Coping With Animal Health Problems

My cat, Pierre had a nerve sheath tumor in his mouth. I took him to the the best Animal Medical Center in NYC. they removed the tumor and tested it and it was malignant. when the dr. called and gave me the bad news i asked him what my options were, i could have the entire area (where the tumor was) excised or do nothing. if i didn’t have the area excised he would have 6 months to live and here is the million dollar question (almost literally) if i did have the surgery for my beloved Pierre what were the odds of his survival, he told me the odds were 50/50. naturally, i had the operation for him. they removed part of the roof of his mouth and his jaw on one side from his canine all the way back. i swear, the day they did the operation i knew in my heart it was WRONG.

my poor Pierre who was 13 years old was in so much pain afterwards. it was almost unbearable for myself and for him. by the way this happened in 2003. the date is important because science could have developed another treatment from this time to the time you read this. anyway, to make a long story short, Pierre never really recovered, it was always something over the next 9 months and they were, even to this date of 3/2009, the hardest my family and i ever went thru. Pierre was in and out of the hospital all the time, truly unbearable for my family as well as Pierre. also the costs were in excess of $15k, yeah, 15 thousand dollars over 9 months. i would have paid anything though. here is the really important part of this story, Pierre died 9 months later on 9/17/2003 in the hospital. shortly thereafter i moved out of the city and came back to NJ. one day i was at my new vet’s office and told him the story of Pierre, do you know what he told me, he told me that 99% of all felines with mouth cancer will die no matter what you do for them. it’s more or less the law of the land.

i couldn’t believe it. if i would have known this i would NEVER have done this to him. to this day I REGRET having done this to my poor Pierre. it is my biggest regret. i should have let the cancer run it’s natural course and made him as comfortable as i could. hind site is always 20/20 but my decision was based on what his vet had told me. i depended on that doctor. if anyone out there is reading this then my heart goes out to you, we always out live our pets and as their caretakers we have to understand when we first decide to have the animal that they will die in our lifetime, but the time they are with us is worth the pain that we’re going to feel when their gone.

even now, while i type this story i cry as if it happened yesterday. i wouldn’t wish what Pierre and I went thru on anyone, but don’t do what i did. if you have a feline with MOUTH cancer know that 99% of felines will die no matter what you do. i’m sorry for you, i really am because, like i said, if you are reading this then you have tough decisions to make. also know that the expenses are astronomical and for what. i can assure you that if Pierre could talk he would not have elected for that pain which never really left. think about having part of the roof of your mouth removed. to top it off when they tested the margins of the excision the results were clear, they had removed all the cancer. it didn’t matter. all of the parts of everyone’s body are connected to our mouths and this makes sense, the cancer had spread. i love him more than i can say, even now i miss him terribly. what i did is part of human nature, we want to do anything to save our family member, but these are animals with short life spans compared to our own. nature will always take it’s course.

if you want to contact me for any questions please feel free. i have left out a lot of what took place after the surgery and i would be happy to let anyone know. i believe what i did to him was very wrong and i hope that Pierre’s story will help you in your decision.