This is Murphy’s baby pigture, seated to the right of her sister Ruby

My nugget, Murphy, turned 4 years old on February 11th.

I noticed very tiny behavioral changes on Tuesday, so I decided to weigh her. She is 914 grams. In October, she was 980-990 grams.
Hmmph.

Murphy’s teeth are still good after her dental. Her heart is not as strong as they would like it to be. Her lymph nodes are either fatty, or enlarged. She has ovarian cysts.

The cysts are small, so we’re doing Lupron injections. Her blood sample was taken for CBC, and while it was spun in office, there is a very small layer of white cells. This was not enough to diagnose the lymphoma or do a smear with the microscope. If a precise needle aspiration could be performed – BAM – 100 percent certainty. If only. There’s also a huge chance your specimen is too clouded by fat cells. I should hear from them about the labs tomorrow.

Lymphoma is aggressive. Either she’s getting a follow up Lupron injection in 1 month, or she’s going to be wasting. The cancer would be treated with prednisolone and pain to be managed, accompanied by hand feeding to keep the gut moving. There is nothing really you can do to slow it, and the average expectancy is 1 month.

Right now we’re doing a short course of cisapride and meloxicam, simethicone, and Oxbow Critical Care formula, as well as upping her vitamin C with a liquid supplement.

4 1/2 months old