Guinness is spending the day in the hospital

We took Guinness to the University Veterinary Hospital this morning. First he was examined by a lovely, young student; she read the letter and notes that our vet had faxed over, asked us a lot of questions, and then gave Guinness a thorough exam. While going through the lifestyle questions, she said that he lives better than she does. LOL.

Another student later joined her and also examined Guinness. Last night I had taken a video of Guinness having an episode, which they were very grateful for. It’s one thing to explain the episode, but much more helpful when they can actually see it. The other student also asked questions about our boy and we were very pleased with the amount of affection they showed him.

The male student asked the female student if Guinness was bothering her allergies, he wasn’t. She then explained that she had a cat allergy. I laughed and said that veterinary medicine was an interesting career choice given her allergy to cats. It reminded me of a patient I once had. While doing her pre-op evaluation she mentioned that she had an allergy to mice, certainly an interesting and rare allergy to have. I told her that we all hoped that there wouldn’t be any mice in the OR, then asked her how she knew she was allergic to mice; I was curious. She told me that she was a research scientist and worked with mice. Fascinating. Oh, and before I continue, the patient was not exposed to mice during the procedure. We were all thankful ;)

Back to Guinness…..
After spending the better part of the morning with us, the two students left to confer with the head vet. While they were out of the room, Guinness began crying, walking around as if he were searching for something, All of the sudden he urinated on the floor. My poor baby had held his bladder for hours and must have been looking for a litter box. My heart broke for him all over again. He’s been through so much and then for our very private boy to have to urinate in “public”, ugh. I cleaned the floor and by that time the students had returned with the vet.

We were also very impressed with her. She spent a lot of time examining Guinness, explaining the various tests that she wanted to do, and answering questions. Today they are going to concentrate on blood work. Fortunately I had decided that Guinness should be fasting, so I took the food away late last night, otherwise he would have had to spend the night at the hospital. They were happy that he was fasting and said that not many people think to do that. Anyway, he will have the first round of tests this afternoon. They are going to start by looking for metabolic disorders and infectious diseases that Guinness’ mother could have exposed him to. Depending on the results, he will have an MRI next Friday. That is what I had been pushing for, but the MRI machine only comes to the university once a month, strange. The vet said that in addition to the MRI, they might also do a spinal tap.

Amazingly I held it together throughout the appointment. It wasn’t until the male student took Guinness’ collar off and handed it to me that I got a little teary-eyed. I was telling Guinness that he would be okay, that we loved him, and would pick him up later today. I don’t know if they were giving me strange looks, nor do I care, but my husband decided to tell them that it had taken years for us to get pregnant and that the cats were our first babies. That news was met with a lot of “ahh, congratulations” and smiles, so I guess they understood how precious Guinness is to us. As soon as the door of the carrier was opened, Guinness made his way inside, hoping to go home I’m sure. I put his blankets back inside with him (yes I slept with them last night so they would smell like me) and told him that I would see him tonight.

Unfortunately I have an appointment late this afternoon, so my husband will be picking Guinness up alone. I was very impressed with the staff and doctors we met at the university and continue to hope that they can diagnose AND treat my baby.

Continued thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

our brave patient