My First Day After Chemo

Yesterday was my big day at the Melbourne Veterinary Referral Centre because I went there to have my first chemotherapy treatment. And Daddy had to starve me after the midnight before because I wasn't supposed to eat anything in case they had to anesthetize me, so I was meowing all morning begging for food. And Daddy came home early from work and at 3:00 he picked me up and put me in my cat carrier and I yowled because I knew something was up, and I remembered that the last time I was in the carrier was exactly a week ago when I spent the whole night at the Glen Waverly clinic. But this time I only had to go to the clinic at Essendon airport, and at 3:30 the nurse took me into the consulting room (and here's a picture from the Centre's website):

and some people came in, but I didn't recognize them because they had gloves and masks on (like these pictures, also from the Centre's website):


but I think one of them was doctor Peter, and the other might have been that nice nurse Naarah; and they put a tube (a catheter) into my front left paw, and I hated it so much that I bit it and pulled it out! And they decided I needed a sedative to calm me down, so they gave me a shot of something that made me feel all wonky, and then they put a new catheter in my front right paw, and I sat still for twenty minutes while a strong-smelling chemical called Doxorubicin went into my paw. But they sat with me the whole time and petted me and I felt nice and relaxed. And at about 4:30 they brought me back into the waiting room where Daddy and Uncle Kevin were sitting and waiting for me, and I swear they reminded me of pink elephants, 'cause that sedative was still making me feel weird. Then Daddy's friend Andrew picked us up in his car, and when we got home, I climbed out of my carrier and walked around, but my back legs kept stumbling because I was feeling really really wonky, but even so, I made my way to my food dish and tried to eat some hard kibble (I hadn't eaten all day!), but I couldn't remember how my tongue works so I kept dropping the kibble out of my mouth! So Uncle Kevin got me some soft kibble, and I managed to eat that up very slowly, and for the next five hours I didn't feel like doing anything except sitting next to my food dish with my chin on top of my hard kibble. And Daddy sat with me for a long time and watched over me while my sedative wore off. But I never threw up and I never passed out or anything. And by about midnight I was more alert, and made a little poo, and I felt like sitting downstairs in the living room and making sure nothing had changed in my domain.

And this morning I sat in my basket in the living room next to the heater (it got really cold last night! It got down to 6° Celsius outside; that's only about 43° F. That's cold!) and slept a little bit; and I drank some water out of the tub, and then I sat in the sun, too, like this:


And Daddy came home early again, around 12:00, to watch me this afternoon while Uncle Kevin worked downtown. And I sat in Daddy's lap for a while and purred, like this:

but you can see from the video that I was kinda staring into space, since I didn't feel too terrific. And Daddy was making sure that I wasn't throwing up, and that I wasn't going off my food, and that I was drinking plenty of water. And I didn't really like the taste of my wet kibble, but I ate dry kibble a few times this evening and drank water from the tub three times, 'cause I wanted to show Daddy that I was being a good kitty, and he got take-away chicken for dinner and gave me some chicken yummy as my reward!

And doctor Peter said that the first 24 hours after chemo are the critical time, and I've done very well; but he also said that the third day after chemo could be another time when I might start to feel sick (he said something about my cells regenerating at that point), so Daddy and Uncle Kevin will be watching me closely from now on. And doctor Peter said that my whiskers will fall out because of the chemo, but my fur will be OK. And I'll miss my whiskers! After all, we kitties use our whiskers to find our way through strange places in the dark, or to sense vibrations from people and rodents and vehicles passing by. So I'm not looking forward to losing them. But it hasn't happened yet, so for now, I should try to get a good night's sleep and hopefully I'll feel less wired tomorrow.

And thank you to everyone who read my blog and sent me good wishes (especially you, Huffle!); it made me and my Daddy very happy to hear from so many animals and pet-people in cyberspace.