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Old June 25th 05, 07:10 AM
Howard C. Berkowitz
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In article , Dan M wrote:

In case anyone hasn't read about it yet, Harri Roadcat is very ill.
Tuesday she was breathing very hard, so I took her to the vet. The vet
found that both of her lungs were partially collapsed and referred her
to a specialist 60 miles away. The specialist found a large amount of
fluid collecting in her chest cavity and a massive infection causing
even more fluid to form. He drained the fluid from her chest and
implanted chest tubes and put her on antibiotics.

Nancy and I went to visit her tonight. Her eyes were bright, her
breathing was normal, and she was purring all the time I petted her. She
had been refusing to eat, but that's because they were trying to feed
her wet food. We told her that she's used to dry food, and as soon as
they put out dry food Harri started chowing down.

I put a couple of pictures up on A.B.P.A. You can find the same 2 photos
and a few more on http://www.catfolks.net/photos. I made sure to not put
any really gross photos there. In the "GW" directory under there
(http://www.catfolks.net/photos/GW) are some photos that happen to show
her chest tube as well - if you're at all squeamish, you won't want to
go there.


I was absolutely delighted -- she is in far, far better shape than the
typical human would be with those tubes. I'd be surprised to find a
human with a significant pleural effusion, needing drainage, caused by
an infection, to be particularly awake, and looking at you in groggy
disbelief if you mentioned solid food.


The bottom line is that Harri certainly seems to be on the mend. Her
chart shows that between Thursday afternoon and this morning they had
drained 93 cc of fluid out of her chest. Between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM
when Nancy and I left no more fluid had been drained - and it's an
automated suction system that drains continuously. We're sincerely
hoping that Harri will be able to come home in the first few days of
next week.

All of you, thanks for your purrs and prayers and support.

Dan