can anyone help me please....

[dandysmom]

That's such encouraging news, Jo! Please keep us updated on how it's going.

[pookyandjo]

Hi all.. Day 3 post op not so good today... infact.. not good at all..I was so exhausted after yesterday i slept late and didn't get there until the just before the 1 pm feed.. (he is being fed every 2 hours at present).. whilst he was pleased to see me the staff were and are concerned that he is depressed.. because he isn't making any attempt to move around he has some problems with fluid/bruising where he is laying..and also i noticed some bruising in his chest.. way away from the surgery site... they did some bloods on the spot and what they found was the protein level in his blood has gone down... ideally it should n the low to mid 20s his this afternoon as 18.. apparently its common for cats following amputation to lose a lot of protein as a result of the surgery.. Tinky's problem is that he cant have foods high in protein to fix the problem because he has a protein allergy... which is why he is on a special diet (hills prescription Z/D) and has been for 4 years. The vet on duty is quite concerned.. not so much becaue fo the protein drop... she is hoping that with his 2 hour feeds that it will slowly rise... but his depression is concerning her at present.. she said that at this point she has seen cats just drift off...to that end she gave him a dose of an anti depressant to see if it made a difference.. today he was just flat..didn't groom... didn't move... just laid there.. he really wasn't interested in me being there after the initial hello that i got from him.. yesterday whilst i was there.. if i left the room even for a few mins... when i came back in he was sitting up a little looking for me... where as today.. there was no response to me coming and going.. The vet said she would like to see him do SOMETHING... rather than just lying there... even grooming would be a good start..it's now nearly 11pm i left the hostpital a little over an hour ago..and there hadn't been much of a change.. he was propping himself up a little but not much really... the other thing is that today they had scaled back his pain relief a little to see if that was making him depressed.. he doesn't appear to be in any pain... they have moved him a couple of times today and he didn't give them any grief.. so that's about it..
im having a cup of tea as i write this and when that's done im off to bed... im exhausted!

until tomorrow

Jo and Tinky Winky

[dandysmom]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Jo; hope the change in medication will ease the depression. Your vets sound very good and caring; he's in good hands and they're doing the best for the little guy. Get some rest, and hope things will have improved by tomorrow when you visit. Take care ....

[angieh]

Oh Jo, that doesn't sound very good. I am sorry. Do hope he manages to perk up.

[calismum]

So sorry to hear that. I hope he perks up a bit with the change in meds.

Fingers crossed he is better tomorrow.

[dinahsmum]

Chin up Jo!
We're all rooting for you both

[pookyandjo]

Hi all,
am writing this BEFORE i go to the hospital this morning...I woke with a start at 0510 this morning and and felt that someting was not right.. I laid there for about 30 minutes tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep..my husband said maybe i should get up, shower and go in if that's what i wanted to do.. but i decided that i would ring first to see how he was..(i did leave the hospital with instructions that if i was needed that i wasnted to be called becauseif someting looked like it was going to happen i didn't want him to be by himself when it did) well i rang... and the nurse that took the call said i must be psychic... the had taken out his urinary cath at around the time i woke cause he had bitten a hole in the tube and it was leeking.. and in the ensuing 30 minutes or so he was up and moving wanting to use his litter tray... also.. earlier in the morning around 0230 he got up and used the tray to have a poo.. that was the first in nearly 48 hours.. but they weren't concerned about that because the Z/D food that his is on is highly digestable and doesn't make much stool... not like the dried version of the same food which has a more fibre... the other thing they did with him overnight was get him out on the floor.. and gave him a little gentle physiotherapy... he had a bit of a clumsy hop around.. for a few mins...they said that there may be a little muscle loss in his remaining hind leg... because of the inactivity.. but they are hoping that by keeping him moving a little that will be minimised.. he wont be coming home today as they had thought.. as i think they want to make sure his protein level is on the way up before they discharge... and see if they can kick the depression, plus his fentanyl patch comes off at 5 pm today so they will want to be sure that the orral pain meds are sufficient to keep his pain at bay... im off to have a shower and head in there now to spend the day
i'll let you all know further when i get home tonight

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers
it means a lot from people i dont know that all share a common bond of our love for our fur babies.. If love could make him better he'd be the fittest cat on earth!

bless you all

Jo and Tinky Winky

[dandysmom]

What happy news! As you said, we're all people you don't know, but we do care and have been sending prayers and healing thoughts. Awaiting today's report, Jo, hope it will be good. Bless!

