RIP Rascal update (Rascal on the mend)

SV Dad said:

About 3 weeks ago Rascal went in for his annual checkup. Nothing special, he is the same Rascal as always.
His vet had trouble hearing his heartbeat and suggested an X-ray to see if anything was going on. And that's when the worrying started.
For his entire life, he has always had a breathing pattern that resembled asthma. I had mentioned this to the vet before a couple of times and it did not appear to be an issue. The X-rays showed a very good reason for the abnormal breathing pattern. His intestines had invaded the chest cavity. For those with some medical background, he had a herniated diaphragm with intestinal invasion. Mind you he acts normal as ever.
It is suspected this is a congenital defect, as there was no history of injury and believe me, they checked Rascal for other signs of damage from a high fall and found none.
We took Rascal to a veterinary surgical practice. It was a heart wrenching visit. To us, we walked in with for all intent and purposes a healthy normal cat. To the surgeon, Rascal had a real problem.
Rascal went in for surgery this morning. Surgery took just under 2.5 hours. Needless to say, my wife and I were not in a good place this afternoon.
Rascal had a successful surgery. And more surprises. There was a large tear in his diaphragm as suspected. His liver had totally invaded the chest cavity and had formed an adhesion to the chest wall. The intestines fortunately were not adhered. He did lose enough blood to require a transfusion, but thankfully they did not have to crack his sternum to re-plumb him.
The latest report after the recovery room has Rascal resting peacefully and not really in pain, although as a pharmacist I am sure it has a lot to do with the fentanyl patch he has. He is breathing "normally" at 24 breaths a minute (compared to over 45 was his usual). He is sedated so he doesn't mess anything up. All signs are pointing to a complete recovery.
I want to thank John Popp, John Campbell, and my sister (member Sue) for their support. It has been a rough day emotionally.
Rascal is an exceptional cat in our lives and we are grateful he is doing well.

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maryanne.christi said:

Hope he recovers well.

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Sue said:

Unfortunately Rascal did not survive and crossed the rainbooow bridge yesterday.

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WitchyWoman said:

I've changed the title of the thread so people who haven't read the entire thread don't post "get well soon" messages.

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SV Dad said:

About 3 weeks ago Rascal went in for his annual checkup. Nothing special, he is the same Rascal as always.
His vet had trouble hearing his heartbeat and suggested an X-ray to see if anything was going on. And that's when the worrying started.
For his entire life, he has always had a breathing pattern that resembled asthma. I had mentioned this to the vet before a couple of times and it did not appear to be an issue. The X-rays showed a very good reason for the abnormal breathing pattern. His intestines had invaded the chest cavity. For those with some medical background, he had a herniated diaphragm with intestinal invasion. Mind you he acts normal as ever.
It is suspected this is a congenital defect, as there was no history of injury and believe me, they checked Rascal for other signs of damage from a high fall and found none.
We took Rascal to a veterinary surgical practice. It was a heart wrenching visit. To us, we walked in with for all intent and purposes a healthy normal cat. To the surgeon, Rascal had a real problem.
Rascal went in for surgery this morning. Surgery took just under 2.5 hours. Needless to say, my wife and I were not in a good place this afternoon.
Rascal had a successful surgery. And more surprises. There was a large tear in his diaphragm as suspected. His liver had totally invaded the chest cavity and had formed an adhesion to the chest wall. The intestines fortunately were not adhered. He did lose enough blood to require a transfusion, but thankfully they did not have to crack his sternum to re-plumb him.
The latest report after the recovery room has Rascal resting peacefully and not really in pain, although as a pharmacist I am sure it has a lot to do with the fentanyl patch he has. He is breathing "normally" at 24 breaths a minute (compared to over 45 was his usual). He is sedated so he doesn't mess anything up. All signs are pointing to a complete recovery.
I want to thank John Popp, John Campbell, and my sister (member Sue) for their support. It has been a rough day emotionally.
Rascal is an exceptional cat in our lives and we are grateful he is doing well.

Click to expand...