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Friday, April 2nd, 2004
8:53 am
I took Yuki with me to the campus yesterday in hopes that we could get some chest films for a better overall picture of her heart problem. I had a lot of students to help with their radiography assignments first, however. Finally, when it was Yuki's turn, there was no one to help, so I just shot them myself, meaning I had to lay her on her back, and then on her side, stretching her front legs with my left hand and her rear legs with my right, with the lead gloves draped over my hands (as opposed to wearing them) because I couldn't steady her otherwise and I was trying not to cause her any more stress than she'd already experienced. This was no big deal since I have done many feline whole-body rads with no help. I just wanted to finish as quickly as I could to spare poor Yuki as much stress as possible.

Nevertheless, the past few days had taken their toll on her, and as I was gowning up, she remained on the table, not attempting to jump off or run away. I was rather glad for this until I noticed that her forelimbs were starting to give way underneath her and she slumped over to one side, her eyes nearly closed. For a moment I was filled with that sick sense of dread that Yuki might have just thrown a clot and was now dying right before my eyes. However, as I picked her up and positioned her on the V-tray to shoot the first film, she protested some, and I realized that all the will hadn't left her just yet, and I exhaled a sigh of relief. I can't say whether Yuki had experienced a syncopal (fainting) episode, or if it was sheer exhaustion, but at least she seemed to have returned to the world of the living.

I don't think I have ever taken a ventral/dorsal and lateral thoracic picture on any animal so quickly in my many years of practice as I did when I got those two shots of Yuki's chest.

The rads showed a rounded, enlarged heart (which was no surprise, but still disturbing to see). There seemed to be little space left in her chest for lungs, leaving me to wonder how she managed to breathe--then again I managed to get both films as she inhaled, bringing her diaphragm and liver right up next to the thoracic cavity, making it appear smaller and more crowded than it actually was. It's very hard to instruct a cat to exhale and hold the position while one pushes the pedal, so I had to settle for what I could get.

I returned Yuki to her cage and throughout the rest of the day and evening, I went in to take a quick check on her. She seemed okay.