Between worlds: observations of a semi-feral boy

surgery today

Well, I had another bad weekend. *cries*

It started out okay ... I was feeling frisky Saturday morning. Mama and Daddy gave me my medicines, and then Mama had to leave to go pick up the Boy at Syracuse for spring break. She told me she'd see me later that night and would give me lots of snuggles then.

When she got home it was really late, and she knew I needed my medicine, so she looked for me. I was in my cozy Igloo on my Porch. But I didn't want to come out to see her. She put her things away, got a drink, and then came out to see me again. This time I was scratching in the litterbox. I knocked a lot of litter onto the floor, but she didn't see any fresh pee. And then I got up on my Papasan and tried to pee there - but I didn't.

She decided to forget about my medicine for the moment, and instead asked Daddy how I'd spent my day and when had he last seen me pee. He said I was out playing in the early evening, between thunderstorms, and then Dougal and I settled on the Porch during the last thunderstorm, and that was when I retreated to my Igloo. He had seen me squatting outside during the day, but no he hadn't actually seen me pee. Which meant the last time she KNEW I'd peed was sometime in the morning, before she left for Syracuse.

By the time she finished talking to Daddy I was back in my Igloo, and she tried to pet me but I didn't respond. She put a catnip mousie in with me, but I wasn't interested in that either. So she picked up the whole igloo, carried it inside, sat down in a chair and put it on her lap with me in it, so she could snuggle me through the quilty walls. Then she called the Veterinary Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania and told them she needed to bring me in as a veterinary emergency.

We got there a little before one in the morning, and there were just a few other emergency patients - a kitty who had fallen out a window but seemed okay, just scared; a hammie that was bleeding; and a doggie that was breathing funny. They triaged me as needing immediate care, and had me unblocked within 20 minutes or so. That was quite a relief! But then they talked to Mama for awhile longer. They wanted to do lots of tests like an ultrasound and more x-rays, but Mama explained that I'd just had x-rays when I was in the hospital the previous week and no stones had shown up. She asked them to hold off on the ultrasound until she had a chance to talk Dr. Luetke, the vet who had been taking care of me last week. She figured he, or one of the other vets in the practice, would be in at 10 am anyway. The vets at Penn also suggested a perineal urethrostomy (PUS), which she'd already been thinking, because she and Dr. Luetke had discussed it as a plausible scenario if I blocked again. So I was transferred out of Emergency and into the Internal Medicine department at Penn, where I spent the night with an IV and a catheter.

Yesterday morning Mama talked to Dr. Luetke, and he said he'd like to have me transferred over to Springfield that afternoon, and he didn't think the ultrasound was necessary. He said he'd do more x-rays before he performed surgery. In the meantime my new doctor in Internal Medicine at Penn also called, and agreed that an ultrasound probably was not indicated because I'm young and not showing symptoms of anything more complicated than crystals. So Mama arranged to transfer me, and picked me up around 1 pm. I got a really nice report card from Penn! They said I was bright and comfortable and an excellent patient.

So I was checked in at Springfield by 2 pm, and Mama talked to Dr. Luetke again, and he said he could do the surgery today. He explained it in great detail to her, and said he's done quite a few of these surgeries including several this year, and only one involved complications or post-operative infection, and that cat had presented anatomical irregularities during surgery. He said he takes his time with these surgeries so he gets the critical incisions and sutures right, since it's delicate work on a small and intricate system. So Mama feels like I'm in pretty good hands today. But she knows this is major surgery (Dr. Luetke called it "radical") so I'm going to need post-op care for quite awhile. I'll need special paper litter, and an E-collar, and regular supervision. In fact I'll probably be a hotel patron at Springfield next weekend, because she has to take the Boy back to university, and Daddy will be out of town, and she can't leave me alone that long when I'm recuperating.

I know I'm losing some interesting parts of me, but really I'm less worried about that than I am relieved at the prospect of not having to go through these blockages anymore. So right now I'm just hoping the surgery is successful and I wind up with a wide, clear urethra!

I dictated all this to Mama all this before she left me yesterday afternoon, of course. Right now I'm not thinking or hoping much of anything, because I am deep under anesthesia! Mama will call and see how I am later today. She might not be able to visit me tonight, because she has to take Lady to our "regular" vet for shots - and also talk to him about me! - but I know she's purring for me in her human way, and will visit me tomorrow as soon as she can.

Thanks to all of you for your purrs and notes and gifts. I can feel the positive energy all around me! And I know it's going to help me. I love all my kitty and doggie furriends, and I can't wait to feel better so I can play with you again.