I've just been busy. I left on a business trip on Tuesday straight from work. Then I had to deal with kitty on Saturday and pick up my car seat. Yes, I chose one and bought it ... 15% off! Okay, not the best deal but certainly better than full price. Then stuff around the house demanded my attention. I needed to get my registry mostly finished as the gender guessing game at work is coming to an end this week. People want to start shopping but they'll know it is a boy as soon as they see the registry. Too, too busy right now.
And I'm feeling the stress of prepping for 5 full hearings next week including one file that has 1000 pages of medicals to go through. Thankfully one of our analysts loves doing that stuff and she has some time this week. Plus I had to prep 2 sets of final arguments for Thursday. One is done and the other just has to be tweaked. And we have to request a review of a decision and I have to get the draft of that done this week. And somehow fit in the 5 files to prep. I feel like I'm going a little bit crazy right now.
We now know what is wrong with kitty. She has a nodule on her thyroid that the vets could feel some time ago but since her thyroid results always came back normal it wasn't considered an issue. But it turns out she has a parathyroid problem which is causing her high calcium levels. Her calcium was completely fine last year so this is definitely new. Dr. G. said this is likely responsible for her weight loss, lower appetite and her constipation issues. My kitty is definitely special, though. Dr. G. says that he's only seen 19 cases of this documented in the literature. The options are (1) surgery to remove the growth and which is highly likely to fix the problem but carries with it a risk of complications like hypothyroidism not to mention issues for a 16/17 year old cat, and (2) treament with prednisone. She might have to go in for kidney function tests with the prednisone but I think that is the option we're going to go with. I can't justify the stress and cost of surgery on kitty. And if the medication can keep her happy and comfortable for another 6 months or more then I'm good with that. I'm not ready to say goodbye and totally not in a place to make a permanent decision about her. She's doing much better, eating more, playing more so I think she's feeling much better. I can't just let her go right now. If the prednisone does the trick and makes her comfortable then I'm good with that.
I still have to post that fun post I promised on all the stuff I've received/purchased. My house is overflowing with clothes ... okay, not my house, more like suitcases. ;-) I don't think I need anything for the first 6 months. It is a bit overwhelming but it is a great way to save money. Hopefully I can find some time to take pics and resize them and get them into a blog entry. Soon!
Kitty has hyperparathyroidism? I had no idea cats could get that! It sounds like the prednisone is the best choice for her - I hope she's feeling better soon!
ReplyDeleteHopefully the prednisone works.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see all the great stuff you've accumulated!
Yep, she does. I didn't even know about this before my kitty was diagnosed. We had an old cat who started regular old hyperthyroid (which was entertaining given her age) who then turned hypothyroid. It was very odd to see she took the same pills I do and her little kitty name on the prescription bottle! lol I still haven't gotten the quote for the treatment but after I'm back from my trip we'll get that sorted off and get her on meds.
ReplyDeleteI've been a bit swamped so I just haven't gotten around to the fun stuff like posting photos. It takes too much time to download, resize and then to deal with the frustrating photo feature at blogger. Aargh! 5 more weeks until the crazy travel stops ... counting down the days. ;-)