So I emailed the resident surgeon and the vet student who mostly took care of Chester at WSU to thank them again on Thanksgiving. I got back a crazy email. Here's an excerpt:
Hey Roya,
Good to hear from you. Its actually quite funny you emailed...I was going to email you. You will never guess what happened last week. We had a 1 year old, yellow domestic long hair cat come in with a chronic diaphragmatic hernia. I will tell you Chester was the first one I had. This was my second. His name? Are you ready? Che...ezer...not far off from Chester...yes, Cheezer. His history was also unknown...found in a garbage can...but no known history of trauma. Similar overall signs. Surgery - almost the same - not exactly. However...blood pressure...also sucked. Post-op - yup, on all the same drugs Chester had to be on...for the same number of days. Hospitalization time...the same. Guess what else...the foot. Yes, the foot had the same problem at the same time - about 5 days out from surgery developed a fever with a swollen foot in the limb the arterial catheter was in and he stopped using it - a couple footpads had changed color and had flaky texture like Chester's. We discussed this with anesthesia. I have never seen in before - now Chester and Cheezer...both chronic hernias. Anesthesia may quit placing them. I have a guess about the reason, but still no clear obvious cause...and why in just these two cases? From now on I have a different way to talk to owners about this surgery - they better be committed. Chester and Cheezer should be thankful on Thanksgiving they have owners who would do anything for them. I will tell you...Cheezer too was a very sweet cat - though I don't think he got as much love as Chester did.
Good to hear from you. Its actually quite funny you emailed...I was going to email you. You will never guess what happened last week. We had a 1 year old, yellow domestic long hair cat come in with a chronic diaphragmatic hernia. I will tell you Chester was the first one I had. This was my second. His name? Are you ready? Che...ezer...not far off from Chester...yes, Cheezer. His history was also unknown...found in a garbage can...but no known history of trauma. Similar overall signs. Surgery - almost the same - not exactly. However...blood pressure...also sucked. Post-op - yup, on all the same drugs Chester had to be on...for the same number of days. Hospitalization time...the same. Guess what else...the foot. Yes, the foot had the same problem at the same time - about 5 days out from surgery developed a fever with a swollen foot in the limb the arterial catheter was in and he stopped using it - a couple footpads had changed color and had flaky texture like Chester's. We discussed this with anesthesia. I have never seen in before - now Chester and Cheezer...both chronic hernias. Anesthesia may quit placing them. I have a guess about the reason, but still no clear obvious cause...and why in just these two cases? From now on I have a different way to talk to owners about this surgery - they better be committed. Chester and Cheezer should be thankful on Thanksgiving they have owners who would do anything for them. I will tell you...Cheezer too was a very sweet cat - though I don't think he got as much love as Chester did.
That is so crazy! Especially the name part. Cheezer is probably the only variation of Cheese we haven't called Chester. Apparently everyone just kept calling him Chester2. That made us laugh.
Poor little Cheezer though! I told the doctor to feel free to share with his family how amazing Chester is doing now and how worth it it will be for them in the end. I hope his foot recovers more than Chester's did. Luckily, he is closer to the WSU team for them to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Chester had a great team everywhere he went, including here at home, but it will probably be much easier for the same team for put together pieces of what went on in their own patient. There has to be something about chronic hernia cases that makes you intolerant to anesthesia. Which...is actually to Chester's benefit. Maybe now that he's had time with two inflated lungs if anything else were to happen and he should need surgery (far, far in the future...and even then please please no) maybe he would fare better.
Anyway, I thought you all would get a kick out of that story too. Luckily for Cheezer, he went to exactly the right place with the right experienced surgeons. Ones who I know for certain fought as hard as they could for him. I'm sure he will be doing just as amazingly as Chester in a few short months. So now we officially have two identical success stories.
Edit: for those of you with super cute pups...check this website out! http://shelterpups.com/b4aftr.php
all proceeds go to help shelter dogs
Poor little Cheezer though! I told the doctor to feel free to share with his family how amazing Chester is doing now and how worth it it will be for them in the end. I hope his foot recovers more than Chester's did. Luckily, he is closer to the WSU team for them to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Chester had a great team everywhere he went, including here at home, but it will probably be much easier for the same team for put together pieces of what went on in their own patient. There has to be something about chronic hernia cases that makes you intolerant to anesthesia. Which...is actually to Chester's benefit. Maybe now that he's had time with two inflated lungs if anything else were to happen and he should need surgery (far, far in the future...and even then please please no) maybe he would fare better.
Anyway, I thought you all would get a kick out of that story too. Luckily for Cheezer, he went to exactly the right place with the right experienced surgeons. Ones who I know for certain fought as hard as they could for him. I'm sure he will be doing just as amazingly as Chester in a few short months. So now we officially have two identical success stories.
Edit: for those of you with super cute pups...check this website out! http://shelterpups.com/b4aftr.php
all proceeds go to help shelter dogs
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