The eye situation

Cancelled the appointment in Erie because the ophthalmologist didn't have the diode laser - she would have been willing to give a second opinion, or to refer us to another veterinary ophthalmologist in Syracuse, but that adds another three+ hours to any trip there, and I just don't want to do that long a trip with both Scruffy and Milkshake involved. The good thing is, I did call the doctor's office she would have referred us to, and they were very nice, so I'm keeping the information for emergency purposes. If an emergency that would require a six hour drive is, in fact, doable. Probably not....

After a not-so-brief period of moping and misery about what to do about all this, I called Dr. K and asked the technician - still can't talk to the vet herself - for a little more information about where the "protocol" she thinks she's going to use on Scruffy came from. Someplace in Virginia. I did try to explain that I was not impugning her skills and knowledge, but that I felt strongly that experience in a procedure of this nature was very important to me. Scruffy may be just an old dumpy brown cat, but he's MY old dumpy brown cat, and I want him to have the safest care possible. I don't know exactly how they think the situation has been left - I might as well go ahead and have the bloodwork done. In fact, given the information that I'm about to type below, I will most likely just keep doing what I've done - taking a picture of his eye/s ( - since the other melanosis is growing, too) and having Dr. K continue on a regular basis - 3 months was suggested by Ohio State - to monitor the growth and make sure that it doesn't begin thickening. Apparently, size doesn't matter, but thickness is a very bad sign of melanoma. And it takes her specialized instruments to determine if it's getting thicker.

I contacted the Ophthalmology Department at Ohio State's vet school in Columbus. Very nice and helpful person I spoke with - she actually asked me - when I said that I had a picture of Scruffy's eye - if I wanted to email it to her and she'd show it to the vets there. Which we did. (And she complemented my photography.) I asked about complaints that I'd heard from people who took their cats to Ohio State for treatment - that it took forever to get appointments, student involvement, etc - and she said that if I want to take Scruffy to them - either for a second opinion or for the actual laser treatment, it would take about a month to set up the initial appointment. But that, once an animal is a registered client of theirs, they get immediate appointments whenever they're needed. I also talked to the MedVet office which is outside Columbus - this is where Jennifer and Dylan's IM vet that recommended Dr. Champagne previously worked. They were also very nice - they have the appropriate laser, and have done the procedure many times. There was also a Veterinary Eye Clinic in Akron that I have the number for, but it was the same number as a man named Johnson in a nearby town, and when I called, I got Mr. Johnson instead of the clinic, and I didn't want to risk calling him again.....

All in all, I have a significant amount of information now that was lacking before, and the beginning of a "plan" to deal with this. Despite my concern about the rapid growth that the melanosis has undergone recently, that is apparently not a huge danger to Scruffy. Monitoring is necessary, and can be done by Dr. K, if she's willing. (If she isn't, then I could be stuck doing a whole lot of unnecessary driving....) There are resources out there that can help us, which I didn't know for sure before, and that is good news.