The picture above shows Greedo and his brother Carbon the other day, licking each other as a precursor to a tumbling match.

Many years ago, one night, Greedo was not acting like his normal greedy self when dinner was served.  One look at the pads on his toes told me something was seriously wrong.  They weren’t pink, but were very, very pale– almost white.  We rushed to the vet.  Greedo had haemobartonella, a blood parasite.  This disease can be fatal but, luckily, we caught it early, sought treatment, and Greedo was able to come home in just a couple of days.

Greedo has been fighting cancer for a year or so now.  One evening, his respiratory rate was very high so we took him to our veterinary hospital.  He spent a couple of days in an oxygen tent and we learned that he had a thymoma– his thymus had grown to the size of a lemon and was pressing on his lungs, causing fluid to accumulate and making it difficult to breathe.  The thymoma was surgically removed and we were told that is was very rare for this type of tumor to re-grow.  But after 4 months, his tumor was beginning to grow back.  We spent a few weeks taking him for radiology treatments every day in the hopes that the tumor would be eliminated.  Greedo handled the radiation very well.  He didn’t lose any hair and didn’t seem to be having any digestive problems.  In fact, at one point, the rest of his family all came down with a GI problem but Greedo didn’t succumb to that!  He’s s trooper, for sure.

That was all several months ago.  X-rays at a recent check-up have shown a bit of a tumor– either again or still.    So Greedo is now taking chemotherapy drugs three nights a week.  He’s very patient with us and, aside from seeming a bit nauseated the mornings after the chemo, is doing very well.   His appetite is good, as usual, and he spends his days snoozing with his family, punctuated by playing sessions with toys and his brothers.

greedo playing

 

#greedygreeds   #thymoma   #catchemo