Saturday, September 27, 2008

Scout



For those of you who don't know, Scout is our little calico cat. The missus has had her for 11 years, and as a consequence, I've known her as long as I've known Gina (said missus). On Tuesday night we'd noticed a sore on Scout that we hadn't noticed before, on her right side. Well, after some deliberation, we'd decided to take her into the vet the next morning. Gina dropped me off at work Wednesday at 7:30 in the morning, and then went home to prepare Scout for her appointment at 9:30. At about 10:30, I'd called Gina on her cell phone to find out how our little Scout was.
Well, as it turns out, our little Scout has cancer and is going to die. It's mammary cancer, and has spread out into her lymph nodes. Needless to say, Gina took the rest of the day off.
To quote from Gina's blog..."The doctor said we could get it operated on, but then she'd have two weeks of recovery from the operation, and since it has spread to her lymph nodes, she would only gain about 5 months from the whole thing anyway. Two of them would be spent in chemo, which would cause the usual vomiting, hair loss and misery."...so we have opted to make the rest of her days here with us as comfortable as possible. The doctor have us a couple of antibiotics for the sores on her side (one oral, one topical), and she has one of those 'martini' collars on her to keep her from licking herself raw (and to keep some of that antibiotic on her). We take it off periodically to let her stretch her neck and to bathe. Our other cat, Bill, really freaked out when Scout came back from the vet, evidently. Even later that evening, when I was home, he'd hissed at her as if he didn't know who or what she was. I suppose if Gina had come back from the hospital with a big ol' collar around her neck and her head shaved and all smelling like medicine, I wouldn't know how to act either (I wouldn't hiss at her, though...probably kiss her bald head and welcome her home)...anyway, Bill has mellowed. He isn't quite as chummy w/Scout now, but neither is he so freaked out, either...
It simply hurts my heart. I want to cry, but sometimes I can't, and sometimes I simply won't. If I start, I don't know if/when it will stop. I suppose it never really does stop...

2 comments:

Gina said...

You are so sweet. I would push the collar aside so you could kiss my bald head. :(

Anonymous said...

I'm sad about Scout, but I'm sure I am not as sad as you and Gina are about this. I'm so sorry about this, it's just shitty. Shitty and unfair!

*HUGS* to you and Gina and Scout and Bill!