The biggest kitty heartache ever (conclusion)

We sped to the veterinarian's office as quickly as we could. Before we left, we gave Seamus some Bach flower essences, which did seem to calm him. We expected to wait, but were dissuaded.

"It will be a while," the tech said. "Go home and relax, we'll call you when you need to come get him."

I wanted to wait, but Marcie convinced me to get out of the office and to the car. We went home and worried for a while, made love to comfort each other and fell asleep for an hour or so.

When the phone rang, it jarred us both awake. Marcie grabbed it from her side of the bed.

"Hello?" she asked, very tentatively.

"Yes, hold on, Dr. Mason," she said as she then hit the speaker button.

"Well, it does not appear to be a tumor, it appears that he simply has a collapsed lung," Mason said. "So, it could be asthma, but I would like to do a biopsy before I start giving him any medicine."

"I think I want him to have medicine and then you can biopsy him if it doesn't help," I said, holding Marcie's hand tightly as she rubbed my arm.

I had decided that I did not want him to go through anything else, and he would be treated however it was possible. All I heard was "not cancer."

"Well, I am not sure that he is really going to respond to asthma medication, so we should just eliminate even the chance of..." Mason's voice disappeared as I kissed Marcie.

I heard her giving points to consider as the kiss broke, more reasons to wait and see him suffer. I cut her off.

"Thirty years ago, would a vet give a cat an ultrasound to diagnose a breathing problem?" I asked.

She was silent.

"Would a veterinarian 30 years ago hold off on trying a treatment just to be so sure that the cat wasn't dying?" I asked, now angry, as my first belief had been he was suffering asthma, but we had to pay to be allowed that relief. 5 weeks later, no less.

"I understand. He'll be ready when you get here, he's resting in his cage and there is a little bit of fur missing from his belly where we did the ultrasound. I'll send him home with Theodur and start him now."

I felt scammed, I felt relief, and I felt great grief welling up within me, all relieved for the moment. Marcie and I held each other.

We brought him home. That night, we fed him teriyaki salmon. We amusedly noted that Marcie's father and Seamus were now on the same medication, and we wondered which of the two was better behaved.

We had no idea that, just a few months later, we would be given far worse news and Seamus would be the least of our worries.