LiveWire

Sadie Bruce

Hi everyone. I think it has become obvious for the past couple of weeks that my blogging has been, well, light. Maynard, as I’ve noted before, has been doing a great job posting great pieces on a variety of subjects. I think we’re all grateful Maynard is part of the team here.

I did want you to know what’s been going on. I always have work commitments, of course, but there has been an added issue for me in the past two weeks. My cat Sadie, whose antics many of you know as I talk about her on my radio program, has been in and out of the hospital for the past two weeks.

She has always had asthma, which has been treated successfully for 10 years now, but two Saturdays ago, she suddenly just couldn’t breathe at all. She was like a fish out of water, every breath a gasp and seemingly not successful at bringing in the air she so desperately needed. That day began a series of emergency visits up until this weekend.

Through the weeks, Sadie’s regular doctor felt it was an inflammation of the asthma, so we treated that with more steroids (she’s been on steroids for the asthma for years), but had no luck. Her condition got worse and worse. She was too unstable to even take x-rays which would tell us if, perhaps, she was having heart failure. But last night she took another turn for the worse, so I took her to a special cardiac emergency center.

This morning I have sort of good news, but it’s not quite over yet.

They immediately put Sadie in an oxygen tank-like thingy, and then took x-rays. They found the usual indications of asthma, but also an area of her lungs that was ‘consolidated.’ They also saw various pockets of fluid. So, the first assessment was probably pneumonia (!) and they were concerned about the consolidation, which could either be more fluid or a mass (which would likely mean cancer). They drained some of the fluid from her lungs, and did more tests which did not indicate a mass in the lung, but they’re still not sure what we’re dealing with in that particular lobe.

They then did tests on her heart which, thankfully, indicate her heart is strong and good. No failure there. Now the liquid they drained has been sent to the lab which will be another test to see if there are cancer cells, giving us our answer about the ‘consolidated’ lobe. I’ll get that back on Monday.

So, Sadie comes home today and with a more complete diagnosis. Her heart doctor (Sadie has a cardiologist!) says she’s approaching this thinking it’s all pneumonia, so we’re treating her for that, as we wait for the fluid test on Monday. The steroids used to treat asthma depress the immune system, making Sadie more vulnerable to something like this.

Today I feel a bit more at ease. I knew there was something going on more serious than her asthma, and while I don’t have all the answers yet, she is more comfortable, and we have a handle on what’s happening. Also, now that she has a great medical team, I won’t be dealing with surprise after surprise every night which has affected not only my blogging, but most of my other work as well.

I know there is still a chance we might get a cancer diagnosis, but information, as I tell you virtually every day on Tammy Radio, is power. We’ll deal with that bridge if we ever come to it. In the meantime, she will be home tonight, after Tammy Radio. They’re observing her today being out of the oxygen chamber, and they say she is doing very well. My Saturday night (after Tammy Radio) and Sunday will now be spent hanging out at home, staring at my cat (instead of her staring at me!), and blogging, writing, and organizing.

Thanks everyone for your patience. And thanks to Maynard for piloting the blog. I asked him to become contributor because of his talent and unique outlook on life’s many issues. Thank you my friend.

As soon as I know more about Sadie I’ll bring it to you. And send a little prayer up to the Big Guy for Sadie Bruce for her condition to continue to improve and have this just be pneumonia.

Thanks everyone.