I’m thirsty Mum…. Yes… I’m thirsty Mum

When I first started writing some of the stories I have written, there was one I always wanted to tell.  And no matter how many times I have tried – it just never came out right.  But today is the day where I am going to talk about a very real topic…

I’m not going to spend much time telling you what Hypercalcemia is – if you are reading this, I am sure you have the ability to look that up for yourself in it’s entirety (and I’m no health expert).  What I am however going to share with you is how I found out about it, and share some of the early sign’s that you can hopefully ‘mind-bank’ and will never hopefully need to recall – but should you see them, you will hopefully remember them.

It was 2013 and I was preparing to have ankle surgery myself.  All of a sudden one of my boys started drinking an excessive amount of water.  With only a week until I was due in hospital myself, I decided – I can’t see anything wrong.  Eating is normal.  But something tells me I need to have this checked out ASAP!!!

So I called the vet and asked for an appointment, but they were fully booked.  At least at that point.  Very soon after getting off the phone I got a call back and was told they could see me – could I come in 20 minutes?  Being only a few minutes away I took this as a sign of relief for me, and said yes – absolutely!!!

Now at this stage all I had said is Chance is drinking a lot more water than normal, and in the last day or two seems to be eating less than usual.  I think he has a toothache.  How wrong was I???

So here I was, with a lively little chappy, and off to the vet I went, not realizing that a special appointment had been made for us, as what I had said had rung alarm bells (not to me).  This was Friday afternoon.  We saw the vet, did some test (Urine and blood), and still no alarm bells were ringing (for me at least – again).  So off home we went, awaiting a call when the results arrived… And they did!!!

Saturday came and went – and this was pretty normal.  Nothing out of the ordinary was being presented – he was fine.  Until Sunday, and Sunday definitely did present alarm bells.  It was mid morning – and Chance was short of breath, and sleeping in the garden (literally, hiding looking for somewhere to hide away).  Something was wrong.  Ironically I got a call back from the Vets around the same time as I found him asking how he was…… to which I replied, not good.  The results were back, and they confirmed Chance was suffering from Hypercalcemia.  They wanted him back immediately to put him on a drip.

During the phone conversation I asked a lot of questions, and heard a lot of information – most of what I didn’t like.  Poison, Cancer, Tumor… these were foreign terms to what I expected from a toothache.  But all of a sudden they were very true and real.

The reality was Chance did have have cancer – but he does have a lot more of his story to share than what I am able to give you today.  All I ask is that today you take away some of the warning signs that can help you and you furr-baby get the time that Chance and I were able to by keeping him/her healthy:

• Increased thirst and urination
• Decreased appetite
• Lethargy and depression
• Gastrointestinal upset causing vomiting
• Abdominal pain and/or constipation

If anyone had told me on that Friday before I made the appointment how that journey would go – I would have laughed.

Chance stayed with me until 2015 – and he was almost 12 when his time finally came.  I often ask myself, did I miss any signs earlier – but hand on heart, I know I didn’t.  I took my baby to the vets for what I thought was a tooth infection, ended up with Hypercalcemia and Cancer.

And a new appreciation of warning signs…..