That took me almost an hour to upload last night. I am TRYING to upload a video of him inhaling baby food after treatment, but while I remembered to bring my camera to work, I neglected to bring fresh batteries :-| Phooey.
So. I took Butthead to Angell yesterday for his 4th radiation treatment. At the beginning of the week, I felt a new suspicious lump on him in his lower throat area, and asked them to check it out. As I was waiting, the vet came to see me and said she was "very concerned" :?. The conversation was leaning toward "why keep doing this if the cancer continues to spread". Not what I wanted to hear. Going back on chemo didn't seem wise since it didn't do squat before. She wanted to take chest x-rays before proceeding to make sure it hadn't metastasized elsewhere, and aspirate the new lumps though we both know darn well what it is. X-ray was still clear (yay), and she agreed to radiate the new area in addition to the previous mass. Butthead will be returning for more radiation next week, and we'll see what to do from there. I know I'm just chasing this evil Thing as it travels through his body, but he's tolerating it. He's happy. I have to continue trying to slow it down. That is my thinking right now, at least. I anticipate the worst, and am thankful for every bit of good news I get about him.
I was there a long time, and had some interesting waiting area visitors again. One was a diabetic dog who has been on Humulin N for years and his sugar levels are dropping too low and bouncing (imagine that...) I waited until the vet stepped out to briefly speak to the owner and say I have a diabetic cat, and a different insulin like Levemir or Lantus might work better at keeping BG fluctuations less severe. She was very interested, and when the vet returned she mentioned it, and the vet at least sounded open to the idea. Sounded like the dog was on 6 units of insulin (!), and he's ~18 lbs, but perhaps dogs are different. Since I'm not knowledgable in that area, I didn't want to preach. They left soon after so I couldn't say more to her.
Another visitor was a turtle -- a small snapping turtle who hadn't been eating well for a few days. They took x-rays and discovered he was fulla swallowed rocks. The owner had found the baby turtle in their pool at the end of Summer and were keeping it over the winter until they could release it in a safe place. If the rocks didn't pass and/or caused obstruction, they estimated surgery would cost ~$1800. While the woman who brought the turtle was hoping things would resolve naturally, she didn't sound completely against surgery either. She felt responsible for helping it along since she found it. I get that. Heck, years ago when I had pet mice, I would bring them to my vet to remove tumors (they are very prone to that). He said it was good surgical practice for him, and only charged me for anesthesia. ANYway, a woman spending a couple grand on a turtle, and me spending uhhh... quite a bit more than that on Butthead... that's just the way we are. I have the money now, and will deal with the consequences of not having it for something else later when the time comes.
So, I got there w/Butthead around 9:30, and didn't leave until about 1:30 pm, so he was pretty darn hungry when I fed him in the car afterwards. I'll upload that video as soon as I can. He laid on my lap and zonked out for almost the entire trip home. No bucket seat rubbernecking this time. I'd like to take him out for a non-vet related drive this weekend so he can happily sit in his bucket while not under the influence of sedatives and hunger.
For those who asked, Angell is right off Rte 9 in Boston (technically Jamaica Plain, I think) on South Huntington Ave. Is there going to be a meet and greet for Butthead?
MJ&Donovan&Butthead
That purring sound really is soothing. I'm sending healing vibes his way.
