7 Things MeMe...

by CASTLE!

Yes - it is I, Castle The Handsome One! I have invaded for the evening cos I read over Storm's shoulder that Cody over at Camie's Kitties tagged me for the 7 Things MeMe! Thank you Cody! For once I get some attention and adoration coming my way too. I know my sister is brave and deserves all the love in the world, but I think some of that love should head over my way too! I AM the boss in this household afterall. (Yeah, riiiiiiiight, course you are Castle - Stormie)

So here are my 7 things:

1) Meowmie J bought me after seeing an advert in Loot newspaper. She called the breeder up who then informed Meowmie J that she "had a lovely Blue Boy with an adorable and very special personality" in her available kittens. Meowmie J came to see me when I was 8 weeks old and fell in love with me cos I let her rub my stomach immediately and was very loving. Meowmie L then spotted Storm cuddling up to me, fell in love and told Meowmie J that she couldn't buy just ONE meezer, she had to buy TWO, so Storm got chosen too! We must be special cos the breeder had about 17 kittens running around looking for homes! (Sadly Meowmie J became allergic to me and Storm so we now live with Meowmie L).

2) I have only just developed a liking for catnip - I am almost 12 years old.

3) I love playing with eggs. When I was a kitten Meowmie J found 6 eggs outside her bedroom door one morning. I had attempted to carry them down the stairs, one-by-one, from the kitchen to the bedroom, dropping them once I reached the bedroom. Unfortunately the floor outside the bedroom was hardwood and the eggs all broke. For those who haven't seen it, this is my egg video where I carry an egg into the lounge - and I can carry an egg lengthways in my mouth (sorry bout my awful, sweary Bean)!



4) I am a very affectionate cat, I love cuddles, rubs, kisses, scritches, being talked to, strokes - any sign of affection or attention. Meowmie can push me around whilst I lay on my back and I go all floppy and daft and purr like mad. Like a typical Meezer I love a good natter.

5) Storm and I are very, very close, I hate it when she goes away to the Vet Place. When she was away for 8 days getting diagnosed with her problems a year ago, I hated it so much that when she came back I flipped out and spent a week attacking her and hissing at her. This was probably the last thing she needed - but she smelt WELL WIERD and seemed different somehow. After a week of the cold-shouldering I accepted her again and we were soon back to normal - constantly together.

6) Since Storm has been diagnosed with her lymphoma and gone through the chemo I am always sniffing her bum. Well, not always, but I do have a good old sniff much more than I used to. Thankfully Storm rarely farts! In fact I have only ever heard Storm do a windy-pop the once. That was shortly after one of her enemas. Ew.

7) When I was a young cat living at Meowmie J's I used to go into the garden sometimes. I found a dead blackbird in the garden, obviously caught by another cat and discarded some days previously. Cunningly, I claimed the bird for my own and pretended I had caught it and took it to Meowmie J and dropped the 'present' at her feet. Meowmie J screamed and screamed, I don't really know why, It was a lovely gift!

Well, my time is up here for now...Stormie sends her love, she hasn't done a sick-up for a couple of days and she is eating well! See you soon xxx

It's Raining Awards!

I've got TWO more awards!!! Anyone would think it is my burfday! Actually, my burfday is February 1st - my next big milestone - no doubt I will be celebrating with a steroid pill and catfish and tapioca dry food, but I am not complaining, I will be ECSTATIC to celebrate another birthday!. But I digress...I have been given the amazing "Bloggers Of The World" Award by the lovely Tamra Maew.

BUT that is not all...cos you see Castle has ALSO been given the Bloggers Of The World award, his was presented by Tara's fast-growing and handsome brother Kavan. Thank you my lovely fellow Meezers - we are both very proud. We would like to pass this on to Java and Chairman Mao and Brainball over at the Ballicus blog and Camie's Kitties



And now for my next award...I have also been given the "Thinking Blogger" Award by Java - and my lovely Meezer pal Yao-Lin and my buddy Henry Helton- this is a great honour! I have been eyeing this award around the blogosphere and thinking how lovely it looked...thank you so much Java you lovely Meezer!



