Keeping Up

Kaylee heard back from the DTS (Discipleship Training School) that they received her application, and she had to agree to a background check, which they are doing now.  I'm not sure what kind of background check you can do on a minor, since anything criminal would be sealed for minors, but hey, she's clean anyway, so should be a boring background check for them.  :)  They are supposed to call her back after Thanksgiving, and she'll find out more, the next step, I guess, official acceptance, etc.

Roadie the cat is in a bit of a health crisis.  The last few days she's been peeing orange, and not as much.  She's lost a lot of weight and is very bony, and we haven't seen her eating any actual crunchy food.  Today she stopped drinking as much, and hadn't gone to the bathroom since yesterday.  So I called the vet, who got us in for $125 fee at the end of the work day today. 

Kaylee got home from school in time to go to the bank with her dad, and get the fraudulent charges removed, and a new debit card issued.  Then she came with me and Roadie to the vet.  The first thing the vet (Dr. Hiss) found was that she had bad gum disease and several bad teeth, with one really bad tooth that was red, most of the enamel is gone, and has to be causing her pain.  Probably why she quit eating, he said.  She weighed just over 6 lbs, and the last time she was in there she weighed over 8 lbs. He did a blood draw, and gave her a dose of antibiotics, and a dose of painkiller, and then put fluid directly into her skin because she's super dehydrated.  The nurse said "She was like a sponge!  I got 150ccs into her!"  They warned me that some of that fluid may settle into her elbows and give her jiggly legs for a bit, but that her body was absorbing it and that it was good for  her.  The doctor's biggest concern was her kidneys. He said at her age, kidney failure was a real likelihood. He also said her tooth would need to be removed, but they didn't want to do that until she was stronger and until they knew what else they were dealing with.

The whole time we were in the car, at the vet, afterwards, etc., even while getting poked, Roadie was perfectly still and quiet and behaved.  Didn't try to jump off the table, didn't hiss, just was compliant and quiet.  When we got her home, I fixed her some soft food, which she ate.  As I picked her up to take her to the food, she started growling at me, put her paws up to fight me, and grumped at me the whole time, tried to get down, etc.  She finished eating, and sat up straight and tall, and she was obviously feeling more like herself.  The pain meds and a shot of food and drink helped, thankfully. 

About an hour later, the vet called with her blood test results.  Her kidneys were fine. Her thyroid levels were fine (something else he was concerned about). But her liver levels were elevated, and her bilirubin levels were off the chart.  I guess a normal bilirubin level in cats is 0.4.  Roadie's level was like 4.7.  The vet said they haven't hardly seen a bilirubin level that high in all their experience, and that it's not good.  He said if he had to guess, it's a gallbladder issue.  Either an infection, or a tumor.  He said that they could run a test at the office that would be quick and about $200, but that it probably wouldn't show what they need it to show.  Instead, he says an ultrasound would be what would show what they're looking for, and that runs about $500-$600.  If she has an infection, the antibiotics he gave her would be what they'd do in part to treat it anyway.  If it's not an infection, the antibiotics will do no good, and we'd have to decide how far we want to go and what we want to do.  If we get the ultrasound and it's a tumor, then you have to decide on surgery or not. 

I asked if we could fix her tooth, and he said he didn't want to put her under for a tooth and do that surgery, if she would promptly need another surgery, or would pass away very soon anyway from this issue.  I just don't want her tooth to hurt her. So...we don't know yet what we're looking at.

I expected Kaylee to be more upset and emotional about it.  But she said she didn't want to put Roadie through testing and surgeries most likely. She said she would rather be prepared that Roadie may not live a lot longer, than hope it's just an infection and be even more upset if/when she died.  I tried to warn her that thinking you're prepared doesn't really prepare you when it actually happens, but I understand where she's coming from.  I'm the same way...

So tomorrow Kaylee picks up some oral pain meds for Roadie, and then Monday we talk to the vet again and see about the next step in the plan.  I think he's waiting to see if her pee gets any better, less orange, and if she eats any or better.  He also said those high levels of bilirubin can cause nausea which can also decrease appetite.  So for now, we just wait.

Tomorrow we're doing an informal seminar at Glenndale Airport all morning on winter flying.  I guess I'm supposed to be one of the people presenting information at this.  However, I'm not prepared at all for a bout of public speaking.  So here's hoping that goes better than expected too.  ;)