I wish we could eliminate the letter c from our alphabet. No living thing is impervious to mutant cell migration and the dreaded CANCER. Family, friends, pets, and family's and friend's family and friends and pets - everyone has personal experience with this wretched disease. Francis (Frankie) P., my beautiful, sweet 10 year old cat, has a tumor in his nose. It is a form of skin cancer. He is an indoor/outdoor cat exposed to the sun and other elements. Our vet said that his cat was diagnosed 4 years ago with a similar carcinoma so you can never tell how long they will live. I guess it depends on how aggressive the growth is. Eventually it will impede his breathing so hopefully I will be well attuned to his comfort since cats are brilliant illusionists and can hide anything.
It all started when he urinated outside his normal litter area - in his case in our house since he litters outside. I knew immediately something was wrong so we had a blood panel done. His white blood cells were 3 times the upper end of normal so we went through a course of antibiotic and retested. He obviously had a UTI and the levels had come down significantly but were still well above normal. I knew in my gut it was cancer but the vet suggested another round of antibiotic. Like a monkey I inspect every square inch of Frankie routinely and nothing was particularly amiss. He usually gets a little wheezy around this time of year, probably allergies, but last week I noticed he was excessively noisy as he was grooming. Then on Friday I saw a little bloody scab near his nostril so I looked closer and it looked like his nostril was inside out, i.e. tissue protruding. I knew it wasn't just inflammation from a scratch or fight.So here we are. Again waiting for death. And heartbreak. Praying like hell that he'll slip away when it's time and I don't have to play God.
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