[pookyandjo]

Hi all,
I have been home from the hospital for nearly 2 hours.. i had to come ...i am losing the plot in there...and i feel so bad about it...Despite Tinky being given some meds for the depression and him perking up a liitle it has ben short lived and by 10 am this morning the staff were writing on his chart again that he was very depressed... When the vet gave him these meds last night and i asked how long the dose should last she said 3 days... well it barely lasted 12 hours.. when i arrived at the hopsital today at 1230.. to get ready for his 1 pm feed.. he looked at me... but that was about it... they said that they had given him some gabapentin (sp) which is a drug that acts on the nerve endings incase he was getting some phantom pain in his leg...and that would knock him out a little.. i gave him the 1 pm feed... and after that he got up a few times to go to the little tray... missing each time... but hey.. i can overlook that.. .. because he missed each time they had to clean out his bed... and i sat with him on my knee whilst they did that... he didn't wat to sit there he wanted back in the cage...so we put him back in there because it seemd that he was most comfortable there... i sat with him for a while and he dozed.. i went to prepare his 3 pm feed and we had a problem with the line...once we sorted it.. i finished the rest of the feed... and within about 10 mins... he started wailing... and then started vomiting...it was horrible...and i lost it totally..... they suggested that i come home and have a break for the rest of the day...I have just got a phone call from them to say that they repeated the blood test to check for protein and it has dropped a little it's down to 17 now.. in the 24 hours since his last test..
i asked would the vomit have any effect on that test and they said no... so they were going to rest his tummy for a few hours and re intorduce the feeds at 8 pm..i asked them was it time to bring this to an end and they said no... i have lost all my objectivity at the moment after nearly 8 weeks of him being unwell and having surgeries.. i dont know how much more either of us can bear... he is certainly a fighter... but how much fight he has left is something only he knows

Thanks again

Jo and Tinky Winky

p.s. on a lighter note...whilst i am typing this there is some banner advertising on the quick reply screen... for weight loss... called the "Gabriel Method".. lose weight without dieting... is their boast...ahhhhhh you guys probably wont see it cause ive just seen that the website it tells you to go to is www.gabrielmethod.com.au so it's an australian one that probably only shows up to Aust ISP's... well have i got news for Gabriel....i have been losing weight without dieting... without trying and its all due to the cat stress diet.. maybe i could market that..

[dinahsmum]

Poor you Jo
I've never had a cat this ill, but do remember a period of maybe a couple of weeks with a young dog who had the most awful time post-spay, and who I was convinced was going to die about twice a day. 'Emotional roller-coaster' is an over-used phrase, but it describes what's going on in the scrambled egg which has replaced one's brain. You really get to the stage where you're thinking that you need to make the most difficult but most basic of decisions - a life and death decision indeed - but you can barely remember how to dress yourself.
Is the hospital helping you? I hope they are trying to keep you well informed and going beyond the abc facts of the surgery and post-surgery period.
Shall we swap worries for today? I'll worry about Tinky Winky and his amputation and you can worry about the disappearance of my Chester (7th day now). A bit of trans-world thought transfer.
I hope things look better for you in the morning light (you're night time now, aren't you?). I don't envy you the next few difficult days but hope maybe the worst has passed now. It's so difficult weighing suffering and unhappiness today against potential happy life for the future. Stay strong. Get some sleep. x