Whisker Update

Woke up this morning and I've lost yet another whisker! Arses!

I have one full-length whisker and a tiny short one on my left cheek and 4 on my right cheek.

Good job I know my way round the flat and I don't venture outside cos I'd get stuck if I did.

Nearly a week without a sick-up...

...but then I went and ruined it all by doing a tummy-sick-up this morning. Five days then without a sick-up. That's quite good.

Meowmie wasn't here to look after me, she went out last night to see a friend and didn't come home until later today - but don't worry, she left enough food and water out and I had my brother with me to give me cuddles. I was not so sick I couldn't eat when Meowmie got home though! I had Gourmet Chicken Filets in Gravy. Meowmie then gave me a quarter of an appetite stimulant and a Stemetil anti-nauseau injection just to be on the safe side. I feel a bit sleepy now though cos they have similar properties to anti-histamine tablets - I'd better avoid operating heavy machinary and driving for a few hours.

I think I'll go for a nap with my brother...nite nite x

Playtime!

The weekend is here and Meowmie has come home late and tomorrow she is out playing with her friends so I can only do a quick post for now. I'se still eating and I'se still haven't done a sickie tummy-up. Meowmie just gave me a steroid so I am bit pissed off with her but I'll forgive her in about 5 minutes.

To keep you amused here is a short film of my brother playing with one of his favourite toys - a raw egg. When he was a kitten and we lived at Meowmie J's (before we made her red and itchy and breathe bad) Castle used to get the eggs from the egg basket in the middle of the night and take them down the stairs and drop them on the floor outside Meowmie J's bedroom. One morning she woke up and there was 5 broken eggs on the floor and one unbroken egg - I heard some bad words but then I heard some giggling too :)



Sorry the film is sideways again, stoopid camera phone and Meowmie needs to upgrade her software! Hope everyone is OK!

Feeling better...

Well hello everyone! I seem to have made some Furrends! Thank you all for stopping by, I really really appreciate it! It can feel lonely sometimes dealing with this horrible lymphoma. Well, you have all met me and are familiar with my face so I want to introduce you to my brother Castle, here he is chilling on Meowmie's Sleep Pad:



I have been feeling better since my visit to the Vet Place a couple of days ago. Meowmie has been giving me a 1/4 pill of appetite stimulant each morning, and at night I have had a 1/4 pill of appetitie stimulant also AND a Stemetil anti-nausea injection just to be on the safe side - and to keep my food in me so I can get fat like my fatty-bum brother Castle :)

The night I got back from the Vet Place (Tuesday) I was a bit moany and attention-seekery. I am not naturally a lap-cat, I MUCH prefer a good stroke and dishing out headbutts and doing dive-bombs against Meowmie's leg but Tuesday night I fancied a cuddle so I woke Meowmie up on quite a few occassions by jumping on to her Sleep Pad and doing LOUD Meezer moans right in her face!!! She LOVED it. I then did the BEST THING - at 3.30am after Meowmie had nodded off yet again I woke her up AGAIN by crawling under her duvert and demanding a cuddle. I stayed there for about 40 minutes just purring and rumbling next to her. This behaviour, as stated, is not really 'me' so Meowmie could not sleep and she was enjoying my company so much. Then I needed to sleep so I went to my own bed for some peace and quiet!

I've been pigging out too but I am still pretending I don't like Hills Science Diet so Meowmie gives me CatDonalds (Whiskas in Gravy, Felix...that sort of thing). I have also stuffed myself with Chicken - obviously! Meowmie had some crab for her tea tonight and I wanted some of that too!!!

Meowmie had a good chat with Ben Vet today, giving him an update on how I am doing. Ben Vet is very happy with how I have been since Tuesday. Meowmie also asked him why he feels a "hands-off" approach is the best way to go since we found out Leukeran makes me ill; he explained that he felt that I was in a Very Good Place right now and that the only other option was a COP-type protocol, however cos I have been on the rather intense Mad Wis protocol he feels that putting me through the COP protocol so soon may be detrimental to me and make other parts of my body go wrong, like my liver or kidneys which could send me to the Rainbow Bridge apparently. Ben Vet said we should save the COP protocol for when the Badness comes back...not if...when. I pray it is not yet.

The Chemo Rollercoaster

Felt like crap when I woke up this morning, had a sick-up in the night too - thank goodness I was scheduled for a Vet Place visit.

Stormie's Limousine came for me at 10.30am precisely - it was my driven by my favourite Strange Man In The Front today, he is from Bangladesh and the first time he saw me a few months ago he said I was very beautiful...he also said "Is that a cat?"...but at least he said "cat" and not "otter" or "monkey"!!! He told Meowmie that since he last saw us he has got a kitten for his children, he showed Meowmie his hands - which had loads of tiny little scratches all over them. Silly human!

