One more step

The next step we are hoping for is for Sam to start eating on his own.  Now that he seems less nauseous and actually goes up and smells the food, I think its not too far off.  I am still feeding him via the tube 3-4 times a day and he is doing really well with that.   No puking and no trying to run away!  Thanks so much everyone for you well wishes and energy sent our way.  It has definitely helped our little guy!

Happy happy joy joy

Sam's bilirubin level is 1/2 of what it was a week ago.  This means his liver is healing.   The level of the bilirubin is important because when his liver is not properly functioning it produces more of the bilirubin.  He also looks less jaundice.  His infection at the tube site looks much better as well. 

He hissed at sylvester today and raised a paw at him, kitty showdown avoided.   Hopefully soon he will start eating on his own again so we can think about removing the tube.  He did come to the kitchen when I shook the bag of food, so he was thinking about eating. 

Yeaaaa, for improvements.  All my hard work is paying off, it feels good. 

Where is my mind.....

So apparently I was supposed to work today and didn't remember ever knowing I had a client.  The receptionist called me half an hour after my client got there (she was early).  So needless to say my client was upset.  I was a little upset as well, I expected to get a reminder call, instead I got scolded by the 23 year receptionist.  I have a lot on my mind and after two days off, it was no surprise that I didn't remember having one client at 5:30 pm.  I was extremely annoyed with her for not reminding me and myself for being so scatter brained.

Anyway back to Sam, where my mind IS.  He had a good amount of food yesterday and also threw some of it up over night, after I gave him his meds.  The meds are making him a little nauseous, but today he had a nausea shot and I am going to wait a little longer before I give him the meds tonight, so he will hopefully keep them down. 

 Today he did some scratching on his post, some licking of himself and laid by the heater after staying under the bed for the last 2 weeks.  These 3 things are all things that he hasn't been doing lately so seeing him acting more normal is a improvement.   He also ate a tini bit of catnip, the first thing he has ingested on his own in a really long time.  I was so excited when he did that.  He seems to be improving a little bit even though he is still really sick.  Today also marked the first day we weren't at the vet, besides sundays when they are closed, also a improvement. 

Tomorrow it's back to the vet to see how his bilirubin levels are, as well as check his infection at the tube site and get his bandaged changed again.  

One step forward, one step back

We got new antibiotics on Saturday, they are to be given once a day.  Dr. Gordon Says that they were less likely to make Sam nauseous.  I gave Sam the meds last night before bed.  I went to feed him at 8 am,  he threw up, just a little bit.  I then waited until noon to try again and just gave him a little bit of food to see what happens.  I hope it was just temporary.  Today is also the first day that we haven't given him a shot for nausea in the morning.  There are just so many factors to consider with his treatment.  

In great news he was up and scratching stuff, liking himself and generally being more active.  It was great to see him up and around. Dr. Gordon also said that he didn't lose any more weight which is really good news.  I believe everything we are doing is helping, slowly.  

I tried to give him some regular canned food today, to see what he would do.  He sniffed it a bit then walked away, but after he walked away he was looking over at it a few times.   Then comes Sylvester to eat it all up.  He sure is eating a lot.  We were told to always leave food out for Sam in case he decides to eat, however Sylvester keeps eating it all. 

Saturday morning and the news is good

Just got back from the vet again.  Got Sam another shot of antibiotics.  The vet is looking into getting a new shot that is on the market that lasts for 10 days.  He's going to call some other vet's that he knows in the area to see if they have it because our vet doesn't carry it yet. 

In the best news so far, Sam woke us up twice in the night with scratching our rolled up carpet.   That means he is feeling better with more energy. He also ran away from us when we were trying to get him.  I can't remember that last time that he was up and being so active. Ever since we stopped giving him the oral antibiotics he has yet to puke up his food.  This is all great news!  

The healing seems to be happening, thanks again for all your help and well wishes!

Where everybody knows your name

The vet is becoming a very familiar place for us. We were back again today, which means we have been there everyday this week, sometimes twice. Today the concern was the antibiotics and the infection at the entry site of the tube. The antibiotics were making Sam puke and that is not good. He needs the food to heal the liver and that is what is most important. So instead of the antibiotics that we have we now are getting him a shot everyday to help with the infection. He also had his bandage changed again and the wound cleaned out really well. He seems to be in better spirits, but still not feeling well.

After the vet, we went to rainbow grocery and got him some tinctures to replace that terrible clogging pill. We got milk thistle which is really good for the liver as well as Sam-e which has other liver benefits. I hope adding these two things will help him heal. He has been keeping the food down until we give him the antibiotics which make him sick. I have upped his food from 40mls to 60ml and he seems to be o.k with it. We are trying our best to get the little guy's sweet, loving, fun energy back. Today was the first time in a while he was meowing at us in the car. It was sweet to hear his little peep of a meow again. He has the sweetest meow, luckily not at all like the crazy Siamese we saw in the vet. MEEEEEOWWWWWWWZZZZZZ. My mom's old cat had a crazy meow like that too.

Speaking of my mom, its her birthday! Happy birthday mom!!!

Blockage is over!!!!

I heart Dr.Gordon! He unclogged the tube after so many tries on our part and the night nurse. I was so ecstatic I almost cried right there in the waiting room, wait, I did get teary but not a full on cry. Now i just need to get some snackins in the boy! Today is turning out much better than the prior!

Update, snackins went well. He is now sleeping, and I don't blame him, the poor guy has had a really hard couple weeks.

Some good things!

