Michelle - I am crying as I read this email as I know how much you want Lucy to get better and so do I ---I wish I had this power to cure all the sick babies in the world to make a miracle happen.. Michelle - don't think about euthanizing her right now.. she is eating.. and she does not seem to be in pain.. who knows she may beat this thing even if it's FIP - sometimes, according to dr. ishida's paper, it takes 2 to 4 weeks to fluid to be gone completely and recover from FIP.. again the challenge is the anemia status - I think that is the biggest challenge her - you could give her transfusions to buy time until epogen starts working..
Just continue to fight with her.. she is fighting with you - if for some reason, if she does not want to anymore.. you will know.. just love her like there is no tomorrow.. hold her and kiss her and enjoy every minute and every second.. she is your baby,, and she will always be your baby and no one can take that away from you... Hideyo _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 1:45 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Lucy update Well, Lucy screamed while they were feeling around her belly trying to find the place to put the needle in, but while they drained she just laid in my arms and purred. The fluid, which I was told was clear and thin on January 16 and 17 when samples were taken, looked pale yellow to me and the vet said the consistency was a bit thick. He sent some more out to be analyzed, but he feels quite sure it is fip. He filled a small bowl 2 or 3 times with fluid-- I would guess at least 100 or 200 cc's. And when the fluid stopped coming, he said he had reached the end of that "pocket," but she still has a huge belly. He said he did not want to keep poking her all over trying to find the pockets to drain it from, and wants me to just see how she does with that much drained. He did not think her breathing was bad to begin with. He put the 1/2 cc dexamethasone shot into the catheter when it stopped draining. He said her belly may fill up faster now, since proteins were taken out of circulation by draining from the abdomen and lower proteins enable more effusion. I guess that is why some people have said it filled up faster after being drained. He was amazed that she is still eating. I think it must just be all the pred. I asked for leukeran. He wants to wait a couple of days and see what the new fluid analysis says and how she does on the increased pred and the dex that she got in her belly today. He is worried the leukeran might suppress her bone marrow more. He really does not think the fluid is from ibd or lymphoma, as he said he has never seen either create anywhere near this amount of fluid. She was happy to get home and walked around a little, though she looked a little wobbly. At one point she actually ran for about 20 feet or so, and her poor jelly belly swung from side to side as she did. Now she is camped out on the heating pad by her new favorite spot, a bookshelf where she heard a mouse this morning. She has been purring a lot more today, I think because I gave her more pred this morning and maybe she has had some fever and that took it away, I don't know. I so don't want to lose her, but know what Hideyo said is right. I asked the vet about coming to the home for euthanasia at some point and he said he will if he can schedule-wise. I asked him what will get her, as I have never had a cat with wet fip before. He did not know, as most people euthanize at diagnosis of wet fip he said. Does anyone know? Is it likely to be her anemia? Or will something else happen? He said she will probably stop eating at some point, despite the steroids. I do not think I will want to force-feed her, unless she seems to be otherwise feeling good. Right now she is falling asleep. She is my baby. Michelle
