Waiting to hear ....

John and I visited Mack last night at the hospital.

We arrived at 7:30, and didn't get to see Mack until 8:30, although the day-shift vet spoke with us about 8:00 ... please bear in mind, his shift ended at 6:00. The place was VERY busy, and it was all they could do to keep up with incoming patients, much less deal with visiting families. But we had come a long way, and waited a long time, so it didn't make sense to go home without seeing him.

The report from the daytime vet was less than encouraging. They had tried syringe-feeding Mack twice since they'd spoken with me in the morning. He hadn't kept any of it down, either time. There wasn't much more to report, because they won't know anything else until after the ultrasound that should be happening sometime this morning (Monday).

We did talk about "what ifs" ... and Mack has a long road to travel before he is a well kitty, even if he doesn't have cancer. Of course, first and foremost, he has to be able to take in nutrition and water orally ... and keep them down.

We're also worried that if this is "fatty liver" disorder, and the combination of factors that pushed him to stop eating to begin with are (a) Cinnamon's death, (b) me moving the food from downstairs to the kitchen -- what was I thinking?!?!, and (c) the introduction of a new cat to the household ... we can only control one of those absolutely, and one ... well, Amy will have to contain her cat, I guess.

We spent between a half hour and 45 minutes with him, just petting him and picking the dried, rejected food out of his fur. He started purring shortly after we started holding and petting him, and by the time we left, he seemed more like himself, and less like some drugged and abandoned pet who hadn't had a good catnap in days because of all the lights, strangers, other animals, and activity that happens in the open treatment room of the hospital.

The only other piece of news is this: I didn't know (or didn't remember) that Mack was also tested for something called leptospirosis. The tech that brought him for our visit had latex gloves on and had him wrapped in a towel. I asked if we could hold him, and she asked if we wanted gloves, too. Why? Because they won't know the results of the leptospirosis test for 5-7 days (it was sent out last Friday), and it IS possible for people to get it! Not really a concern unless you've had direct contact with the urine of an infected animal, apparently. So I shouldn't be worried ... except that on Wednesday night I inadvertently ... well ... here's what I wrote to a friend about it:

"Had a little scare this morning when I couldn't find Mack ANYwhere ... not in his hermit cave in the basement or among ANY of the things stored down there, not in the kitchen soffit, not in the living room behind the corner desk or under the recliner, not in the dining room in the bookcase.

So I started looking in impossible places: behind the bedroom closed doors, in every nook and cranny with a flashlight, behind the toilet and ... in the linen closet. Apparently, he parked himself there when I was brushing my teeth, and I didn't notice. I shooed 3 cats out of the bathroom in the middle of the night, but didn't turn on a light or figure out what they were drawn to, in there.

Mack was eager to get out, and I removed all towels he seemed to have scrambled during his attempts to be free. There's a 4" space between the door and where shelves end, and he seemed to have disturbed things on 5 of 7 shelves.

But when I grabbed a hand towel to dry my hair, after my shower, I discovered Mack had, indeed, been processing the fluids he received yesterday. I THOUGHT that towel seemed a bit less rigid than it ought to have been ... and then I saw the big yellow spot. Sigh. My hair has a special sheen today, though. :-)"

I didn't think much more about it until last night.

Let's hope his leptospirosis test comes back absolutely NEGATIVE!