When we got to the Vet Place Meowmie J was waiting for us, she wanted to come along and make sure I was doing OK. I was so pleased to see her (despite being in my box) that I did a little "prrrrrmmmmppp" sound, albeit a bit weak. Meowmie J made a big fuss of me and then I saw Nurse Jo and Nurse Jenna who also made a fuss of me - Nurse Jenna told me that I was her favourite patient!!!

Ben Vet came and got us all and took us into his Consulting Box, he examined me all over, having a good feel and squeeze with his hands all over my body. He then weighed me, I am only 2.98kgs now, but not surprising seeing as I haven't eaten for two and half days. He then took my temperature...well...I do HATE that very much but I won't let him put the thermometer in my mouth, so my bum is the only other option. My temperature was normal, my gums looked good..everything was normal basically.

After questioning Meowmie about the past few days Ben Vet has decided that he is going to stop the Leukeran - there is no point in my having it if it makes me feel bad and kills my appetite. So, we just have to hope that the new theories about Leukeran's possible lack of effectiveness as a post Mad Wis maintenance porotocol are true. Ben Vet said with close monitoring and regular check-ups we would be able to identify when I come out of remission and then perhaps try another protocol such as the COP protocol (I don't know what this is so if you do please leave a comment for me).

In order to make me feel better I was given an antiemetic (Stemetil) and then a Vitamin B jab...and then Ben Vet pumped 150ml of fluids into me and made me look like a camel!!!!! He also gave Meowmie some Stemetil injections to take home for me in case I get sicky-up again. By the time I got home my camel-hump had slid down my left shoulder...the first picture was taken before I went to the Vet Place, the second one was after I had come back home...look how lop-sided and fat-shouldered I look in my MUJI bag:



After Meowmie had stopped chuckling at my camel-hump and forcing me to pose for pictures she tried to tempt me with some food...and guess what...I ATE A LITTLE BIT!!! How quick was that? Within 40 minutes of being treated I felt well enough to try some food. I didn't eat so much, but it was a start. Meowmie smiled ALOT and went off to work.

If anyone ever doubts what a rollercoaster of emotion it is for the Meowmies and Daddies of chemo kittkes I would like to present the following exhibit of how things can quickly change with our health. At 10am I was very poorly and refused to eat, the following video was filmed just a couple of hours ago and just 7 hours after my treatment - I was BLOODY STARVING when Meowmie got home from work, the apptite stimulants are obviously working. Meowmie was so pleased - she called Meowmie J on the phone and her eyes were wet - but I think with happiness this time:

Off To The Vet Place...Again

I'm not so sure Leukeran and me are going to be friends...I have lost my appetite and have been sick daily since Saturday. I haven't been this off my food since my White Blood Cells went low...and since I was first diagnosed with lymphoma.

My last decent eating session was Saturday morning - I barely ate yesterday and today I have eaten nothing. Meowmie gave me some periactin, an appetite stiumlant, and then went to her favourite shop called Waitrose and got me some rotisserie chicken - it is my favourite but all I could do was sit and stare at it for a while and walk away. Which to be fair was more of a reaction than regular bowls of cat food have got over the past 36 hours.

So we are heading of to the Vet Place again tomorrow to go and see Ben Vet. He hasn't been so well himself and has only just returned to work after having a visit to the Hospital, I think he had something called an hernia operation. I hope he is OK.

Wish me luck for tomorrow, I guess I'll get admitted and put on a fluid drip again cos of my lack of appetite, they will need to get some goodness inside me again I suppose. I also hope that this new evidence that Leukeran might be surplus to requirements is true...and that I can survive a little longer without it.

Leukeran and Guinea Pigs

Appetite recovered and have been eating well, I then had my first dose of Leukeran on Monday night - and promptly threw up in the early hours of Tuesday morning, just the usual acid-tummy sick.

Tuesday night was steroid night, ate very well and then once again threw up in the middle of the night - not just my usual acidy-tum sick either...all my food that I had gorged down some hours earlier.

Wednesday was OK though - ate well at night - and no medicines to take. What a relief. I hate taking pils.

Tonight is my next Leukeran dose (every third day you see). Meowmie is hoping I get on with Leukeran because it is my maintenance protocol and should hopefully keep me in remission. Ben Vet said that new evidence is surfacing that suggests that taking Leukeran after going through the Mad Wis protocol may not actually be necessary and that a lymphoma kitty like me could survive for a while without the maintenance protocol. Meowmie said she didn't want me to be a guinea pig though. I don't want to be a guinea pig either. They are well weird and don't really seem to do anything. I'll just stay being a cat please, these two guinea pigs look like they have been squashed - a sleek beauty like me could never spend my days looking like that! Britney Spears could use the top one for a wig!