update

So...some tentative good news from the vet's office.

While they can't rule out cancer entirely until the biopsy results come back, Ivan's preliminary results are promising. Aside from some wonky electrolyte readings, his labs look great, and the mass is entirely localized to the spot on his jaw -- if it is cancer, it hasn't metastasized. The vet also said that it looks like there's less bone tissue involved than they were initially concerned about, which she says is also a good sign. He's recovering really well from the sedation, and he'll be coming home later today.

Basically, she told me that even though we won't know if the mass is cancerous until the radiologist reads the scans and they get the biopsy results back from the lab, the results they have so far are the absolute best we could hope for at this juncture. He's in great health otherwise, so I've got my fingers crossed.

It was so weird not having him around last night and this morning. He's one of those cats that's all, I MUST BE IN YOUR LAP RIGHT NOW SO YOU CAN SCRITCH MY EARS AND PET MY BELLY, and so it was very strange to sit on the couch and not suddenly have 10 pounds of ferociously purring cat clinging to me. He's also super loud and incredibly talkative, to the point where it's kind of annoying sometimes, but even though he can be a total pill I still missed the hell out of him this morning when I came downstairs and he wasn't there to run squeaking around my feet because he's so damn excited that I'm awake. :(

Please be okay, cat. The results so far are promising, but I'm not going to stop worrying until the biopsy gives the all-clear.