Here are the rules fur the Thinking Blogger Awardie:

1. You must write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Acknowledge this post.

3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

4. Go tell your humans to fork over the treats!

My five awards nominations go to:

Kitty Limericks
Tamra Maew
Kavan
Boy
Faz The Cat

Hey meowmie - do what the rules say - hand over the treats!!! Oh...is that catfish and tapioca dry food I spy in my bowl...yummy, how exciting.

An Award!!!

Oh my goodness I'se got an award! I am so pleased, I love awards!



My friends Jan and the crew over at Jan's Funny Farm presented me with the "You Make My Day Award" which is presented to bloggers whose blog brings you happiness and inspiration and makes you feel happy about Blogland. The rules are to pass the award along to up to 10 people - so I choose the following bloggers, and if you have it already then you must be REALLY appreciated!

Yao-Lin
Chairman Mao
Adan
Fat Cat Muffin
Kaze
Chey
Dragonheart & Merlin

An update on me - I thought my enema might mean I wouldn't do a tummy-sick-up for a few days but unfortunately I did one yesterday (just after my lactulose) and again this morning just after breakfast. Both were food-sicks so my Bean is not too concerned - but she is extra watchful now, and she keeps kissing me and hugging me too now. Otherwise all is well, eating just fine and still loving my stripey tail toy that Ben Vet sent to me, so my two main cat senses are working...EAT and PLAY...in between hours of sleeping of course. Now if only we could get the POO function back to normal we would be laughing!

Toes on Tuesday

ps - bigify the picture and check out those whiskers! :)

Vet Visit

Ise went to see Ben Vet today - just for a check-up to make sure all is in order. My temperature is normal, my chest sounds normal and my gut sounds are normal and I have gained weight, I now weigh 3.69kgs (8.13lbs) which is an increase of about 350 grams (about 3/4 of a pound)!

Unfortunately I was bunged up with poos again, as you all know this is now a reoccurring problem for which I need to take lactulose cos the scarring in my guts, from the chemo treatment I had, prevents proper passage through me. So Ben Vet gave me an enema!!! I am loathe to write this on my blog again cos I get ALOT of hits from people looking for "enemas for fun" or "home enemas" and even more strangely "furry enemas". The mind boggles but I can assure those people that enemas are most definitely NOT fun!

I was very well-behaved at the vet, purred a bit and dished out a headbutt or two. After Ben Vet had finished examining me he said he was very pleased with my condition and said that I am doing very well, pretty much like a normal healthy cat - which is great news. Let's hope this state of being continues for a while longer! I then said my goodbyes to Ben Vet and the staff and my cat-sitter who also works there.

Once I got home I ran straight to my litter-box and proved without any doubt that enemas do work very well, I then laid down with Castle and he spent ages cleaning my ears for me.



And for any London-based readers, HMS Belfast the old warship now turned tourist-attraction moored up on the Thames, has lost one of it's cats, he is called Oscar and went missing on December 24th (you can read more HERE). He got lost looking for the other resident battleship cat Kilo. Kilo has now turned up though. I dread to think what could have happened to old Oscar but I fear either he was kidnapped by horrid chavvy school-children on an educational visit or he may have seen a fish in the Thames and took the plunge so to speak. Anyways, let's hope that Oscar turns up soon!

New Olympic Sport?

