[Petbunny] Bad news

[Anne Walizer]

Madison's vet visit didn't go well.

Her watery eyes and snorting breathing point to pasterella.  Her teeth  
are fine.  The dr said that if it was hay dust, it's usually just one  
eye, not both.  So, a 2 wk antibiotic course for Miss Madison.

We did xrays and then the news turned worse.

She has several tumors in her chest and one big one in her abdominal  
area (which we could both feel but weren't sure if it wasn't a  
hardening of a fatty deposit).  The dr said if it was just one tumor  
in the chest, we'd be looking at 2-3 months but with so many tumors  
and the size of them...her time is severely limited with us.  She's  
now metacam to keep her comfortable but I've been assured that this  
type of tumor isn't painful.  The antibiotics should help with her  
snorting breathing and the eye watery stuff.  Madison has also lost  
weight since last Oct (11oz) and now weighs just 6lbs.

Damn cancer.

AND to top of the horrible news, while we're waiting for our bill to  
go thru the computer system, Kazi collapsed.  (I always take bonded  
mates on vet trips).  Scared the crap out of me - they rushed him back  
to the vet's exam room. She went over his heart rate and breathing  
(all fine).  Seems he was really dehydrated.  So they gave him some  
sub-q fluids and weighed him.  He's down 2 lbs since last year making  
him 4.5 lbs and that concerned her.  They asked if I could wait until  
she finished with the 2 other clients she had scheduled so we could  
see more into Kazi.

Of course I waited.

He was not himself at all.  By the time she was done with the other  
clients (didn't take too long), she gave Kazi-bear a thorough exam,  
including more xrays.  No tumors on his chest.  But....ready for the  
kicker...severe stasis.  WTF??????  He's been eating - he pootied and  
peed in the carrier.  Where was this coming from?  His stomach didn't  
present with the usual consistency you'd see with stasis -- but there  
it was on the xray.  Tons of gas bubbles in his cecal track.  No  
wonder he was grinding his teeth while we were examining Madison.....

So, he's on the usual meds for stasis  (critical care, sub-q fluids,  
reglan, simethecone & metacam) as well as a precautionary 2 wk dose of  
antibiotics.  Normally, she wouldn't give antibiotics to a mate of a  
pasterella bunny if the mate seems fine -- but in this case, it's  
obvious Kazi's immune system is fighting something, so we're going to  
help him out a bit.

So, we're now headed tothe drug store to stock up on infant  
simethecone and then to dairy queen for a thin-mint blizzard, large  
sized, for dinner.   I've earned it today.

Cancer sucks and I want a do-over for today.  It sucked BIG TIME. and  
I just want to curl in a corner and pretend the rest of the world  
doesn't exist.

Please send vibes for all of us.  Esp, our diva, Miss Madison, queen  
of the warren.

--
Anne
Madison, Kazi, Ben & Princess Maya
www.walizer.net

"You do what you know, and when you know better, you do better." -  
Maya Angelou