Sammy (Sweet Sam), 11 years old's Story
by Mandy
Aug 26, 2011--Sammy had been very lethargic, eating less, and seemed just a little "off." After taking him to the vet that day, we found he was very anemic with a potassium deficiency. His spleen and liver were enlarged too, and ultrasound revealed one enlarged lymph node with a 'healthy' blood supply. Fine needle aspirates (FNA) of his spleen revealed cancer--either lymphoma or histiocytic sarcoma. A second opinion on another FNA of his spleen was the same. An "unusual form of Hodgkin's lymphoma" was noted on 2 of the 3 pathology reports. The specialty IHC stains came back as "undiagnosable." We thought we were dealing with lymphoma, but I now believe our Sweet Sam was probably dealing with a very strange mix of cancer--possibly lymphoma, histiocytic sarcoma, maybe even leukemia too (poor baby). We did all we could for him. Unfortunately he developed several complications along the way. Having received only Elspar and Vincristine (and prednisolone) for chemo treatment, he developed a heart condition (cardiomyopathy) which required Lasix to control the fluid build-up, and he developed sepsis after his Vincristine (2nd) chemo treatment. His blood cells were tanking across the board (red, white, and plasma cells were all very low), and his body temp started to drop. He may have even developed fatty liver in the last few days of his life, but because his blood wasn't clotting, we could not risk the surgery to place a feeding tube. My baby just seemed to grow weaker each day since I first took him to the vet, and by September 17th, he was so weak and ill that his body temp dipped to 98 degrees. He was calm and seemed peaceful, and we decided to let him go peacefully rather than attempt any other rescue attempts (which would have likely made him much more ill and caused unnecessary pain). We miss him every day and thank all the powers that be that we had 11 beautiful years with him. He was an amazing cat with so much personality and an incredibly loving nature. I miss holding his paw as he laid next to me on the couch. We hope others have a better outcome with their kitties then we did. Much love, Mandy and Angel Sammy.
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Sammy (Sweet Sam), 11 years old
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