Since I last wrote about Lily there has been lots happening & much money spent!
Unfortunately, after all the pain she went through with the second operation at the vets, after a month or so the hole opened up again. I asked the vet to refer us to Bristol Veterinary Univserity Hospital, as they would be our last hope. They were contact & all her notes sent off.
They came back with a date of Wednesday 28th June 2006 for me to take her along, no mention was made by them of starving her in case she had the op that day but my vets advised it, just in case!
A day was booked off work & the journey was made to Bristol, not too far from where we live, just about a 45min car journey. When we get there everything was explained to the vet & he took a look at her mouth. He said that they could operate on her that day but, of course, there was no guarantee of success. So I left her there & drove back home. I worried all the way whether I had done the right thing or not.. she had had a hard time after the last op, what if it was worse this time... did I have the right to put her through even more pain? so many doubts & questions. I awaited their call to let me know how she had done. By 16.55 i had received no call.. i knew that they shut at 17.00 so I gave them a call. the vet was still in surgery & would call me as soon as he could.
About 17.30 I received a call, she had had the operation but had haemorrhaged from her mouth, they had tried to stop the bleeding but were unable to & had to continue with the operation until it was complete. Lily had, as this time, lost about half the blood from her body & had to have a blood transfusion. They were very worried about her, especially regarding her sight, which was one of the most sensitive parts that could be affected. She was in the intensive care part of the hospital. They promised to ring back about 8.30pm with an update. As you can imagine I spent the next hour or so in floods of tears, convinced of the worst & blaming myself for putting her through this.
Just after 8.30pm I received a call from the night shift at the Veterinary Hospital. Lily was awake & seemed to be doing ok, they thought that her sight was ok but weren't sure. They would call again in the morning with an update. I was slightly happier but still very upset. Next day she was doing better & they were going to move her out of intensive care & into the cat care ward. A call was received late morning on Friday 30th June & the vet said that she seemed to be doing well, eating ok & could come home that day. Frantic grovelling at work(!) got me the afternoon off & I drove over to pick her up. She was very quiet & subdued but she seemed quite happy to be home. She ate a little well mashed, watery food & slept a lot (not unusual for any cat!).
Things seemed to be going along ok, until Thursday 6th July when I came home from work to find blood all over the floor of her bedroom. I went into panic mode again & contacted Bristol Veterinary Hospital. As it happened the vet on call was the same vet that had performed the operation. After a few questions he said that she was not haemorrhaging & as she was no longer bleeding, not to worry& that it should settle down. Needless to say I continued to worry. I checked every 2 hours throughout the night & she was ok at 4am but there was more blood again at 6am. I took her straight to the vets at 9am & Byron (her vet) said that he would keep her in, put her on a drip & monitor her. I picked her up that evening & there had been no more blood loss & Byron thought it was probably a nose bleed, however her was not optimistic about the success of the op after taking a look at her mouth.
After this there was no more bleeding & she continued to improve. A visit to the vets on 15th July brought a more optimitic view on the success of the op. I continued to keep my fingers crossed that after everything she had gone through & the cost of the op at Bristol (£940), she would come out of the otherside with the hole being closed in the roof of her mouth. Her coat was still unkempt, but I had caught her washing her paws a couple of times so I was hopeful. She allowed me to brush her for about 10 seconds before moaning & then biting me so it was a slow process trying to clean up her coat. She was no longer sneezing quite as much as before & seemed to appreciate it when she was allowed out of her bedroom & into the living room.
Just under 6wks after she had had the op in Bristol, Saturday 5th August, I took her back to her vets for a check up, this was the moment of truth, was it all worth it??? Unfortunately the answer was no, the hole back back, perhaps even bigger than before. It was devastating. Everything she had gone through was for nothing, the pain, the loss of blood, the cost... However she does seem better in herself, as I said above she is no longer sneezing as much as she used to. We have taken the decision to allow her free access around the house & to go outside while we are here. Unfortunately Lily does not like other cats & as my cats are all timid & do not like other cats either things are quite difficult. We are having to try to keep everyone separate which is pretty difficult in a 2 bedroom bungalow!
We will now have to put our heads together to see if we can come up with a plan to try to get her a loving home as an only cat, something that she really deserves. She is the most loving of cats, to humans!, & likes nothing better than to sit on my husband's chest, purring away. The last couple of days she has taken to sitting in the bath or on the toilet seat - she is an odd cat! But she is very loving & deserves better than she has had - although you will have to be ok with being sneezed on occasionally!
