Tux: the story so far....

Those of you who follow us on Facebook and check in on our Ravelry group will know all this already, but I thought I'd post here.  I was going to wait until he was home but...

Tux went in for surgery first thing yesterday morning. We were in the midst of a wicked snowstorm, but didn't want to put it off any longer. Wednesday he had a really bad day, with five really bad bleed-outs. I don't think he (or I) could take much more.

So I bundled us up, and put together a bag with his cone and insulin, a can of food and his favourite blankie. We left early, took our time and made it to vet safe and sound.

After a quick consultation with the vet, she bundled him up in his blanket and took him into the back, with a promise to call me and update me once they got him in surgery.

That call came just before 11:30 a.m. Unfortunately, the lump tissue was too intertwined with his skin. She couldn't separate it from the skin, which meant the skin had to be removed too. Without enough skin to cover the wound it won't be able to heal properly. Even if it did manage to heal, it would like cause him pain and create mobility issues. So I gave the go ahead to amputate the leg. 

After I hung up the phone, I cried a little. It's not that I'm worried about living without a leg.. I know several tripod cats and they all do quite well. Even though Tux's amputation is the front leg (unlike the tripods I know), the internet is littered with stories of front-leg amputees who boot about like normal cats. And Tux has never been an overly active cat, so he should do just fine. 

No... I just think about my poor baby waking up, and going "What the heck? Last time I remember... I had a leg!!! What did they do to me????"

But then I calmed down. The leg couldn't stay the way it was. It's all for the best - he'd be back home and comfy soon.

By 3 p.m. the weather was getting worse. I decided to call the vet and check in on him - even if I wasn't able to pick him up until the evening, I could go wait at Mom's (she lives around the corner from the vet) until he was ready.

The vet tech came on the phone and gave me the bad news. Tux wasn't going to be able to come home that night. He was only just waking up, and his blood level was pretty low (a combination of the surgery and the bleed-outs he had the day before.). They wanted to keep an eye on for a while longer. She kindly offered to take him home with her for the night and keep watch. 

She called me at about 8:30 p.m. and let me know he was slowly waking up. He was all hopped up on a morphine cocktail, and would be groggy for quite a while - but that was for the best - it'd keep him from moving around too much while his body started to heal. 

She explained a little more about the amputation. Basically, they took the leg from the shoulder on down.It will take a little bit for him to regain his balance and re-learn to do all the things he used to. 

She promised to bring him back to the vet's in the morning and I'd be able to bring him home. 

I called the vet this morning to see when I could pick him up.... and soon as the receptionist put me hold, I knew it wasn't good.She came back a few minutes later. They are having trouble getting his body temperature back up to normal, so they want to keep him for a little bit longer, just to be safe. She's promised to call me at 3 p.m. today.

Hopefully he'll be coming home tonight.