Little Miss and her Three Legs

Sorry it’s been so long, but we’re still here and she’s doing great! I mean, she’s 16 years old, a tripawd, is partially blind and may or may not be deaf (she’s a cat, it’s anyone’s guess), but she’s doing great despite those things.

The meds were NOT popular. After a few doses, she started puking them up instantly and it created some pretty spectacular neon orange vomit stains. Since our oncologist wasn’t sure the meds would even be effective, she said to stop giving them to her all together. The plan is now just to monitor her every 6-8 weeks and bring her back if we notice any new lumps in the interim.

Part of what has made this process so difficult is there are a lot of unknowns between the super rare disease, and then with the cat who seems to present differently than anyone expects. The cats that have been studied with lymphangiosarcoma lived about 6 months, but here we are almost 6 months post amputation, and almost 8 months since we noticed the cancer lump.

Most days are good days and I hope it stays that way for a while.

Sorry for the delayed absence, now that LM has the run of the house, things are back to a new normal and I’ve been able to focus on the work that was somewhat neglected for the last month.

Today was our first oncology appointment. Boy, I wasn’t kidding when I referred to LM as a unicorn. Our oncologist spent quite some time researching and reaching out to other oncologists to see if anyone has treated a cat with lymphangiosarcoma. From the sound of it, she wasn’t able to find one, so we’re left with a couple scholarly articles written several years ago about a couple cats (not large case studies). For now, our plan of treatment is an anti-cancer medication, Palladia (toceranib), 2-3 times per week.

I’m left feeling all of the emotions today. I’m sad that LM has to go through all of this. I’m angry that there are so many things that we don’t know, and I’m scared about what’s next. I’m also fascinated by our little unicorn, and so proud that she just keeps moving forward with the same gusto as the day I adopted her. Even at the vet’s office she was content to stare out a sunny window (below).

Initially in starting this blog and joining the site, I wanted to document our experience with amputation and recovery. Today, I can say that she has recovered from the amputation (except for that dreadful haircut). This just doesn’t feel like where her story ends though. I think there’s a greater purpose to continue documenting her journey because one day it may help future treatment for lymphangiosarcoma, or hopefully give someone a few more answers than I have today. We don’t know how long she has left, but we’ll continue to celebrate the good days.

We got the histology results today—the large tumor that caused the amputation is confirmed to be lymphangiosarcoma. There was a second type of cancer in the lymph node though, a mast cell tumor. The lymph node was removed when they did the amputation, but they were not expecting to find a second type of cancer in it. What are the odds?!

We’re in good spirits because stitches come out on Friday and antibiotics are done. We’ll make a plan of treatment with the oncologist soon.

Things are progressing and Little Miss is becoming more and more like herself every day. It is both a blessing and a curse.

The playpen is the last place she wants to be now. Last night when we went to bed, I could hear her yowling to come out. When I turned on the camera I set up to check on her, I saw her scratching away at the “door” to the playpen trying to get it open. We compromised (LM got her way), and now she gets to roam the room. From what I can tell, she just wanted to sleep on the big dog bed we have in there for her that she’s never used until now. Aren’t cats funny?

The antibiotics are becoming a problem too. Last night and this morning, she puked them up within a minute of me giving them to her. Either her stomach is upset, or she’s telling me that she’s done with the antibiotics. LM has been one of those pukey cats her whole life, so it really could be either (or both). I emailed the vet first thing this morning to see what she wants us to do. LM’s antibiotics are almost gone anyway, and her incision looks great, so I’m hoping we can just stop the antibiotics.

If you read my posts (thank you), you know that I wanted to encourage LM to explore the room outside of her playpen. Well, in true Little Miss B*tch fashion, she came out of her playpen and went straight for the door and meowed yowled for us to let her out of the room to the rest of the house. How does that saying go, “if you give an inch they take a mile”? As much as we all want her to be able to roam the house, the vet told us to limit her activity until her sutures are taken out. Hopefully that happens at her recheck on 11/11. In the meantime, I’m not going to risk them popping open because a certain ginger wrecking ball wanted to play.