Today I received the terrible news that my sweet 4 year old tuxedo cat, Mr.
Rochester, has large cell lymphoma in his stomach. An ultrasound showed no other masses or lesions anywhere else (intestines, kidneys, liver, all look good). He has a small mass on his stomach. Some background, back in October I noticed he was throwing up more than usual - as a long haired cat he gets hairballs and he has a fondness for eating things he shouldn’t so sometimes we would find a small string or a leaf in his bile. We had bloodwork done and everything came back normal. Then I noticed there was pink in his bile. We put him on an anti-nausea pill - thought maybe since he was throwing up often he was dealing with inflammation, perhaps an ulcer? Perhaps a food allergy? He is active, playful, eats normal, drinks normal, super affectionate, no diarrhea, nothing else that would make me think he’s really ill. Fast forward to last week I decided to schedule an ultra sound to rule out IBD or cancer. I was wrong. I’ve been told that with IV chemo I may get 6-9 months and with oral chemo 2-4 months. How can they give me this prognosis when he’s been exhibiting this chronic vomiting since October? There’s no way to determine when the cancer started so how do I have such little time with him when there’s a good chance it developed months ago? These aren’t my real questions though, it’s just me being delusional and hoping the biopsy is wrong.. he’s fine. Just an upset tummy.
My question is. Knowing my time is short with him - how do I just live my normal life? How do I make plans or go out not knowing exactly how much time I have left with him? I know, I know, nothing is guaranteed, that’s life! But, you know what I mean. Im hoping Cat parents who have gone through something similar can give me advice for just taking this day by day when I want to say “who gives a shit about making money or going out with friends” when I know my baby is dying….. I want to have him for months, for years…. How do I move forward, be happy? Pay attention to my other cats? Want to do anything other than spend time with him? Please help this devastated cat mom. Thank you