(no subject)
I have a super crappy case in the clinic right now that has pretty much swallowed my whole week/ weekend :(. It's a really lovely cat with pancreatitis who just doesn't seem to improve no matter what we try. Treatment options for pancreatitis are pretty much limited to pain/ nausea control and the outcome is pretty variable. Some cats do okay, others just waste away and die. I'm afraid that every day this little kitty doesn't improve, she's sliding closer and closer to the latter category. Her owner is a really sweet older lady who's devastated that the cat is sick, but now that this has been dragging for so long, she's starting to worry that the cat will never get better. If this kitty doesn't start eating by the end of the weekend, she's going to need a feeding tube placed to keep her going, and I don't think her owner can financially or emotionally handle that :(. I've spent a really long time with both of them and I just really, really want this case to have a happy ending.
The down side of medicine in a referral center is that nothing comes here that isn't about to die from some horrible disease, since the easy cases just get handled by the regular vets. A lot of our patients have had poor outcomes just because they come in with such critical illnesses. My last two patients were euthanized this week- a six year old cocker spaniel with end stage liver failure (seriously, don't get cocker spaniels. They always end in tragedy), and a beautiful, less than two year old border collie with lymphoma (that one was absolutely awful; the owners tried chemotherapy to get the dog a couple of more months, but he didn't respond). On the upside, I had a puppy go to surgery yesterday to have a kidney removed, and she's doing well, so hopefully I'll have at least one happy ending this week.
The down side of medicine in a referral center is that nothing comes here that isn't about to die from some horrible disease, since the easy cases just get handled by the regular vets. A lot of our patients have had poor outcomes just because they come in with such critical illnesses. My last two patients were euthanized this week- a six year old cocker spaniel with end stage liver failure (seriously, don't get cocker spaniels. They always end in tragedy), and a beautiful, less than two year old border collie with lymphoma (that one was absolutely awful; the owners tried chemotherapy to get the dog a couple of more months, but he didn't respond). On the upside, I had a puppy go to surgery yesterday to have a kidney removed, and she's doing well, so hopefully I'll have at least one happy ending this week.