"Arrrgh" is The New Black

Alternate titles for this blog:
"Newscat Walter Cronkat Goes Deep Undercover to Expose Hardships for Feline Pirates"

"Walter Cronkat Reveals Wounds from Fearless Exploration of 'It's All Fun and Games' Hypothesis"

"Cronkat's Vow to 'Keep an Eye' on 2016 Election Turns Tragic after Literal Interpretation of Cliché"

As many of you know, I have a kitty named Walter who is pretty much my best pal. In fact, if you know almost anything about me from the past two years, you likely know more than you could ever want to about Walter and his many talents. Walter recently was diagnosed with cancer and had to get his eye removed to avoid it spreading. Because Walter has impacted my life in such a big way and, in turn, impacted people I interact with, I wanted to explain the situation before I posted pictures of him rocking his new look online.

So, here's both the quick version, as well as the step by step process for those who are curious or have pets of their own and want more info about catching this in time.
Note: There will not be super graphic images in the step by step process, but it will show him after his surgery with some swelling, bruising, and stitches. The sample pics on google images are super intense and I hope this brings some peace to someone looking for a less severe case.

The Quick Version:
After a tiny black fleck of pigment on his eye seemed to grow slightly, I took Walter into an animal ophthalmologist who was recommended by our wonderful vet. On August 15th, he was diagnosed with early Iris Melanoma in his right eye. The spot was too close to the edge of the iris to be removed with a laser, and once the melanoma spreads outside of the eye, the prognosis is grim and often fatal. We determined his best chance was to remove the eye and scheduled surgery for the end of August.


Step by Step Process:
Without diving too far off the emotional cliff of no return, Wally has been my rock through some of the biggest challenges of my life. We've survived six separate moves in multiple cities and states. When I'm sick, he gathers all of his favorite toys and sets them next to me in bed. When someone walks by outside, he runs to the door and growls. He's pretty much always been there for me, even if I didn't need him, even if I'm just trying to shower in peace.

After getting the diagnosis from the ophthalmologist, he said that the next few weeks would likely be tougher on me than on him. We could make sure his pain was managed and once he was healed, his changed vision would have little to no impact on his life, but understanding what's happening and watching the process can be pretty rough. Luckily we had phenomenal vets and support from family and friends to get through to the other side.

Diagnosis:
Here's a progression of his eye over a year and a half. Perhaps overkill with detail, but I want to emphasize how small these changes can be.
January 2013: No pigmentation.
December 2013: Beginning of pigmentation in corner of the eye.
March 2014: Pigmentation grows and changes shape.
August 2014: Pigmentation has gotten darker and larger.

Even though it grew quickly, it was pretty easy to dismiss as just a change in eye color or freckle and often, that's what they are. Because of the shape and how quickly it changed, I was lucky enough to catch it in time. When an Iris Melanoma begins to spread out of the eye, it builds up and becomes raised. Walter's melanoma was still flat on the eye at the time of surgery. This website gave good, non-gross information.

My vet at Blum Animal Hospital in Lincoln Park was able to determine that he needed to see the specialist based on me sending her the above pictures via email. This spared me that exam fee and allowed me to save for the ophthalmologist exam and then the surgery. Walter was concerned about the scarring's impact on his modeling career and demanded we go to a well recommended surgeon. Dr. Wasserman with Eye Care for Animals did both the examination and the surgery. Everyone from the receptionists and vet techs to the doctors themselves were absolutely phenomenal. As you can imagine, I was sort of a nervous wreck and both Dr. Baker (Blum Animal Hospital) and Dr. Wasserman (Eye Care for Animals) called multiple times after his surgery to see how both of us were doing and make sure he was healing well. I was very impressed by their professionalism, compassion and quality.

Surgery:
I was offered the option to have them insert a prosthetic globe into the space where his eye was, so as it healed the area wouldn't cave at all. This is more common with dog enucleation (eye removal) than with cats, where it sometimes rejects and requires another surgery and more stress to the animal. The implant is entirely cosmetic, and is more for the owner's comfort than anything else. While the prosthetic rejecting is highly unlikely, the off chance of putting him through another surgery and spending another thousand or two seemed worth avoiding.

I dropped him off in the morning and was set to pick him up around 4:30pm. Enucleation is a pretty simple day surgery and then he was given pain meds to take as needed and preventative antibiotics twice a day. In the event that I ever have children who are acting out, I will have them attempt to administer liquid antibiotics to an angry cat, so they know what actual hell would be like if they don't get it together.

A few hours after surgery, Walter is in conical prison. While he cannot walk or eat normally, he can silently plot the murder of his owner with extreme detail.

Recovery:
Walter did not handle the cone thing well. After two days of struggling to eat, move and not going to the bathroom (Like at all. I think he was protesting), we called the emergency vet to see if we could free him from the cone of shame. He said as long as we kept a close eye on him (unfortunate phrasing) we could let him have extended breaks.

After we switched to only putting the cone on when I had to be gone for hours at a time, he started massively improving and getting back to his normal self. Within three days he was able to get back to snuggling with his brother Henry, eating and playing normally, and going back to our sleep routine of sharing a pillow with me, while Henry sleeps on my feet. 

After 10 days of antibiotics and two weeks of healing, he was able to get his stitches removed. He's had a great recovery and is currently working on growing fur over shaved areas (surgical site and the IV spot on his legs) before he's ready to get back to the news desk, but we're hoping he'll be completely healed and fuzzy again by October. I recently got the biopsy results and the spot on his eye was confirmed as a melanoma, but hadn't yet spread to the inside of the eye. This along with the pre-op labs all coming back normal indicates that he is officially cancer-free and can get back behind the news desk for a long and fulfilling career as America's first cat news anchor.

        Walter would now like me to wrap this up as he has some serious concerns about the latest draft of this script.

Massive thanks to my parents, my fabulous manager/company for allowing me to take the time off to be around him after the surgery, friends who stopped by and checked in, and all of my cat rescue writer friends for the advice and support throughout the transition. The Chicago chapter of the Violette family is terribly grateful for all of you.