Took Cayenne to the Vet Today

I took Cayenne to the vet today, mostly just for a checkup, but also to see about getting some pain meds to keep on hand in case she needs them.  Mostly, it was good news.  Her diabetes is still under control and her blood sugar level was good.  Her urinalysis was good and her kidneys are working well.  The vet did a couple x-rays to see if the cancer has spread to her lungs or anywhere, and it hasn't.  The tumors seem to be slow-growing, which is good news.  Her weight is good - she weighs two ounces less than she did six months ago.

The bad news is that she has a lot of inflammation due to the tumors and one of them, the one that has been bleeding and oozing the most, is infected.  It's a minor infection, but due to her diabetes, Cayenne is more susceptible than normal to infection and infection is harder to treat.  Unfortunately, as the cancer grows, her skin can be expected to break down more and more, and it will become harder and harder to control the infection.  Since her tumors are growing so slowly, she could die from infection before the cancer kills her.  She could also go into kidney failure because of the inflammation and diabetes, although her kidneys are working surprisingly well right now, so she could end up dying from kidney failure before the cancer kills her.

The vet prescribed an antibiotic for the infection.  He also gave her an injection of an anti-inflammatory medication and sent some more of that home with her.  Hopefully the anti-inflammatory will help keep her comfortable and it may slow the growth of the tumors and the breakdown of her skin.  The antibiotic may or may not help much with the infection, but we'll hope it does.  Probably the infection will get better temporarily but then get worse again.  It's not a bad infection right now, though.

Cayenne did not enjoy her trip to the vet.  When I put her in her carrier to go to the vet, I had to shove her in there.  It was funny, though.  When we were at the vet's and getting ready to leave, I put Cayenne on the counter and put the carrier next to her.  I was going to pick her back up and put her into the carrier but before I had a chance to pick her up, she scrambled right in on her own!  She was like, get me out of here!

Last time she rode in the car, she threw up all over herself in the carrier.  Wanting to be prepared, I took an extra little blankie in my purse so I could put a clean blankie in the carrier if she threw up on the way to the vet.  She did not throw up, though.  However, she did poop in the carrier on the way home.  At least it was on the way home, so I didn't have to try to clean a poopy carrier (and a poopy cat's butt) at the vet's office.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention how much it cost.  Let's just say A LOT.  I'm kind of stressed out about that.  In two days, I go to get my bridge for my teeth (yay!  I will have teeth again!) and I owe $1200 then.  So the last thing I needed right now was a big vet big.  But you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.