Mack Update

I waited all day for our regular vet to call me, in response to a letter I dropped off at the clinic when they opened at 8:00 Friday morning. I called later in the morning, to be sure our vet was actually IN that day ... yes, but he was in surgery this morning. Okay. I can understand that.

At 1:45 I called again, only to be told our vet was at lunch. I can understand that, too.

At 3:15 he still hadn't called and still hadn't OPENED my letter, which I had WRITTEN to avoid "phone tag," and to update him on the fact that, despite his optimism that the cortisone shot from Tuesday might still "kick in" and get Mack to eat, Mack hadn't done so yet. The subcutaneous fluids he'd been given on Wednesday had to be pretty much gone by now ... what was the vet's recommendation for "next steps" ???

Everyone in my office has cats. One colleague's cousin has worked at the Los Angeles animal hospital for over 10 years, and has asked vets there to look at the results of Mack's bloodwork and x-ray. Shortly after 3 p.m., my colleague realized that an email she sent me on WEDNESDAY hadn't left her email "outbox." In it, her cousin communicated that a veterinary internal medicine specialist had not been discouraged by Mack's test results, and recommended an ultrasound, which the LA Animal Hospital routinely administers without anesthesia, and without traumatizing the animal -- if the techs know what they are doing.

THAT put me over the edge. Suddenly, I realized Mack's condition may not be as dire as our vet has been leading me to believe. And now, I'd been waiting for him to call me back when it seems he's just waiting for Mack to DIE! I'd wasted a precious WEEK of Mack's life, waiting for this man to recommend something POSITIVE we can DO for him!

Three of my four colleagues take their cats to a place called, simply, The Cat Doctor. I had taken Lucky there 3 years ago, after our dear Dr. Hoppe had retired, when I had grown frustrated with the remaining vets at the clinic we'd been using for the last decade and a half.

I was fortunate to get an appointment at The Cat Doctor for 5:00. It was 3:45. I still had to get home and get the cat! John headed downtown to The Cat Doctor to fill out paperwork; I went home and grabbed Mack, the photocopies of his recent blood tests, and the folder of veterinary records I could lay my hands on.

My cell phone rang as I carried Mack across the street to The Cat Doctor's office. It was our old vet. I listened to what he had to say, all negative about how putting tubes down Mack's throat to force food into his stomach would be traumatic, and if his body wasn't processing properly, the food would just ferment in his stomach anyway, if he didn't just reject it outright. He suggested we could give him more subcutaneous fluids, if we wanted to prolong things. I asked him why, when I had put in my request at 8 a.m., had it taken until almost 5 p.m. for him to call me. Well, he said, he had been running late and very busy all day ... and he KNEW I DIDN'T WANT TO DO MUCH for Mack, so he had to prioritize ... did he make time to see the woman with sick turtles, three of which had already died, or did he call me first? He said, even now, he had a patient who had arrived 1/2 hour late, who was waiting to see him. I told him he should go take care of them.

I CAN'T BELIEVE he had ASSUMED we "didn't want to do much!!!" Why? Because we ASKED how much procedures actually COST before authorizing them?!?! Because we took HIS recommendation NOT to "traumatize" Mack with an ultrasound and/or biopsy before trying other treatments?!?! That was the limit. This man is now our FORMER vet.

The Cat Doctor was also running late. At about 5:30, she examined Mack, looked over his blood test results, and suggested a range of options. We chose to take Mack to the emergency care facility the cat doctor recommended in Waukesha. When we told her we live very close to an emergency facility in Glendale, she simply stated again that she recommends the place in Waukesha. That's where he is right now.

The emergency care vet who examined Mack last night was very thorough in his questioning regarding the situation, and recommended an aggressive plan including IVs to get Mack fluids and nutrition, antibiotics to fight any infection that may attempt to take hold in his weakened condition, and new x-rays to get a better idea of what the liver looks like. He thinks it might just be "fatty liver" disease, which happens when a cat stops eating, even for a couple of days. Mack hasn't kept food down for (at least) a week. It's likely to have been much longer. But it's not over YET!!!