{"id":553,"date":"2007-11-28T00:50:55","date_gmt":"2007-11-28T08:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/28\/a-sad-time\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:21:49","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:21:49","slug":"a-sad-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/28\/a-sad-time\/","title":{"rendered":"a sad time"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Postings this week might be a bit spotty because of a recent loss in our family. Our youngest of two cats, Gizmo, was stricken late Sunday Monday<\/strike> night by a catastrophic blood clot which within the space of about 10 seconds caused him to lose the use of his hind legs.<\/p>\n

We rushed him to the 24 hr emergency vet hospital, where we were told that there were no treatment options that held out any real hope of giving him any quality of life. He had had a heart defect, a thickening of the heart wall, which causes one or more of its chambers to not fully expel all the blood during pumping. As a result, clots form and eventually leave the heart via the aortic artery. The most common place where the clots hang up and cause a blockage is at the point where the aorta splits to become the two major arteries which feed the hind legs.<\/p>\n

[We later found out that he had most likely had the condition Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy<\/a>, which led to a Aortic Thromboembolism (a blood clot) – you can find an excellent description here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

As a result, Gizmo quickly lost all muscular control of his hind legs as a result of having no circulation in them. We were told by the vet that they couldn’t detect either any blood pressure in his hind legs or a pulse. He was, though sedated and on a dosage of painkillers, in pretty major pain, and was very distressed by the loss of function in his hind legs. My wife and I had a very tearful time with Gizmo and tried to decide between ourselves what we should do.<\/p>\n

The major concern was that Gizmo not suffer needlessly or have poor quality of life just because we were selfish and didn’t want to see him go. After about an hour of soul-searching, crying, and agonizing, we decided that we owed it to him to euthanize him before he suffered any more. The process was quick – it took less than 20 seconds for both injections – first a sedative to put him to sleep, then the dosage of another drug which would stop his heart. It was a heart-breaking way to end what had been just another normal evening with both of our cats seemingly perfectly normal and healthy in every way.<\/p>\n

I have to take time to say how great the staff and doctors at Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital<\/a> (West side: NW 20th & Pettygrove\/East side: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t10564 SE Washington Street – in Plaza 205) were to us. They were so compassionate towards us and Gizmo, and they clearly had his welfare foremost in their minds throughout the ordeal. In particular, the ER vet, Dr. Jen Magilton, was incredible. She was clearly affected by what had befallen our beloved cat, and really made what is a horrible process as bearable as is possible under the circumstances. My wife and I have decided to try to do a benefit concert for Dove Lewis in the spring to both honor the memory of our dear Gizmo and to thank them for their incredible compassion and professionalism during our visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Postings this week might be a bit spotty because of a recent loss in our family. Our youngest of two cats, Gizmo, was stricken late Sunday Monday night by a catastrophic blood clot which within the space of about 10 seconds caused him to lose the use of his hind legs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-8V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":397,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/07\/25\/tour-de-doping\/","url_meta":{"origin":553,"position":0},"title":"tour de doping","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a hard time to be a fan of professional cycling - especially when Tour de France time comes around each July. Last year, we thrilled to Floyd Landis' thrashing of the rest of the peleton after a disastrous day in the Alps, only to find out that he was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"affiche_2007.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/affiche_2007.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5104,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/07\/28\/big-ride-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":553,"position":1},"title":"big ride today","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I did my ride with the most climbing to date. My legs are definitely coming into shape now, just have to keep up the riding while I start doing more time on the axe as well...","rel":"","context":"In "cycling"","block_context":{"text":"cycling","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/cycling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/rtemap-400x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1414,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/09\/doctor-atomic-highlight-batter-my-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":553,"position":2},"title":"doctor atomic highlight: batter my heart","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to Fugue State, I have found video from the Netherlands Opera production (Peter Sellars' version) of the final aria from the first act of Doctor Atomic, \"Batter My Heart\" - it will give you an idea of what I think was the highlight of the opera. You'll have a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2338,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/17\/heart-of-the-fourth\/","url_meta":{"origin":553,"position":3},"title":"heart of the fourth","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As promised, here is the first of a series of posts concerning Bart\u00c3\u00b3k's great Fourth String Quartet. The third movement of Bart\u00c3\u00b3k's Fourth String Quartet is its spiritual heart, as well as its physical center.\u00c2\u00a0 Surrounded by two quicker movements (the very fleet and scurrying second movement, and a more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"bartok31","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/bartok31-400x529.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1119,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/09\/11\/news-dear-to-a-violists-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":553,"position":4},"title":"news dear to a violist’s heart…","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Just saw this over at the Exploration of Portland Food and Drink blog, then read the story at WWeek - the South Park Block #5 will have a new restaurant built over part of it - called - VIOLA (!)\u00c2\u00a0 Wonder if they'll have special prices for all the violists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "food & drink"","block_context":{"text":"food & drink","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/food-drink\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/2750944841_7cd4a6197d_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":446,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/09\/26\/classical-glass\/","url_meta":{"origin":553,"position":5},"title":"classical glass","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Courtesy of the new-ish blog Classical in Seattle, a link to this past season's semi-staged production ofBluebeard's Castle by the Seattle Symphony. Renowned (and also perhaps a bit over-hyped) glass artist Dale Chihuly was commissioned to produce blown glass pieces to represent what was revealed behind each door. In case\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chihuly.com\/installations\/bluebeard\/Art\/IMG_7519_Bluebeard_PA_M.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}