Goodbye, Ziggy
27Nov2024

We lost Ziggy to cancer today. Didn't even know she had cancer. She was fine yesterday , but didn't eat today.
I was working from home and she flopped on the floor this afternoon, staring into space, struggling to breathe. I picked her up to see what was going on.
When I set her down, she took a few steps towards her box, flopped down and started doing the same thing.
So, I let work know I needed the afternoon off and brought her to urgent care.
They thought 'no problem. Looks like congestive heart failure. We will sedate her for a procedure to remove the fluid and then have a cardiologist look at her case re treatment options.'

So, I headed home since the procedure would take a couple of hours.
They removed 84 ml of fluid from around her left lung, all a milky white and that was when they realized it wasn't water -
it was from a burst lymph node. The vet said that only happens with cancer.
They had a bunch of options for a surgery to try to fuse the busted lymph nodes plus medication plus a very restricted diet
that would remove all her favorite foods and it didn't make sense to do all that if she still has lymphoma that would kill her anyhow.
She was having trouble breathing without supplemental oxygen so the vet didn't think we could take her home for the holiday weekend
without her going back into respiratory distress and possibly suffocating.

So, we sat with her a while and said our goodbyes. House feels very very empty

November 27: Ziggy's Zoo Animal