Hope for the Lion, Part 2

What a reversal of fortune for Neville. He went to the hospital, and is still there.

A doctor different than the first saw him, and is certain that Nev’s problem is an abscess due to infection in the hole left from a tooth extracted a few months ago. He explained how an abscess can form in the chin – due to a lack of any channel that may be used for drainage – and how it can be emptied, the cavity cleaned and the hole sewn shut to avoid it happening again.

The surgery is taking place now, thanks, I think, to most people believing that this veterinary hospital was closed today (most businesses take Monday off in lieu of Saturday’s Canada Day; the hospital closed Friday, instead.) Time was available, which obviates Nev having to be brought in for another appointment tomorrow or whenever there is an opening. Afterward, he will receive an injection of strong anti-biotic; the previous ones we used either made the Nevsky sick or had minimal effect on the abscess, because of its isolated situation.

I asked the doctor outright if he thought Neville had cancer, and he said that it didn’t appear so. His partner had noted her ‘suspicions’ of carcinoma – which is not the more certain statement made to me – but even from the look of the infected spot, it seems not to be cancerous. Once the abscess burst, the infection subsided a bit, and it appears smaller and less red now than previously. It will, of course, worsen again without treatment, which is what Neville is receiving now.

Another blessing is that, while the veterinary was very reluctant to sedate Nev with normal drugs, due to his unmanaged diabetes, there are drugs that can by-pass such dangers, and that is what he will be given. Even so, my lion survived his dental surgery not so long ago without trouble.

This is a great relief for me. I will not assume that Neville has no cancer, though it now seems improbable. But he is at the age for it, and has had every other crisis, so I won’t uncross my fingers yet. And this is clearly a tricky condition he has, so I won’t disregard the possibility that it will recur. There is still his uncontrolled diabetes; was it caused by this infection, slowly working its way into an abscess? Maybe, maybe not; the diabetes may remain a difficulty. That written, I will consider first things first. A victory over Nev’s immediate problem feels impending, and he likely does not have cancer. I am very confident of better health for my grey lion.