(Mark Best Answer) broke on through to the other side
Just spent ten days in Athens, Georgia at the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital where our Abyssinian Buffy received a kidney transplant to save his life. It was quite an experience and cost ms some $16,000 I don't have (thank God for home equity lines of credit) but the little guy is a big part of our life and is just too young to die. An amazing younger surgeon, Dr Chad Schmiedt, did the operation and we adopted the donor cat, a lovable young rascal named Chadwick (after Dr. Schmiedt) as is a customary part of kidney donor arrangements. The U of GA is the absolute best place for feline renal transplants because they use a revolutionary stem cell procedure that aids in retention, the only facility in the world to do it so far. So that's where Buffy was going- not Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. He needed the best chance and I got it for him.
While he was in I visited Buffy twice a day before the operation and once a day the following weekend when visiting hours were mornings only and the last few days till he got out. I am glad I did that rather than just dropping him off and coming back for him ten days later (the route was aggravating enough I am doubly glad I didn't make two trips, one to take the donor cat home as he was discharged earlier) because he was really lost and lonely after being with us seven and a half years. I didn't want him to think we'd gotten rid of him and just give up and die. He was so glad to see me it was well worth while driving the 30 miles each way daily.
Georgia wasn't much different from Cleveland- Athens was an interesting town but I was always getting lost- I stayed at the closest decent reasonable motel according to the online ratings, a Red Roof 30 miles north at Commerce) and I took advantage of the cuisine we can't get here since White Castle/Church's Chicken pulled out last Christmas. I ate both and also Krystal burgers like they were going out of style. And of course I had car repairs- after dropping $900 to get the Accord ready for the trip I had some sort of oil seal leak which cost me almost another $300 in Georgia. Fortunately I didn't break down and there was a Honda dealer handy which fixed me up without any inconvenience as the car was still driveable.
Buffy and Chad had to stay in their puppy cages until May 19th so they didn't jump or climb and rip their stitches and staples out (which were removed this morning), and Chad still had a cone collar on until the 21st so he can't get at his healing incision. Buffy's back in the general population and I took pity on Chad and let him out that night because he was meowing from loneliness as Buffy was no longer in there with him. So he formally met the other cats (mainly Simba as Sheba doesn't get along with the male cats, but Chad looks enough like her that she might take him for her son).
The drive back was pure hell with two unhappy cats in separate cages, and I don't know how I got both into the car, one in the back seat (I BARELY shoehorned it in) and one in the front passenger seat (hardly got the door closed and the cage was up against the shifter so I had trouble getting into 5th gear and reverse). I got rid of three boxes I'd taken down and packed my stuff and the cat stuff in the two cat carriers I took which saved room but still it was a very tight fit. I had to stop every few hours for them to use the litter box (on the front passenger floor) and get them water and dry food which they mostly didn't eat but spilled in the car (not the water- I wouldn't let them keep that in the cages). But we made it. It was an experience.
But the relief is great after a few years of worsening condition (he was diagnosed in 2011), increasing medications and internal specialist bills (he was taking nine prescriptions just before the operation and I was giving him subcutaneous lactating Ringers electrolyte injections daily the last few months after every other day for a few years) and getting him qualified for the operation; he has a slight heart murmur and a cardiologist had to sign off on his ability to undergo anesthesia). It all paid off and he's running around glad to be back in his home.
After we lost two cats to kidney disease I wasn't letting it take this cat. We had him twice as long as the first, and the second was a rescue cat but it's heartbreaking when you can't save them. This time I had the means (or the credit).
I want to thank you all for your opinions and I'm so glad I stayed for him. He was so comforted to see me every time I showed up, twice a day the first week then once from the weekend on when there's only morning visitation through Wednesday the 11th when he was discharged. He's pickling up weight and I'm being VERY careful with his meds, the most critical of which (cyclosporine which he has to be on the rest of his life and it can't be put in his food but down his throat in a capsule twice a day because the taste is so bitter. He has to be rechecked weekly for this first month then biweekly for a few, then every 2-3 months. Dr. Schmiedt told me that the longest lived transplant cat has been four years (still alive) and we're going to beat that!!
Thanks again you all,
Bill in Cleveland