Saturday, June 28, 2008

Tough Decision

Update #1: All food has been removed, 12 hours prior to surgery. I feel awful for doing this. My little buddy is going to be hungry and confused by the missing food bowl.

Update #2: We had a cuddle before going to the vet this morning. My vet is awesome. Parting words were: "if you want an update at any time, even 10 minutes from now, simply call".

Update #3: This is how awesome my vet is: vet just called to run through everything prior to starting the surgery and ended the call with "don't worry, I'll take good care of him. I love him". Aww, so do I. *sniff*

Update #4: Just finishing up with the dental cleaning (which they were also doing while he was under general). His vitals have been great throughout the surgery and they will call me again when he's awake and alert.

Update #5: Kitty is awake and quietly recovering. He can come home this evening. Yay!

Update #6: :( Kitty can't come home tonight. He seems to be in pain at his incision site and so needs to stay at the hospital to receive adequate pain medication. While I am grateful that the vet is erring on the side of caution (I would hate for kitty to be in pain), I am going to really miss my little buddy tonight.

Update #7: I visited kitty for an hour at the vet hospital. He was beyond thrilled to see me and spent the hour with his head buried in my arm, purring up a storm. The pain meds are obviously doing their thing and I feel much better about how he is doing. He's in the care of some awesomely wonderful people.

Update #8: The night nurse called to confirm that kitty has been offered food but is not eating (24+ hours without food, poor buddy). Kitty is resting comfortably. Night nurse is not worried; little does she know how much worry she relieved me of with a simple phone call.

Update #9: Little buddy still hasn't had anything to eat but the nurse is trying to feed him by hand. He's still on his pain meds and seems comfortable. Now waiting for vet to tell me whether I can bring him home this morning. Fingers and toes crossed.

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Weighing pros and cons. It's been a difficult week in the Dr. K. household.

At the end of it all, elderly beloved kitty will undergo surgery on Monday morning, despite his CV- and age-related anesthetic risks.

Careful attention has been paid to whether this surgery is for us or for beloved kitty. We conclude that it has enormous potential to improve beloved kitty's life. Whether he has six months or 4 years left, we think that this surgery will improve each and every minute.

We think it's for the best.

We are hoping that we are right.

(How I wish that kitty could talk.)

Please think happy anesthesia and recovery thoughts on Monday morning. I already know that I am going to be a wreck waiting for surgery updates from the vet, so any well wishes will be beyond welcomed.

5 comments:

Cathy said...

I hope you already know you will have my well wishes and my thoughts. On Monday, I will say a Prayer for kitty and one for you too.

Pieces of Mind said...

Sending many positive thoughts and prayers for you and beloved kitty.

My kitty and I hope there'll be the best outcome possible.

xxx

Pieces of Mind said...

What a relief to hear he's doing OK. I was worried. I hope he starts eating soon.

I'm sure you (and he) will be happy beyond belief once he's home again.

Continued good thoughts being sent your way!

Dr. K said...

Thank you Cathy and Pieces. :)

Midwife with a Knife said...

Good thoughts for kitty! :)