with a syringe and advised against another NG tube. there was fluid in his stomach on ultrasound. I asked how there could be fluid in his stomach with a bypass, some vet I had never even spoken to just said, “yeah that can happen”
- they discharged him (without any discharge papers) despite all of the above. he was very weak and lethargic, stumbled, couldn’t make it to the bathroom.
- admitted to hospital #2. he was dehydrated, low potassium, low vitamin B
- NG tube placement (no anesthetic necessary), aspiration of 30ml of fluid
- liquid food/fluid therapy/IV
- metoclopramide
- vitamin B12
- vitamin B complex
- cerenia
- started to eat again, dry and wet
- had a bowel movement(!)
- discharged from hospital #2 with much more energy
He presented to hospital #2 at 9.4lbs, he weighed 8.8lbs yesterday, he weighs 9lbs today (I feel like that’s just poop). He lost 2.6lbs total in March. I believe they chased this cancer diagnosis to make money. NO ONE has mentioned hyperthyroidism and whether they’ve checked for it on bloodwork, though from my 3/2 bill it seems the clinic did a T4 slide. NO ONE has said anything about malabsorbtion. NO ONE mentioned IBD until the small intestine biopsy results despite knowing he had history of soft stool. Sure, he could have cancer, but I’m not touching that chest mass no matter what it is--I’m not putting him through anything else--so why don’t we try medication as a last resort on getting his weight back up?
I will be calling the surgeon tomorrow to discuss IBD/hyperthyroidism but if anyone else has suggestions I’m all ears. This is my last shot. I’ve made sure an in-home euthanasia vet is available during the crisis; if he loses anymore weight he’s just going to fade away to nothing. He’s fought so hard and came back to life only for me to put him down days later? Really?
P.S.: I’m leaving out incredibly egregious things that occurred with both hospitals. I think I have a malpractice suit, that is how much I don’t trust hospital #1 or this surgeon. Hospital #2 saved his life but they don’t want anything to do with this, they’re very avoidant about even discussing it. The clinic also won’t discuss anything with me unless I schedule an appointment and bring him in again for no reason ($). I’ve requested his records multiple times from the clinic, they say they’ll send them and never do. I’ve requested his records from hospital #1, they won’t give me anything past 3/19 and claim it doesn’t exist. I said, “No records or notes exist on his second surgery, his cardiac arrest, his nine day hospital stay, his biopsies...?” The receptionist said yes. I said that’s just not possible and she hung up on me. If I were to reveal all the details of this story you would not even believe me, I barely do when I lay it all out. I have nowhere else to go.