Janice McC

I’ll look for the blocks next week.

I’m going to do lots of colors. The first dozen or so will be red with black backgrounds. Then I’ll move onto purples or greens or whatever strikes my fancy tomorrow. I’ve done 11 today and am calling it quits for the evening.

Short answer: likely cancer of the spleen. Long answer: Ripley has devastatingly low platelets. She cannot clot. Oddly enough she went for her annual check up 9 days ago and was deemed in perfect health but that was before the labs came in. On Sunday we realized her ear had swollen up but why? Took her in Monday (by which time the labs came in) and they realized she was bleeding into her ear. It was drained under sedation and did a new platelet count. Even lower. Did images and ultrasound and the culprit appears to be a lumpy spleen. Without surgery to confirm it, cannot be sure. She cannot have surgery because she cannot clot. So no real way to be sure but everything points to the spleen locking up her platelets and not letting them out to do their job. She’s 12 1/2 and we won’t put her through anymore surgeries. She’s had 4 or 5 for MAST cell skin cancer, another big reason to think the cancer finally internalized. Her ear was drained again today, no sedation this time, and she did great. We go back Monday for a new platelet count to see if the steroids she’s been put on have begun raising the count. In reality, steroids, if they work will only give her a little more time. But she’s still acting pretty normal just more tired. When she’s worse, well, we’ll do what we have to.