Christmas Confessions

Ok...this is a hard post to do cos I've been naughty...you see someone rather significant to my well-being and mindful of my well-being has found my blog, he said he loved it and that his parents and friends love it too, and he told Meowmie not to change what she writes or anything now that he has confessed to finding it and reading it. She won't :)

Guessed who it is yet? It's....BEN VET!!! He found my blog! I am not sure how cos Meowmie forgot to ask but seeing as most internet searches for cat lymphoma list my blog I suppose that is a good guess of how he found me. Unless of course he was the person looking for a "furry lady" some months back who kept coming to my blog? Or maybe he was the person who landed on my blog by googling for "the end of every party a fat girl crys scared stroking horse"? Hehehe - I'se only kidding Ben Vet!
*waves at Ben Vet and Caroline Vet and all the practice nurses and friends and family of Ben Vet*

Now that Ben Vet has done his confession I have one of my own...Ben Vet, please could you stop reading right about....now? I don't want to ruin my reputation of being a good patient...

I had some Turkey on Boxing Day evening (26th Dec for non-Brits).

Yup, despite being on an exclusion diet I had a little bit of the lovely roasted bird meat. I was in HEAVEN. I have never enjoyed something quite so much in a long time. The best part? I didn't sick it up again! In fact I haven't been sick since Boxing Day morning. Despite keeping the Turkey down I guess I have in fact destroyed all the hard work of the past few months by having some turkey, but if I haven't sicked it up again I hope that means I am not allergic to Turkey. I'll double check this with Ben Vet on my next vet visit. For now I am back on the exclusion diet though. Catfish and Tapioca isn't so bad.

Here follows...

Storm's Guide To Eating Turkey

Step 1
Get the attention of any other members of the household who also like turkey (you MUST do Lazer Eyes cos this makes them more intrigued).


Step 2
Allow other turkey-eating members of the household to get involved with what you are doing


Step 3
Make sure other turkey-eating members of the household are fully distracted before slinking off in the background towards the bowl of turkey.


Step 4
Enjoy!

An Award from Yao-Lin!!!

Oh my goodness I'se got such a lovely award from Yao-Lin - what a lovely Christmas present from my Face Twin! I am very very honoured, it is also fitting that today Yao-Lin received the Extraordinary Award that I created a couple of weeks ago (it was a bit slow getting to him, I thought someone would have given that to him long before now - especially considering what he has to put up with on a day-to-day basis with his family!)

I would like to pass this award on to Chase No Face - I only made her acquaintance recently and her blog really is a treasure, much like herself. What an amazing cat she is.

Thanks Yao-Lin!
xxx

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Wishing everyone on the Blogosphere a very very happy Christmas - cherish every moment and be thankful for every day., and amongst all the present-giving, fun and laughter I fink it is important to not forget the true meaning of Christmas...



....TURKEY!!! (If I am allowed some...I am still on my exclusion diet. Boo!)

Have a wonderful Christmas efurrybody and everybean!
Love Stormie, Castle and the Beans
xxxxxxx

One Year On!

Well, it is pretty much a year to the day that my large-cell lymphoma troubles started and me and family were told that with chemo treatment the 'average' survival time for me was 6-9 months. This time last year we didn't fink I would see another Christmas tree but I have...and we are all so so grateful for it! (Check out my first ever blog post for the full story of my diagnosis)

The past 365 days have presented us with a whole heap of emotions (and medicines) but it has also been surprisingly 'normal'. Most people have the impression that chemo is a very hard-hitting treatment for a cat to endure but it isn't for the vast majority of us cats - the doses given are very low and therefore we don't suffer like humans do when they have chemo. The downside to this is that the low-dose chemo is not considered a complete cure for cats...obviously we go into clinical remission (otherwise I wouldn't be here right now) but my lymphoma will come back to see me one day. When that happens I am confident that my Ben Vet will do his best by me, as he always has done, he is such a lovely vet and I actually quite enjoy seeing him, I purr at him and head-butt him too!

As I have exceeded the average survival time I guess I am above average...special....extra-ordinary even! I therefore want to celebrate my anniversary by creating an Award - I hope you don't think me bigheaded!



The Extraordinary Gold Star Award was created by me - Storm, The Furry Fighter - and is for Bloggers who have achieved or done something special. The award celebrates beyond what is ordinary or usual.

1) Post the explanation and rules of the award and link back to the blogger who presented you with the award and repeat the reason why you received it.

2) Pass the Award on to two other Bloggers who you fink deserve it and explain why!

Well there is little point in linking back to myself so I will get on with the presentation, which is hard cos I fink you all deserve the award, but if I awarded it to everyone all at once then the fun would all be over too quicky!:

Firstly, Caeser & Princess cos they are the sweetest and most adorable cats and always leave the most adorable, caring messages for everyone. Plus they are Fighters and put up with having flooids every day.

Secondly, Daisy The Curly Cat, cos before I read her blog I had no idea that cats wore clothes and went out strollering!!! She opened my eyes to how wonderful and tolerant some cats can be of their Beans! What a lady (and a very fashionable one at that!).


PS - I just want to say thanks to ALL my blogging buddies though, it has been an honour to meet you all and I love reading about your diverse and wonderful lives! The Cat Blogosphere is such a special place!

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

Meezer Mancat Monday

Today is Meezer Mancat Monday - and here is my brother Castle!

Notebook Number 2

A flying visit today, Meowmie is still hugely busy and blogging is a rare event for me at the moment.  We will try and do some catching up with you all over the next few days.  Unfortunately Meowmie reckons blogging won't be back to normal for a week :(

My reason for popping on tonight is cos we reached  a little landmark this weekend.  You see, back in January, a couple of weeks into my chemo treatment, my Meowmie started a notebook about me, it details my daily condition, appetite, medicines I have taken, number of sick-ups etc etc.  When she started the notebook she always hoped that we would, at the very least, get half way through it...then when we got halfway through it she hoped that we would get three-quarters of the way through it...and then yesterday we wrote on the very last page!!! We FINISHED the notebook and have now started on a SECOND one!!! This is a very happy landmark for us but now we go back to hoping that, at the very least, we get half way through the second notebook...

Todays pictures, well, Castle will be very cross with me for posting these cos it shows him being a big soppy.  The first one was taken when we were youngsters, about a year old, the second one was taken earlier this year.  

Whiskers!

A quickie today - Meowmie is still neglecting me terribly and is very busy - she promises to help me catch up with everyone as soon as she can -we hope you are all OK. I have been doing OK, just a bit sicky this morning but it was gorging / constipation sick so nothing to worry about I hope. (If you didn't know it already, constipation triggers a cat to vomit as well - GREAT!).

As promised, here are my whiskers - for those that don't know, I lost all my whiskers as a result of the chemotherapy I went through, this is the feline version of a human losing their hair when they have chemo. Contrary to popular myth, cats do not lose all their hairs through chemo, we may get a bit 'scrappy' in places but we do not go bald and do not end up looking like my good and gorgeous friend Dragonheart the Sphynx! - which wouldn't be such a bad thing at all, he is beautiful isn't he?

These are up-to-date images taken this evening - compare these with the picture of me a couple of posts ago, I only had 4 whiskers on one side and 2 on the other and then they ALL fell out shortly after that picture was taken (August this year). Meowmie said I look like an adult cat again, I was looking a bit kittenish with no whiskers.