Coco--A Very Tough Little Cat

First off, I should apologize to Coco for using such a horrible picture of her. She really doesn't look like a devil cat, but she is difficult to capture, so this is the best we got.
She is just a little gal, about 5 pounds, and is really a little old lady, almost 14 years old, but she has a yowl like a mountain lion and basically is the "person" who runs this household.
On Sunday, I noticed she had a bad looking bottom tooth, so I made an appointment on Monday for her to see the vet on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning before she even had breakfast, she got boxed up and carted off to the doctor. The exam was quick and didn't sound good--she had at least the one tooth, and probably two, that needed to be extracted. She has a long-standing history of thyroid disease; and yes, she has a goiter, and we have been giving her pills for that for years. But as she has aged, I guess her thyroid has gotten worse, as the vet determined, after lab work, we need to give her two pills per day. Yes, I know I am a nurse, but administration of pills to this gal is man's work, so Greg does that.
She had her dental procedure done, and the reports we received were that she was a very good kitty. I picked her up on Wednesday morning and then got the final report, which was shocking. The poor little thing had eight teeth removed! We were instructed to give her soft food for about one week. And she ate a whole can in less than 24 hours! I guess she must not have been able to eat very well with her poor, old broken teeth and she was hungry! Greg thought he would set out a bowl of her regular dry food for her today, and even with the not-yet-healed extractions, she gobbled down half a bowl. It seems she is on the road to recovery.
We really didn't have any idea that her teeth were so bad, and the vet reassured us that we aren't really bad cat parents, that cats don't process pain the way humans do, and that cat's teeth can get really bad before it is noticed.