Castle and I realise that this year is an Olympic year and we feel it is time to introduce a new sport into the Olympic schedule of games. I am not sure our campaign will be effective in time for the Beijing Olympics but if we get started now we may get it recognised for the London Olympics in 2012. I won't be able to participate in 2012 obviously, but perhaps we can get some of the younger generation of cats inspired to get involved? Yao-Lin and Baby Mao perhaps? Or The Meezer Brothers maybe? or would Dragonheart and Merlin take up the challenge?The new sport is called "Synchronised Whapping" and here is a video of Castle and I demonstrating the new sport:



Obviously we need to improve our synchronisation but I fink we did OK for a first effort! :)

PS - I fink I may have misled some people in my previous post with regards to the medicines I take. I gave the impression that Meowmie fills me with all sorts of meds on a daily basis, but she doesn't, the meds listed are meds I have taken over the last year.

I took the 3 chemo drugs listed on rotation, over a 26 week period then they stopped - this is called the Madison Wisconsin Protocol. Currently I only take a steroid tablet every other day and lactulose when I get 'bunged up' if you get my drift. I was supposed to take leukeran (another chemo drug) as a maintenance drug once the Mad Wis protocol had finished, but it made me feel sick so it was decided not to continue with it. Although this was a worry for us, Ben Vet explained that new evidence was starting to emerge to suggest that some cats manage to survive and keep the lymphoma at bay for a while without taking the Leukeran. (This is why it is kind of special that I am still here and surviving past the average 6-9 month survival time). You can read more about that episode in my treatment here: The Chemo Rollercoaster.

Hello 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Apologies for the tardiness of my post - I've been neglected terribly, Meowmie L has not helped me blog AND she had the cheek to leave me and Castle on our own on New Year's Eve!!! She went to see some big firework display by the Thames that cost £100,000 per minute in explosions, but due to a HUGE cloud of smoke generated by said fireworks she only saw the first minute and for the remaining 10 minutes could only hear fireworks, not actually see them. Serves her right. If she had stayed at home with us she would have had the most marvellous view and enjoyed the most amazing firework display ever! Castle and I had a fantastic view from the kitchen window as our home is only 1.5 miles away as the crow flies and we live on the 11th floor so we had a lovely elevated view across the London rooftops!

Here is some amazing footage from the BBC of the fireworks:


Here is a not so amazing picture of the cloud of smoke taken by Meowmie L who foolishly stood down-wind of the display:

Despite her recent short-comings I do have a lot to be grateful for and her love and care are amongst those things that have helped me still be here. In fact as it is Thursday and I haven't done a Thirteen for a while I am going to list 13 things that have made it possible for me to welcome in one more New Year:

1) My two Beans - the love and care they give to me.
2) Castle - his cuddles and protection and love
3) Ben Vet, Caroline Vet, Russell Vet, Megan Vet - and any other vet who has helped me who I have forgotten! (This counts as one choice cos I say so.)
4) Ann and her team of nurses (this counts as one choice too).
5) Vincristine - chemo drug
6) Cyclophosphamide - another chemo drug
7) Doxorubicine - and another chemo drug
8) Prednisone - my steroid pill
9) Lactulose - not exactly life-saving stuff but it helps my poos travel through me and therefore reduces my tummy sick-up frequency!
10) Antibiotics for those times when my immune system doesn't cope (like when I got the cystitis!). I reacted badly to some types of ABs but I am OK with Baytril.
11) Stemetil anti-nausea injections. These were very helpful towards the end of my 26-week chemo protocol as I was getting a bit nauseous in the last 3 or 4 weeks.
12) Periactin appetite stimulant - this was helpful when I went off my food a bit, which to be fair wasn't often, again it was during the last few weeks of my chemo treatment.
13) Chicken - technically I mean food and water, but chicken is my favourite and is always worth a mention. Chicken is also a good 'test food' for Meowmie - she uses it to determine whether I have *really* gone off my food or whether I am just being a fussy Meezer. I can't resist chicken, even if I have already eaten! Unfortunately I am not allowed chicken at the moment though.

Actually let's turn this into a Thursday Fourteen...

14) My lovely friends on the Blogosphere, your messages of support and words of advice are so wonderful and it has been an honour getting to know you all. Each of you is very special indeed.

Here's wishing everybody a fantastic year ahead.

Love Stormie xxxx