She had her second surgery the middle of July and already 2 lumps have reappeared. She just had her sutures and staples removed a week ago. VAS is a seriously persistent cancer. We've decided for not to go the route of the oncologist for a few reasons. One of which is her sheer hatred for the carrier and car rides. One of her recent visits involved me standing on my washer with a flashlight in my mouth trying to extract her from the wall of our basement. Once she's in the carrier, she's equally unhappy. The nearest oncologist is about 2 1/2 hours away. I don't want to keep putting her through being put in a kennel and car rides.
The other issue is how fast it comes back. This is obviously a hardy cancer and amputation, from what I've read, is the only way to really give her a fighting chance.
The other reason for our decision is the almighty dollar. It sucks that finances have to be considered in something like this but we have several pets and have to consider finances for all of the other pets. Spending $1000's on one cat can take away from money spent on the other pets. We've already spent an awful lot of money and haven't really gotten too far in helping my kitty. Amputation is a relatively inexpensive solution to the problem. It's not the optimal solution by any stretch, but from my research, no one who was in our situation regrets the amputation.
I'm sick that I've had to consider finances in making health choices for my kitty, but it's a fact of life that can't be avoided. I do plan on contacting the manufacturer of the rabies vaccine, but there is no guarantee that we'll get reimbursed, and if we do, what amount. I'm facing an uphill battle given that this particular manufacture isn't known to be all that generous with reimbursement and neither vet is being particularly helpful, so I definitely have the odds stacked against me.
And honestly, I can say that even if I knew we'd be reimbursed for all of her expenses, I wouldn't put my cat through chemo and/or radiation, just because of the traveling issue itself. Cats are very sensitive to stress and being stuffed in a carrier for a 5 hour round trip drive is definitely stressful. Stress doesn't help anyone heal.
Once all is said and done with my kitty, then I'll pursue reimbursement. Doesn't make sense to me to begin the process just yet, as she still has at least one surgery ahead of her. As I'm typing this, she's looking at me with love and total trust in her eyes. I wonder if she'll still look at me that way after she's a tripod?
Who got Billie's goat? Companies who try to rip me off in one way, shape or form! This blog is devoted to letting others know of their antics and my progress in making things right. I hope my little corner of the blogging world motivates other people to learn their rights as a consumer and to stand up for themselves if they've been wronged
