Helena Update Almost nothing New

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Helena, two weeks ago.

So, nothing really new, though they either gave us more hope or– Anyway, she’s largely unresponsive.

Apparently it wasn’t a suggestion to euthanize. The doctor is happy we’re not. Tests for Toxoplasmosis (Sp?) are delayed. If it’s not Toxoplasmosis, the doctor is going to assume some form of brain event and put her on steroids to reduce swelling, etc. If it is positive, then it’s just going take a while on antibiotics. Just… patience.

She’s not getting worse, and her internal organs are fine, so they’ve ruled out poisoning. We’ll just visit her and pet her a lot in the next few days.

The good, though not particularly exciting news are that son and future daughter in law went to visit with a cell phone and put us on speaker near her, and she opened her eyes, and twitched her ears, and ALMOST fully woke up.

Dan and I are fine and on the road home, where we hope to reach before tomorrow.

Please pray for our tiny little fuzzy girl.

60 thoughts on “Helena Update Almost nothing New”

  9. I’ve been praying for your sweet girl. I will continue to do so. in the meantime, for a laugh, Ida Mae, three month old kid, runs to us, stops, and instead of saying maaaaaa, she snorts.

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  10. I’m so glad the vet corrected what you were thinking yesterday.

    I suspect tomorrow she’ll be happy to hear her mama’s voice directly.

    hugs

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  11. Where there is life, there is also hope. Aiten’t dayed is sure enough alive. Give it time. Fat lady ain’t sung yet.

    May the wee little fuzz recover, be it slow or quick, so long as she gets back healthy. May the kitty docs in the box remain steadfast, skilled, patient, and attentive. May the family get no more bloody shocks like that any time soon, too.

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  12. I’m certain she will begin recovering as soon as you are home and can see her every day, and she is well enough to be released from the Kitty ICU. Poor baby, she was probably freaked out by everything happening at once – being fixed, everything going on with prepping for the road trip – and then separation from all that she found familiar…

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      1. Bah, kitties are always broke. All the ones that have staked out my yard as their territory tell me all the time, they’re just too poor. No money for food. Starving to death, even.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I agree, but it shouldn’t have caused this. And yes, I’m kicking myself for having her fixed so early. Indy needed it, he was being a bloody nuisance, but we should have held off on her.

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      1. I’m surprised the clinic didn’t recommend holding off. Ours wouldn’t until either were at least 5#s and 6 months. Did learn with Freeway what an in heat cat is like not long after she came into the household (she was yowling like she was dying, I swear). She was a bit older than the original vet BIL & SIL took her to when they found her. Our vet said she was older than 6 months but probably < 9 months. We scheduled a spay immediately. Not that Tj, the only household feline male was able. JIC she got out. The vet also said we were lucky kittens didn’t have to be aborted during the spay. They’ve been seeing a lot of that lately. Not that a first time feline mothers kittens usually survive if mom is < 2 years.

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        1. I prefer to wait until around 6 months, but the shelter where we got our current two has different views. Both of our current pair came into the house shortly after being spayed and they were around 10 weeks old.

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          1. shelter where we got our current two has different views.
            ……………..

            The local shelter, and local rescues (and beyond), will not adopt out pets until they are neutered/spayed, which means (to me) doing the procedure too young. Haven’t dealt with the cat rescues because of that and the fact you have to sign an affidavit you won’t let cats be outside house/catico (which I cannot swear to). We do have the ability to find kittens without going through rescues.

            Pepper’s rescue, had to use their veterinarian of choice, the spay fee was part of her *fee, as were all her puppy shots through six months, but I did talk them into letting me wait until she was at least 6 months old, and didn’t have to sign an affidavit to do so. Helped that the rest of her liter was adopted out to friends and family of the foster and rescue.

