- Joined
- 10/24/09
- Messages
- 2,099
I'm sick and tired of bad news. I'm sick of investing an immense amount of time, money and love into rehomed and rescued birds only to find out that my next job will be to decide when to kill them.
I'm angry that I always allow myself to bond, love and care for these birds before I know their prognosis!
I'm so, so, so exhausted from constantly stressing about sick birds.
Why do I even take in birds that need help?
I got the biopsy results back for the tumour that was removed from Freya's eye. Basically she has an extremely aggressive form of skin cancer.
The tumour will grow back because they could not remove it all. It had roots all the way into her eye and skull.
It might grow back in a month, it might be in a week or it might even start growing back tomorrow.
Considering how aggressive this cancer is and how long we know Freya has had the tumour for, the vets tell me it is very likely that it has already spread to her bones and organs.
So here are the options we have for Freya.
1. We keep her happy and healthy until the tumour makes an appearance on her eye again. The vets can then remove it again with surgery. Then we keep her happy and healthy again until the tumour makes another appearance on her eye. Then we repeat the process.
This option has its flaws because it will require multiple surgeries until we reach the point where Freya cannot fight any longer. Keep in mind that Freya has a heart murmur and it is a huge risk putting her under anesthetics. Recovering from multiple surgeries on such a sensitive area will be painful and she will need to be on strong pain medication. This will leave her spaced out and lethargic.
2. The vets perform a very aggressive surgery on Freya. They will remove her entire eye and scrape the cancer off her skull (perhaps even needing to remove part of the skull) in order to get as much of the cancer out as possible.
This is extremely risky and will be a very painful recovery for Freya. The chance of a small bird surviving such invasive surgery is slim. Couple that with her heart murmur and she has a very tiny chance of waking up from this option.
3. Chemotherapy. We can start this with Freya and hope that it extends her life a little longer.
Actually, while researching Freya's condition I found an article about another parrot that had the exact same cancer as Freya. Her owner opted for Chemotherapy treatment: Sick as a parrot... Woman says sad farewell to bird after paying £50,000 for its cancer treatment | Mail Online
Those are the three options. We could try a combination of them too.
I've been crying since I got the results back. I keep going back and forth with what I want to do for Freya.
I don't want her to suffer. I don't want her to be in pain. I don't want to give up on her prematurely.
What would you do for her if Freya was part of your flock?
I'm sorry if I am ranting. I'm sure I just need time to relax and think about this. My emotions are running high and I apologise.
I'm angry that I always allow myself to bond, love and care for these birds before I know their prognosis!
I'm so, so, so exhausted from constantly stressing about sick birds.
Why do I even take in birds that need help?
I got the biopsy results back for the tumour that was removed from Freya's eye. Basically she has an extremely aggressive form of skin cancer.
The tumour will grow back because they could not remove it all. It had roots all the way into her eye and skull.
It might grow back in a month, it might be in a week or it might even start growing back tomorrow.
Considering how aggressive this cancer is and how long we know Freya has had the tumour for, the vets tell me it is very likely that it has already spread to her bones and organs.
So here are the options we have for Freya.
1. We keep her happy and healthy until the tumour makes an appearance on her eye again. The vets can then remove it again with surgery. Then we keep her happy and healthy again until the tumour makes another appearance on her eye. Then we repeat the process.
This option has its flaws because it will require multiple surgeries until we reach the point where Freya cannot fight any longer. Keep in mind that Freya has a heart murmur and it is a huge risk putting her under anesthetics. Recovering from multiple surgeries on such a sensitive area will be painful and she will need to be on strong pain medication. This will leave her spaced out and lethargic.
2. The vets perform a very aggressive surgery on Freya. They will remove her entire eye and scrape the cancer off her skull (perhaps even needing to remove part of the skull) in order to get as much of the cancer out as possible.
This is extremely risky and will be a very painful recovery for Freya. The chance of a small bird surviving such invasive surgery is slim. Couple that with her heart murmur and she has a very tiny chance of waking up from this option.
3. Chemotherapy. We can start this with Freya and hope that it extends her life a little longer.
Actually, while researching Freya's condition I found an article about another parrot that had the exact same cancer as Freya. Her owner opted for Chemotherapy treatment: Sick as a parrot... Woman says sad farewell to bird after paying £50,000 for its cancer treatment | Mail Online
Those are the three options. We could try a combination of them too.
I've been crying since I got the results back. I keep going back and forth with what I want to do for Freya.
I don't want her to suffer. I don't want her to be in pain. I don't want to give up on her prematurely.
What would you do for her if Freya was part of your flock?
I'm sorry if I am ranting. I'm sure I just need time to relax and think about this. My emotions are running high and I apologise.
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