October 31, 2024
Craig and Cattie took another Daddy-Daughter day-trip to Richmond, Virginia to Partner Veterinary, 3 hours away, where she’d gotten her Yale Vaccine shots. No vax this time — just a post-vaccine checkup with imaging and blood tests AND her 5th and final chemotherapy treatment. We could’ve had the tests & chemo done locally, but the folks at Partner Vet are just so kind and accommodating (& don’t require sedating Cat), that we felt it was worth the trip.
The visit would be a full staging: thoracic radiographs of her lungs, an echocardiogram (echo) for heart, & a liver ultrasound — since splenic hemangiosarcoma will most often spread rapidly the heart, lungs, and liver.
I was back home working all day — but waiting anxiously for Craig’s call to share the results. Given all we’d been told by oncologists in the beginning, I was prepared to hear the cancer had metastasized; I just didn’t know to what extent, but I was hopeful it wasn’t too far progressed.
Then, the phone rang. It was Craig. Ditching any greeting or other niceties, he simply blurted out: “NO SIGNS OF METASTASIS!”
“Huh?” I answered, stunned.
“She’s awesome — they did all of the scans: No metastasis, blood tests look good, even her heart looks great!” (this was a concern outside of the cancer since she has cardiomyopathy and the chemo, doxorubicin, is cardio-toxic and cumulative — a huge reason we were so nervous about opting for chemo).
They were safe at home just a few hours later. That nasty chemo is over and our girl is healthy (or as least as healthy as she can be).
Wow. Just…wow. I was blindsided in the best kind of way today. Boy will I be sleeping soundly for a few nights to come! We’re so grateful.
…And the war wages on!
