Friday, September 02, 2005

Punk

Well, after my overwrought post from last night, Harley decided to do a 180 for the THIRD time in his life. I think he delights in causing us emotional turmoil. Copying & pasting my update post from MUA because I'm feeling lazy and have stuff to do:

Last night when I talked to the vet, she basically told me that it didn't look like Harley was going to make it. His bladder was still producing icky fluid, and his prostate is enlarged and definitely cystic, if not cancerous (according to the ultrasound). She said that IF he made it through the infection, he'd probably need surgery (which he might not survive) or serious pharmacological management (which might not help and might cause nasty side effects). But the hardest part was that it was iffy he'd even survive this infection b/c he was so dehydrated and his bladder was just releasing the gross fluid. So I had to call Chris and tell him this over the phone b/c he's in Chicago, and we were both bawling our eyes out and trying to be positive, though her prognosis made that insanely difficult. We knew we couldn't put him through another exploratory surgery, and that we may not be able to afford the medications they said he needs.

So I went to bed emotionally and physically exhausted, and only got up about an hour ago. There was a message on my phone from the vet. Never have I so clearly heard surprise in another person's voice over the phone. Harley has been urinating on his own, and when the nurse expressed his bladder this morning his urine was completely normal. He has been eating and drinking on his own, and he's almost fully alert again. AND (since Chris and I aren't going to go with surgery, at least for now) I can go pick him up in a couple hours!!!

He's already had the one Lupron shot, and she'll send him home with antiinflammatory meds and antibiotics, so we don't have to decide on further medical management for another month, assuming he makes it that long. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but he HAS done this to us twice in the past (near death and then an insanely fast, surprising turnaraound). At the very least, we can have him here with us as long as possible. I'm pretty much numb at this point from all the emotional upheaval, but I'm SO relieved that we won't have to make the euthanasia decision it looked like we'd have to make today. And my little old man will be home when his daddy gets back from Chicago!

So there are no guarantees, but my baby is coming home in a couple hours!

2 comments:

katiedid said...

I hope he's as comfortable as possible, T. And I'm so sorry he's having to go through all this. And sorry you do, too.

Kate said...

Oh I'm glad he's ok. No wonder you're exaughsted! Sending love to you and your little weasley pal. :-)