After the vet gave her a cortisone injection on Saturday, I took her to the parental house (with a/c) to wait out the heat. We had further cortisone tablets for her to take morning and night Sunday and Monday.
She still wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink all Sunday and I really wasn't sure that she was going to make it.
Monday morning, very early, I woke up to the sound of her cleaning herself. She hadn't done that in about two weeks. I gave her the AM feed with the medication and she yowled at me, then started eating and drinking on her own. She munched down on the food we put out for her and, while I was at work during the day, drank the other cats' water, ate their food, and ran about the house. (Parental's house still.) She looked so much better and obviously felt much better, too.
So I took her in for the ultrasound this morning. Vet got back to me: no cancer, no ulcers, nothing they can spot that's out of the ordinary - just the liver failure indicators.
So we're going to complete the medications against infection (amoxycillin, etc.) and start giving her the cortisone medications for two weeks, and then take her back to the vet to see about the liver enzyme indicators. The cortisone medications may have to continue on into the foreseeable future, since the vet said she's found that most animals don't take well to being taken off it entirely, even if it's only one tablet every few days or something.
So...bullet dodged this time.
Hopefully, she will plump herself down in the middle of many future quilts, much to her mummy's chagrin.
*snuggles her kitty*
*hugs her f-list who were so very encouraging when things looked dire*
Thanks, guys.