Christina / BooksandTea Send Message

I’m almost done this tea – there’s probably enough left for 1 large pot. I’ve been remiss about drinking the brewed tea, because it’s cooled down a lot.

Now for what you’re probably all wondering: how is Gracie?

Better. But she’s not out of the woods yet.

She’s still at the vet and had an ultrasound done, resulting in a diagnosis of “triaditis” – inflammation of the liver, gall bladder, and pancreas. She’s also got a kidney infection. It looks like the crux of all this is a blockage in her gall bladder preventing the flow of bile. Not good, but definitely better than a cancer diagnosis.

She’s on several meds now: antibiotics, an anti-vomiting one that should also help her pancreas, something to help things get flowing in her gall bladder, painkillers, and liver and B12 supplements. They’re also force-feeding her wet food using a syringe.

My husband, mother and I went to visit her this evening. They brought Gracie in hooked up to some sort of IV line. She looked much more alert and responsive compared to yesterday (yay!) but still quite bedraggled and tired. Her pupils were dilated, which I think is related to the painkillers. Once the antibiotics kick in, they’ll also start giving her some steroids to stop the inflammation.

She had gobbets of wet food stuck to the fur along her mouth, jaw, and foreleg, which I guess means she wasn’t that receptive to food. She also disliked it when we tried to pet her anywhere beyond her shoulderblades – the vet technicians were surprised when I pointed this out, but thought that was happening because of residual soreness from the ultrasound.

Gracie will stay at the vet for another few days, after which we hope we can take her home. However, she’ll still need to take medication and it could take 6 weeks for her to fully recover.