Surgery tomorrow

Not for me, for my cat Tabby. Dan found blood on our comforter last week so we went looking for the cause, thinking the cats had gotten into a fight. Tabby had a bloody spot on her stomach over a firm mass about 2 inches in diameter. I looked and looked for a hole, some kind of injury, but didn't find any. It looked like the mass had grown out and broken the skin. Needless to say, I took her to the vet the next morning to find out what was going on.

The vet asked if I was sure Tabby was 16 1/2, since she looked so young. I assured her that I was certain - I've had her since she was about 5 weeks old, and my memory isn't quite that bad! She checked the mass and started talking to me. The vet felt this was most likely a tumor, but just in case it was an infection she prescribed antibiotics. I'd give them to Tabby for the next week, and if it was an infection, it would be smaller and more healed by the end of the week. If not, then it was definitely a tumor.

Fast forward to Friday. The mass didn't look any better - if anything, it was bleeding a bit more. I called the vet and we talked a bit. It's a tumor. Given the area of the tumor, there's about an 80% chance that it's malignant. If it is, removing it might give her another month or two, but cancers in this area are aggressive and it's unlikely that would help much. We could look at chemo, but because of her age it might end up making her last days more difficult.

The surgery is tomorrow morning. I've been cuddling with Tabby all weekend, stroking her and talking to her. I'm so worried about her right now.