Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.58.0403121800350.29669@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>,
"WRYTING-L : Writing and Theory across Disciplines" <WRYTING-L@LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA>
Subject: Boojum Carter
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:00:47 -0500 (EST)
Boojum Carter feline, aged 17, four years after our mother's death, biopsy diagnosed as follows: Microscopic: MAMMARY MASS ONE - This mass is demarcated and has a well localized appearance. It is comprised of a collection of neoplastic epithelial cells that are forming tubules. The tubules are separated by variably thick connective tissue septa. The neoplastic cells have ovoid stippled nuclei and a scant amount of eosinophilic cytoplasm. Cytoplasmic borders are distinct. The mitotic rate is low and ranges from 0-1 per high-power field. Nonneoplastic tissue is forming margins. There are scattered aggregates of lymphocytes and plasma cells surrounding the growth MAMMARY MASS TWO - This is the larger of the growths evaluated. There are several large cysts. There is a proliferating population of neoplastic epithelial cells. The cells are organized in the lobules that are forming occasional tubules. The central areas of the lobules are degenerate. Neoplastic cells exhibit invasion. One or two layers of cells line the tubules. The cells have large round vesicular nuclei with multiple nucleoli. The cytoplasm is eosinophilic, scant and cytoplasmic borders are distinct. The mitotic rate ranges up to six per high-power field. Nonneoplastic tissue is forming margins. DIAGNOSIS: MAMMARY MASS ONE- MAMMARY GLAD ADENOCARCINOMA, TUBULAR, LOW GRADE MAMMARY MASS TWO - MAMMARY GLAND ADENOCARCINOMA, TUBULAR CYSTIC PROGNOSIS: Guarded COMMENTS: Feline mammary malignancies should be considered capable of metastasis and warrant a guarded prognosis at best. The first smaller growth evaluated is well localized and is not exhibiting invasion. This appears to be a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. The second growth is exhibiting invasion and this growth should be considered as having potential for metastasis. Lymphatic invasion is not identified with any of the sections evaluated. These growths appear to be excised. Comments by doctor: Guarded. Felines tend not to recover. She might live six months, several years, or less. There is no way to tell. She needs immune system fortification. The doctor wishes her news would have been better. The question is whether or not the tubules remain within the body. The cancer could spread rapidly or even go into remission. Comments by writer: Boojum is named after the Boojum tree in Baja California. She is thirteen and a half. She exhibits no signs of illness. She has been my companion and is highly sociable and nervous, She has the personality, if not the skills, of a brilliant writer. At the moment she is sleeping, recovering from the removal of her stitches. She travelled with us to Miami, where she encountered, even indoors, new and interesting forms of flora and fauna. Azure and I pray that she will live forever. Comments: That cancer is always the same, disordered, disorderly, a tough go whose treatment is violent and invasive as well. The well-defined structure of the body begins to collapse as tunnels are formed through highly-organized tissue. Every organism is a world of miracles, and every creature dissolves in the fury of cancer and creation. Azure and I are beside ourselves, and Boojum Carter dreams now, not of death. _