I have been trying to doing some special things for sam, to make him as comfortable as can be.  After wanting to make a cat bed for years I finally did for my Sam.  It's really big, so both kitties can fit on it.  I used some vintage polyester and made edges for it and everything. Sam has been hiding under the bed all the time so I put it under there so he would be as comfy as possible.  When I woke up this morning both kitties were on it together, mission accomplished!

The new bandages are mulit colored!

Vet 3

We just got back from the vet again  (for the second time today), have I mentioned I have been there every day this week.  We tried to get help with the blocked tube, to no avail.  I am now leaving coca cola in it all night to see if it will dissolve the blockage.  I have to say the people at mission pet hospital are amazing and the night nurse was great.  She isn't even supposed to see patients but she was kind enough to help us try to figure out the tube.  While we were there she took off the bandage and we got to see the entry point of the tube in the neck.  It was quite infected and I'm thankful we went in so she had a chance to clean it up. It was just changed earlier today and was already quite pussy again.  She also gave Sam a shot of antibiotics because we can't give them now that the tube is blocked.  She said they should start working asap.  That makes me happy.  

This day has been exhausting and after such a promising day yesterday I am trying to not get discouraged.  The next possible step is to have a different tube put in via Sam's nasal cavity.  I hope we don't have to do that because this tube seems to work well, when it isn't blocked. 

I want to truly thank all of the readers, especially those who left encouraging words for Sam, David and I.  It means a lot to me to know that people are out there sending healing thoughts and energy to my little bunny!

blockage

The tube has gotten clogged two times today and I think this is the most frustrating thing that I have to deal with.  Not only is the site of the entry infected, so I worry about hurting him, it's now clogged so nothing can go into him.  The tube has been acting weird ever since I picked him up from the vet today.  They redid the bandages and it seems to be not flowing as well. 

Vet 2

I got the update on Sam's condition, his tests were mixed.  On one hand the test that shows if he is improving overall was worse.  But another test that was strictly for his liver was better.  So we still need to keep feeding, feeding, feeding because that is what is most important to fixing his poor liver.  He had one throw up today after a good hefty feeding, which might have been caused by the antibiotics.  They can cause nausea, which is already a problem.

 

Here is a list of all the things we are doing now.....

6am-nausea shot and milk thistle pill

7am- First feeding+Lcarnatine (feeding is 40-60ml of food mixed with water, with 10ml of water before and after)

8am-antibiotics

11am-Second feeding

3pm-Third feeding and milk thistle pill

7pm-Forth feeding and Lcarnatine

8pm-antibiotics

12am-Fifth feeding

vet

We went to have a check up today and although we thought sam was seeming better, he now has a infection in the tube site so now we have to give antibiotics 2X a day.   He also has lost weight.  I am starting him on a higher quantity of food today so hopefully he will gain some weight over the next couple days.  We find out more about the infection as well as his liver tests later today.  More updates to come.  

I am so stressed out, dealing with this situation is so hard.  I was so happy that he seemed to be feeling better and now we get some new of a set back.  The Dr. said that if the infection doesn't go away we will have to pull the tube out and replace it with another one that goes through his nose.  This one would be even smaller and he would be strictly on liquid food.  I'm hoping so much that he will respond to the antibiotics and the tube sight will heal.   Please keep sending your healing energy to our sweet Sam. 

Today was a good day!

Sam has had a really good day so far,  he has already eaten 4 times with one more to come in a couple hours, no throwing it back up either.  He seems to have a little more energy, as in trotting away when we are done feeding him, instead of slowly walking away.  I saw him rubbing his cheeks on the door too.  These are all good signs.  Tomorrow morning we go back to the vet to get some tests to see how he is doing and to change his bandages.   More updates tomorrow on the little guy!

feeding pictures

This is a side view of the bandage and the tube that sam has.  It was a little scary to see it at first but you get used to it.  In fact I almost lost it and cried when I first saw him in the vet, but I managed to hold it together. 

Trials and Tribulations

We decided to get Sam a feeding tube because the force feeding was almost impossible and was making him throw up too much.  This disease is best treated by feeding and getting nutrients into Sam so we are going to do anything we can to do that.  So far we have had him throw up a few times.  There are a few important things to remember when using the feeding tube.  Number one in our experience is to go really slow.  I think him throwing up was a result of going a little bit too fast.  I decided to buy a kitchen timer and set it for 15 minutes,  I take that whole time to feed him, going really slow with many breaks between each 5ml.  Another problem I ran into was the tube getting clogged because of some medication that was hard to crush.  We got a pill crusher and that seems to work well.   The vet told us to unclog that tube via a small amount of coca cola, letting it sit for 15-20 minutes.  I tried warm water first, then the 5 ml of cola and let it sit for 35 plus minutes.  After that I got a chopstick and stuck that down in the tube and it worked.  This was not suggested by the vet so use at your own risk and please be careful. 

Last night we woke up to sam puking.  We were relived to find out that not much came up and that he kept all the food down from a few hours before.  He was also missing the plug that goes on the top of the tube to make sure nothing gets in or out when not in use.  We looked everywhere and never found it.  I went to the vet and got another one  because the vet said it was important.  After he threw up early this morning he went directly to the littler box and had his first poo.  I was watching him and it looked like he was struggling.  The poo was really dried up on one end and the other end was normal and wet.  We think that he threw up because it was painful to pass that poo after not having one for a couple weeks. 

We have faith that we will beat this disease.  We are doing everything possible and Sam seems to be perking up a little bit.