Heartbroken...and Bleeding...But Still Beating

The SU just gave me an update from his doctors, and from the SU's visit with Boo today.

The treatments are going fine, but our boy is losing patience with all the poking and prodding. My son has never hid his feelings, but I've taught him not to be violent. So, he employs passive resistance. He used to be able to use his strength and his weight. He'd brace and go dead-weight, just to make things as hard as possible. But, fuck you cancer, he doesn't have his weight trick anymore. And his doctors aren't deterred by Mr Grumpy Gills attempts at growling. So he came up with something new, something special just for his doctors.

He pees on his blanket.

Deliberately.

The litter box is like two steps away, but he's using the weapons he has.

Hey, I taught him biting and clawing were not acceptable. But I never said anything about urine.

That's still passive. Okay, passive-aggressive. :P

He won't eat at the hospital either, so the SU waited for the right moment, and broke out the contraband. ie. a can of Fancy Feast.

Pheen dove into it....but, too soon, the door opened with medical staff checking in on him. Boo ran back into his carrier and pretended nothing had happened.

He wouldn't be coaxed into eating after that, didn't know when THEY might come back. So the SU had to fall on the backup and syringe him the rest.

That was the good news.

The bad news...

In checking him for his treatments, they found a heart murmur. The SU, of course, gave them permission to perform an ECG.

They found thickening of his heart.

Apparently they have scale of just how oh shit this is. They have him a 2 out of 6. Their heart specialist said he won't need any medication, but he'll need to have another ECG in a year, to see if it gets worse.

I totally broke out sobbing like a little bitch at that, and the SU was all like no, no, no! He's okay! He's fine!

And gulping down tears, so it felt like I was trying to swallow a cannonball, I was shaking my head. I finally managed to get out, "You don't understand. A year. A year," and I utterly started to lose it again, just like I am am now, "I want him to be here in a year. I want him to need that test..."

Anyway...their heart specialist is doing a study, on the exact thing our boy has, and her study wants to find out if blood marks can predict who this will happen to. They could get earlier treatment, less heart damage, and live longer.

She wanted Pheen to join the study. All she needed was a blood sample.

The SU immediate concern was that it wouldn't hurt Phoenix. Well, obviously taking blood hurts, but Pheen is still anemic. His doctors were confident that 1ml of blood would not be a problem. So the SU gave permission.

I really really hope our little boy is able to help save someone else's.

I also hope, somehow, he's here to gloat about it, for a long, long time...