The continuing FrankenKitty saga

So the uberVet called yesterday.

Trinity does have a "Type 1 Fibrous Sarcoma," or did anyway before the surgery. Type 1 tumors are characterized as "aggressive," which translates into a 90% or better chance that the problem will recur after an unspecified period of time.

Interestingly, having spent some time in a BN going though all the cat books in their pet section, I can tell you that pretty much the sum total of information available is: "Tumors are bad."

So, we're back to square one in many ways. The uberVet is once again proposing either radiation therapy or amputation. The radiation still has the problem that the treatment simply isn't available regionally - and is very expensive in any case. Amputation is still, well, amputation. It'll be another four digit number, and even after that the odds only drop to 50% for relapse. They're sending me a quote, and he's given me another owner to talk to with a pet that's been through it.

I have to say that this entire experience is a strange combination of doctor's visits and auto repair. I've had this feeling about the vet before, for other reasons; principally because they are both people that put their head under the hood and then tell you you need a widget and all you can do is look like you understand and ask "how much?" Cynical, but then I never claim not to be.

It seems like for the time being we're going to do nothing. There are quality of life reasons, both for us and for Trinity. There are of course dollar reasons, and there are odds issues. The long story short version is that it seems likely that whatever we do we can't make her well beyond a coin flip, and under those circumstances it seems that her quality of life has to be the most important factor.

So we'll go get the staples out next week, and I'll keep trying to gather information. See this space for further updates.