            I get it. The rescues are all about getting homes for the ones they rescue without risking more puppies and kittens. Yet they get more fee donations from puppies and kittens which pays the extra medical fees for other animals and food/equipment for fosters. Older animals the adoption fees cover their spay/neuter and initial shots, barely, maybe. Do not cover extra costs. So it is critical they get puppies/kittens fixed when they can still be adopted out at the super cute stage. Does not mean I agree with the practice.

            (*) At $600 still less than the $800 first year puppy discount (saves about $200 VS pay as you go) fee at our vet clinic.

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  13. It seems as tho she may have recognized your voice even over the phone? That sounds promising to me. Have a very safe trip home!

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  16. “visit with a cell phone and put us on speaker near her, and she opened her eyes, and twitched her ears, and ALMOST fully woke up.”

    She wants, needs, her “mom”.

    Can they get “Indy” where she can see/hear/smell him?

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    1. Us too. But like Sarah we didn’t give up until we knew why whatever was happening and what the options other than Rainbow bridge. Too often there were no options, or few worth seriously considering. (We did seriously consider kidney transplant for Thump, we really considered it. Then ultimately we realized we would be doing the procedure for us, we realized it wasn’t fair. Not with the long term consequences of that decision to him. So we let him go.) The fact that Helena’s medical team still have no clue, but still know that her organs are not failing, is good news. I pray she starts rallying.

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        1. The key was the vet told you her organs are in good shape. But, yea, you don’t know what the actual problem is. Praying she is just weak, and what she needs is you and Indy (at least where they can nose to nose but not let him be rough).

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  23. We’ve spent USD20,000 on surgery and radiation for our dogs. We are also now older about pet health insurance.

    My wife has survived lymphoma twice and takes cancer personally. We did everything we could. But still, there is that moment.

    Nothing eases it; nothing makes it simple.
    It is a hard break. We soldier on until our own end.

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      2. I am curious too. OTOH it would be x5 (or more, we are entertaining kittens should they be placed in our path).

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        1. The biggest problem is going to be “pre-existing conditions”. If what’s going wrong can be “reasonably” related to something the pet has recorded as treated for in the past, they won’t cover the treatment.

          We have ASPCA pet insurance. Their coverage of Nemo’s 2+ year lymphoma battle was excellent. We have a million dollar lifetime limit policy, and they paid 90% of the costs.

          Sugar has the same coverage. While she was in a prior shelter, she damaged her incisors and canines trying to gnaw out of a wire cage, which means that they are refusing to cover dental treatment even when the vet has documented that the issue is a molar that wasn’t affected.

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  27. Wonderful! Both diagnoses are very treatable. (Although I would probably have her on steroids now, whatever the TP results are. But I’m not her doctor.)

    I can now better resist the urge to check in every half hour…

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      1. Hmm. Dad used to treat it with one of the sulfa drugs and, IIRC, prednisone.

        But, that was well nigh to fifty years ago. The damned parasite has had a few dozen mutation cycles since then – so it might very well see it as a stimulant now.

        Oh, that reminds me – a lot of that resistance to things (probably sulfa doesn’t work either now) was created by humans being treated for it. You should have both yourself and Dan checked for any signs of it when you can.

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  28. As long as Helena needs to stay there under doctor’s care, it might be helpful to leave an article of clothing with your scent there to comfort her.

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  30. Hugs. Stable is good — and sometimes these things will be two steps forward, one step back for a while. Hopefully she’ll continue getting better, and soon be home with you again.

    Family member is dealing with a similar situation in the post-fire recovery. Thankful no one was hurt. Sad to discover prized possessions sitting in several inches of water from the firefighting efforts. Happy to discover insurance covers restoration of unique items like photo albums and home a/v recordings. Sad to discover there are no guarantees of success.

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  31. You have been on the prayer list.
    I’ve been up in the shelter 13 region in Chicago, so… let’s say I am getting to be on a first name basis with interesting times, just in a different way. Still, as a cat owner, who had a cat poisoned by someone else, trying to kill racoons, I can understand to a degree what you are going through. Please keep us posted, and you remain in the prayers of a strange blind guy on the internet.

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