Tumor in colon. Need good vibes please.

hatzy

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Bubba (12 yo male) has lost a good amount of weight in the past few months. He had a sono 2 weeks ago and it showed a slight thickening of the colon, but nothing else distinctive. This was at our regular vets office. The sonographer goes there 2 days a week. The vet referred us to a vet specialist center for a consult to do an upper and lower endoscopy. We went today. The internist (we've dealt with him before with our other cat...he's excellent) said he felt something hard in his intestines and did a quick sono on his own and came back to tell us it was a mass. It wasn't there 2 weeks ago?! Or the sonographer just didn't see it? I have no idea.

The only option was surgery. 1- They need to know if it's cancer, which it most likely is. 2-He is otherwise very healthy and was a good candidate for surgery.

We met with the surgeon an hour later and discussed it all. They're going to remove it and resection the colon. He's in surgery now. It all happened so fast, but I'm thankful, b/c the waiting would have killed me.

Any advice, suggestions, hugs would be greatly appreciated.
 

mews2much

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Prayers for your cat to be ok.
It does happen fast.
When Stripe had the breast lump with pus we rushed to the vet.
Surgery was done within a hour.
She did have cancer cells but ended up being ok.
She died 7 years later from crf.
I hope your cat will be ok also.
They did remove 2 breasts from Stripe.
I do not know anything about what your cat has.
Search Yahoo Groups there might be a group that can help.
 

motoko9

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You must be so worried! It sounds as if your kitty has a good vet (and a loving owner), though.

Sending vibes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery. Best of luck to you.
 

Ms. Freya

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Sending plenty of for Bubba and
for you. It's nerve-wracking when something like this comes up, but it sounds like you have a great vet and that Bubba is getting the best care.
 
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hatzy

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Thank you
The surgeon called last night and said Bubba made it through the surgery ok. The tumor was readily removed (her words). She also noticed one of the nearby lymph nodes was inflamed and took a bit of that for biopsy as well.

This seems like the easy part for us. Once he gets home, it's going to be so difficult. My husband and I both go back to work on Monday, so I hope he's recovered enough so we don't have to worry about him all day long.

I'll update when they hospital calls us tomorrow. Obviously I'm having difficulty sleeping, b/c it's 4:15AM!
 

tachyon

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Originally Posted by hatzy

Thank you
The surgeon called last night and said Bubba made it through the surgery ok. The tumor was readily removed (her words). She also noticed one of the nearby lymph nodes was inflamed and took a bit of that for biopsy as well.

This seems like the easy part for us. Once he gets home, it's going to be so difficult. My husband and I both go back to work on Monday, so I hope he's recovered enough so we don't have to worry about him all day long.

I'll update when they hospital calls us tomorrow. Obviously I'm having difficulty sleeping, b/c it's 4:15AM!
Good to hear that the surgery went OK!


I know how you feel! We had a cat with cancer of the colon also. Surgery went OK. But the cancer had spread to his liver as well unfortunately. Ultimately he was put to sleep but he lived for another 9 months after surgery. He was 16 1/2 years old.


However, I believe there have been full recoveries from similar cases! So don't give up hope!
 

nance

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Just checking in to see how our kitty is doing......Glad to hear surgery went ok...now time for him to come home and recover..
 
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hatzy

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Update 1/4/09
Bubba is finally home after a long stay in the hospital and doing really well e-collar and all! The nurse and surgeon both said he was doing fantastic. He's slightly anemic, but I hope that will improve with him eating. And boy is he eating! I don't remember when he ate like this. We had to coerce him so much before the surgery. I'll take that as a good sign for sure. He's on some medication that should cause lack of appetite, but no sir.

No biopsy results yet. Most likely Monday.
 

Ms. Freya

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I'm glad everything went well and Bubba's home and eating.

Sending some more for positive biopsy results.
 
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hatzy

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Well the biopsy results are back. It's cancer. Colinic adenocarcinoma.
The good news is that the surgeon said that the margins were clean and the biopsies of the liver and lymph node nearby were also clear. He's still eating like a piggie and hasn't had diarrhea in over 2 days! He's active and tries to roll around on the floor like a baby kitty, but ends up bouncing into things with the collar. Poor thing!

The surgeon did suggest seeing the oncologist, so we made an appt. for Thursday right before his post-surgery checkup.
 
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