Caturday: Living with Feline Cancer

 

Our gentle, loving, lap-sitting, bright-eyed, Siamese-mix Snyezhka, rescued from the streets a decade ago when she was a couple years ago, is in remission for breast cancer (thanks to immunotherapy) but now struggling with lung cancer (immunotherapy did not work so now she is on steroids) and liver cancer (this was last night's ER surprise). 

She has been in the ER, with the vet, or with the oncologist three times in the past three week. Financially draining, yes, but even more emotionally draining, bringing back memories of the last five months of Carl's life -- one cancer leading to another and then to another in all too rapid an order until the end came, not unexpectedly although abruptly.

Snyezhka is falling in that same path -- dozing more than awake, eating less and less, and losing her balance. She collapsed last night, rolled of the top of the sofa where she was sleeping, then staggered across the cushions, and rolled onto the floor, and staggered under a chair and fell down and lay there. Carl, used to lose his balance and fall, too. Too frequently -- fortunately, we had good neighbors who would help pick him up.

ER trip. More oxygen. More x-rays. More bad news. And a surprise -- old, healed broken ribs that we had not known about. Likely from the days she lived on the street. Maybe from misguided person's kick. We observed such a thing when our Simone was on the streets, and Carl upbraided the young guys so well that they never went near her again -- and we captured  and adopted her a few months later.

And yes, Carl, too. Trip after trip to the ER and the oncologist until there were simply no more trips.

Indeed, living with cancer is more like dying with cancer. We are clearly walking the last few steps of her life journey with Snyezhka. Sad and sacred at the same time.

For more Caturday posts, click HERE.

For more cancer posts, click HERE.

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