This is a post about my cat, Walter, and how she dared to cut into our wedding savings. Here’s a little back story on my cat:
- She’s a girl cat named Walter (I didn’t name her, I adopted her that way).
- I’ve had her for nearly 14 years, since I moved away from home. Which means she’s kind of old, around 15 years or so.
- I’m slightly obsessed with her. It’s possible I love my cat more than I love my fiance.
- She is my assistant and she sits here next to my desk pretty much my entire work day.
About 6 weeks ago, Mr. BFT noticed that Walter had a lump on her stomach. We inspected closer and actually found two lumps, one under a nipple. My first thought was breast cancer, of course. Then, I’m ashamed to admit it, but my second thought was “Aw crap, not right before the wedding.”
I called our vet who said the lumps should be checked out immediately. We took Walt to the clinic the following Saturday and she was examined by the vet on duty, who recommended a fine-needle aspiration to check Walter’s lump cells for signs of cancer. She also recommended taking a chest x-ray to see if, perhaps, any cancer had spread to her lungs. (Good news, the x-ray was all clear.) Still, that was just the beginning. $$$
The following week we got the call from our normal vet that the results of the cell sampling came back negative. Whew!! BUT, the vet still recommended we remove the lumps. He said the needle sampling is not always 100% accurate and even if it was, the lumps could turn cancerous later.
Now, whenever any doctor tries to talk me into anything that doesn’t seem necessary to me, I tune out. But I sought a second opinion from the on-call vet who first saw Walter, and even a third opinion from a friend who works at a cat-only vet clinic. Everyone said the lumps should come out.
I was terrified to put Walter through what I perceived to be an unnecessary surgery, but through come coaxing from my friends and a lot of coaxing from Mr. BFT, we decided to do it.
Last weekend we took Walter back to the vet for her pre-op blood work – $$$$$ – and scheduled her surgery for Monday.
Monday was difficult for me. I didn’t like the thought of putting Walter under anesthesia at her old age. I still wasn’t totally convinced the surgery was necessary. I was weepy all day until around 2pm when the vet called and said the surgery was a success.
After work on Monday I went to pick Walter up and paid the bill. $$$$$$$$
Poor Walter was bandaged up like a tiny mummy.
She was drugged up, wrapped up, and confused. I cried some more.
That night was a sleepless one. Walter did not like her bandages. She kept writhing on the floor. I assumed she was itchy. So I brought her up on the bed and tried to pet her to calm down, but she kept writhing. Then she stopped. I reached down to pet her and discovered – SHE HAD WRIGGLED OUT OF HER BANDAGE.
I freaked out and woke up Mr. BFT. We tried our best to wrap her back up. I was so scared we were going to hurt her even more. I was so mad at her. What a moron. She REALLY didn’t like those bandages.
I called the vet as soon as they opened and they told me to bring her back in to get re-wrapped. When I got there, they took her back for a long time, then finally brought her back out and said, “Yeah, we’re just going to leave the bandages off.” I can only assume Walter was not a cooperative patient. They assured me the stitches would heal just fine, but Walter had to wear THE CONE OF SHAME. Luckily, compared to the bill I was stuck with after the surgery, the price of the cone didn’t seem so bad. $
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| I do not like the Cone of Shame |
It was a rough week for me and Walter, as she tried to do her normal cat life through the restriction of the cone and a sore tummy. Not a lot of sleep was had by either of us.
On Friday, I got a call from the vet with the biopsy results. Walter actually had three lumps, and all three were malignant cancer.
So yes, we have less money for the wedding now. Which stinks when you have such a small budget to begin with.
But having a cancer free cat/assistant = priceless.
Less than one week after her surgery, FrankenWalter seems to be back to her normal happy cat self. The cone is off, she is eating her normal cat food, she’s jumping around to all her normal cat spots, and even demanding tummy rubs, which we have to give veeeeeery carefully.
