A Good Week

FINALLY, Rumble has had a good week.  We seem to have had two bad weeks in a row and I was really worried about having to put in that feeding tube, but Rumble has just been great this week so I'm hoping we don't have to. 

I almost don't want to post because I don't want to jinx him. 

We've changed two things recently so I'm not sure which one to attribute it to.  One, Rumble is on a new canned cat food from Hill's Prescription Diet called i/d Feline Gastrointestinal Health.  This is a description from their website:  "Dietary indiscretion, food allergies, or lack of digestive enzymes can affect your cat's digestive health. Efficient digestion is essential for your cat to be able to build and repair tissues and obtain energy, and for these reasons it is important to feed a food that is formulated to help support digestive health.

At Hill's, nutritionists and veterinarians have developed clinical nutrition especially formulated to help manage cats with digestive health problems. Due to its easily digestible ingredients, Prescription Diet® i/d® may also be helpful for cat recovering from gastrointestinal upset and routine surgery."

Rumble loves it.  He is eating it just as well as he ate the Whiskas Wet Food Packets.  I'm really excited.  I will shop around to find the lowest price, but our vet carries it all the time for around $30 a case and each case holds 24 cans, I'm guessing.  Rumble started eating about a can a day but the last few days, he's eaten 2 cans a day and I'm loving it!  EAT, BABY, EAT!

Second, we have started giving Rumble half of his digestive enzymes through a syringe, mixed with tuna juice that I like to call his "slurry".  The other half is sprinkled on his food and mixed in; hopefully the smaller amount allows the food to smell and taste a little better.  As I've said before, it's not the easiest giving a cat a liquid medicine, but some combination of the new food and the slurry mix have worked because Rumble has had the best, solid poop he has had in months.  And, he's only going once, maybe twice a day so the food is staying in his system longer and getting more properly absorbed.  YAY!  Before this, he was going 4 times a day or more and it was pure liquid. 

In my opinion, he has put on weight this week and my husband even commented last night that his coat looks richer and more like it used to.  His mouth ulcers haven't bled since my last post.  This was a drug holiday week for him so I think that probably helped.  He has chemo again on Friday of next week, but that's still another 7 days for him to recover and put on more weight.

Mouth Ulcers

For the last few weeks, I've been watching two small, white ulcers in Rumble's mouth.  I first noticed them because he was extra drool-y.  Out vet said to just watch them and make sure they don't get any bigger.  He also said that Rumble has probably always had this mouth ulcer virus, only now, because of the immune suppressing chemotherapy, his body is not able to fight them from popping up. 

So we've started giving Rumble half of his enzymes on his food and we are mixing the other half with some tuna juice and are putting it in a syringe, making him swallow it, in the hopes that his food tastes a little better and that he will eat more.   We did that the other day and I noticed drops of blood on the floor.  He was drooling half blood half tune juice out the side of his mouth.  Not alot, but enough to freak me out.  He has a new mouth ulcer at the corner of his mouth where his lips meet and it's super red and slightly bleeding.  I called the OSU vet and he said as long as it doesn't get in the way of his eating and he doesn't paw at it then there is not much we can do about it. 

I hate this "watch it" attitude.  Something new crops up and they just want me to watch and say to call if it gets any worse.  But in this case, it has gotten worse, I called, and they again said to just watch it.  When will Rumble finally starting feeling better?  When will he start gaining weight?  How can I help him and treat these mouth ulcers? 

He is on a drug holiday this week, so I'm hoping his body takes it easy this week and does some of the things that I want him too:  gain weight, clear up these mouth ulcers, solid poop.  Thanks for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.

Money

I hope everyone here understands that Rumble has no expiration date stamped on the bottom of his foot. 

When we adopted him into our family, we promised to make sure he had the best possible life and that includes medical care.  I think the majority of people think we are crazy for the amount of money we have spent on Rumble but you can't put a price tag on life and as long as it's still a good, loving life, we will keep on keeping on. 

My husband and I pride ourselves in having no debt expect our house and student loans.  But that has all changed with Rumble.  We were able to pay for alot of his expenses with cash from our savings, but since then we have opened a Care Credit account and have put money on our credit card. 

Care Credit is a 12 month, interest free credit card as long as you completely pay it off in 12 months.  If not, they hit you with interest at 26.99%.  That is huge.  We plan to do everything possible to pay it off in 12 months and if not, at 11 months, we will transfer everything left onto our credit card that runs at 12.99% interest. 

I will be completely honest with you about money.  This hurts my brain a little and I don't want to add up the final number.  Every original appointment with our vet cost $75 plus whatever additional we had done.  Blood work, Ultrasound, and X-rays cost anywhere from $200 - $300 each time and I think we had 3 sets done.  His surgery, anesthesia, pain meds, stay in the ICU, all his meds, post-op, everything he accrued while in the hospital, cost around $3,500.  The first week of his chemo includes two medicines (one rare) and runs us about $440.  The second week of his chemo only has one medicine (the rare one) and runs us about $240.  He has 5 rounds of chemo.  I've been told the feeding tube will cost around $250.  His Viokase is expensive and costs around $80 for 4 ounces but that seems to last us about a month to 6 weeks.  The two anti nausea medicines are cheap, in my opinion, around $8 each.  We go through a ton of food, litter, trash bags, and cleaning solution every week.  I'd say around $20 a week. 

For the first time ever, we are living pay check to pay check.  We are slowly building our savings account back up and are trying to pay off the Care Credit as fast as possible.  We do not have insurance on Rumble, but I sure wish we had.  Now, everything would be considered pre-existing so I'm not sure that it would be much help to add it.  We do have Home Again insurance but that's only if he sustains an injury after having escaped our home.  Hind Sight is 20-20, right?

Please don't be scared by the amount of money it takes.  It has been worth every penny to us and we have never looked back. 

Feeding Tube

I found out yesterday during Rumble's chemo appointment that if he doesn't gain weight soon, as in the next few days, then we are going to have to put in a feeding tube.  He has a great appetite, something is just not balancing with his enzymes so he's not gaining weight but even still losing weight. 

I feel like I'm failing, like I'm not doing enough or like I'm doing something wrong.  I broke down yesterday while in the waiting room of the vets.  No particular reason, after I had already been sitting there for a few hours.  I just broke down.  I thought I was crying quietly enough for no one to notice and I hid my face behind the book I was reading but within a few seconds, one of the receptionists was in the chair beside with a box of tissues asking if everything was ok.  Poor lady, how does she sit there and watch people cry every day?  She was probably also thinking, "Poor lady" about me.  It just got to be too much.  Chemo, which he hates, and then to find out he's going to need a feeding tube if we can't get his weight under control.  I just lost it.  I felt a little better afterwards.  I think I need to break down every now and again, just wish it hadn't happened in the waiting room, but they have seen it all before.  

So, we are now mixing the Viokase in with some tuna juice and giving it to Rumble by syringe after his meals.  You all know it's not easy giving a cat liquid medicine and these are big doses because it's alot of powder, we are lucky if half the liquid goes in at all.  Our vet also gave us some easy to digest cat food.  Rumble doesn't normally like food that comes in the form of pâté  but he really ate it well last night.  So, I mix half a serving of Viokase on the food and give the other half mixed with tuna juice either during or after his meal.  We need to decide by Friday if this is going to work otherwise, our vet wants to do the feeding tube on Friday.  "Better sooner than later", he said. 

My only good thing to report is that Rumble had not pooped in his box last night or this morning.  That makes me think all the food from yesterday is still in his system and is being absorbed correctly and we should see something small and solid in his box tonight.  I sure hope so!