Hi everyone. Sorry that there was not an update yesterday or last night. Events were moving rather quickly and we had decisions to make. First of all we want to say a special thank you to the charter members of the "Blackie Fan Club". The love and support you have shown for our pootie has been truly remarkable. Ir has been a great comfort and has bought smiles to our faces during this horrible time.
For those of you who may have been busy with holiday preparations, Blackie's saga has been diaried here and here. It has been an emotional time for both of us. For her dad, it has been even harder because Blackie is a "daddy's girl". However, Blackie is the one who has had the hardest time of all because she is the one who had to undergo the operation last Thursday.
Follow me for more of Blackie's progess.
Yesterday morning we received a phone call from her vet. Blackie continues to require chest taps to remove the liquid in her lungs. While some of this was anticipated, the amount of liquid that they had to remove was enormous. The vets were not sure why this was happening but one possibility was that her lungs are inflammed and this is causing her to do this. They had to do two chest taps yesterday. Her blood pressure and temperature are stabilized. Her prognosis is guarded to poor. Needless to say, we are very upset at this turn of events.
Because of this, we decided that rather than have her remain there for another day or two, we wanted to bring her home. Part of our reasoning is we are hoping that by bringing her home that will reduce her stress levels and help slow this down. Another is that if she is not going to make it, we want to spend some quality time with her. We can call our regular vet in the morning and get her chest tapped if we need to.
After hours of discussion, we advised the doctors that that was our decision and that we could give her the pain medicine here. While they were somewhat cautious about this, they understand on one level with this type of prognosis they understand our decision.
We drove to Portland last night to pick her up. When my husband opened up her crate she started purring rather loudly. She purred all the way home and when we arrived home we sat in the car for a few minutes. Blicke realized that she was home and purred very loudly. We think she was trying to let us know that this is what she wanted.
When she got in the house, she went straight for the Christmas Tree. She spent the night under the tree and we moved her food and water so that it would be close. She is resting under the tree at this moment. I took a picture of her under the tree and wanted to share it with everyone. Think of it as her Christmas card to the Kossack community.
From all of us, again we say thanks. Please continue to send healing mojo, healing energy and love to her. In advance we say, "thank you again".
Happy Holidays.
Blackie and her parents.
Update: Blackie gave her dad a Christmas present. It is probably the one gift that he will cherish the most. It was a calender of Tuxedo pooties. His emotions flowed because of his love for Blackie. I feel so bad for him. He is not one to show his emotions but everyone needs to do that for their own piece of mind.
Update 2: We wanted to share this picture of Blackie with you. I mentioned earlier in a reply to Pam Zareta about Blackie having her head nuzzled to the toy we bought her. Here is a picture of her with her new toy. Mr. sable wants to send his thanks as well and it is a big help to him at the support our little pootie is getting. He was able to take a look at Ekaterin's card, lamzdotes' candle and Khloemi's picture. They, along with the comments are very comforting to both of us.
Update 3: I took Blackie to the vet early this morning. What they did was give her some more oxygen and another chest tap. There is some encouraging news. Monday they did two chest taps and the amount of fluid they removed from her lungs was 140 mls. and 150 mls. This morning they removed 120 mls. What makes us hopeful about this is that she was able to go thirty-six hours and the amount they removed was a lot less.
She has also been prescribed an additional medicine. She is being given an anti-inflammatory med to help stop the lung inflamtion. It was the right call because when I bought her home she was very hungry and thirsty. She is grooming herself. These are positive signs. She has to be feeling better. Right now she is resting.
Mr. sable, who is working, called ealier to make sure I was on my way to the vet's office with her. He just called again to find out what was happening and what the vet said. He can't wait to get home to see his baby.
The healing energy, prayers, cards and candles everyone has sent have been so comforting to both of us. We truly thank everyone for their love and support. With luck and the Kossack community pulling for her maybe we can have that Christmas miracle.
Update 4: Blackie rested comfortably during the night. We both fell asleep in the living room sitting with her. This morning we checked and she was breathing more peacefully. The new medicine appears to be helping. She is also eating a lot more. By our best estimate she ate about one-third of a can of catfood, some of her dry catfood, some kitty treats and drank a lot of water.
The oxygen that we are giving to her is helping. We are giving it to her about every couple of hours. She is more lively. Last night she was walking around in the room, marking her territory once again. We know she is trying to tell us that she is getting better.
The healing energy and love that is being sent to her is helping. Kossacks are the best. The pictures, candles, and prayers that are being done for her are a huge help. Thanks again from all of us.