October Oscar Update

Wow, so much has happened in the last month that I hardly know where to begin. At the moment I'm not feeling very well because the chemotherapy isn't shrinking my lump and I keep losing weight and now I weigh only 4.75 kg (which is about 10 and a half pounds) and we're not sure yet what my next treatment will be.

It all started a month ago when Uncle Kevin had his birthday on September 24, so Daddy bought him some balloons that I got to play with:

Then Daddy took me to the vet on September 30 after starving me all morning and I wasn't there five minutes before Doctor Peter measured my lump and said it hadn't shrunk any so he didn't want to give me any drugs that day until he investigated some other options so I got to go home! And I was so confused 'cause it made no sense for them to stick me in the cage and take me all the way to the vet and take my weight and then not do anything! But I got to eat lunch when I got home and then I napped on my Kevin pillow:

And since Uncle Kevin got presents, Daddy bought me a present too, which was a toy mouse that I politely ignored.

And on October 7 I got taken back to the oncologist and Dr Peter gave me a new chemo drug called Carboplatin that made me feel wonky for a whole week, and all I felt like doing was sitting in the window:

and sitting in the sun on the stairs:


And on October 14 Daddy took me to the Carlton Vet for the usual blood test a week after chemo, and it turned out OK; and then I started to get my appetite back and for the next week I was feeling pretty good. And I even had a visit from Indiana from next door:

and I started to sit in my uncle Kevin's lap again (and you can see the patch where the doctor shaved me to take a blood test)...

But on the evening of Oct 22 I started feeling weird and was drooling all night for no reason; I think it was because Daddy overfed me with some fish he was eating for dinner, 'cause I threw it up that night. On the next morning I felt back to normal, but then over the next few days I started losing more weight and didn't feel like doing much but sleeping. And when I would climb the stairs, I walked very slowly and sometime lost my balance; and when I would stand up on the arm of the sofa next to Daddy, it would sometimes wobble a little.

So when Daddy took me to the oncologist again on October 28, it was no surprise that my lump had grown some more, and that's why I'm losing weight, because cancer tumors drain all the energy from the rest of the body. So Dr Peter and Daddy talked a little bit about what to do next, and the doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory called Metacam which Daddy has given me every day since then, and my appetite has been really good, and Daddy has been spoiling me with salmon from a can which taste delicious! And Daddy will call the oncologist on Monday to report on how well I'm doing, and maybe they can start giving me pills with low doses of chemo, and I think the idea is that these will target the blood supply of the tumor and get it to shrink that way, although it would happen very slowly, if it works at all. And Daddy is very worried about me because he doesn't like to see me weak and unhappy, but Uncle Kevin keeps telling him that I'm still eating good and I still sit on Daddy's lap each day and purr real loud and I still have lots of life left in me that I can spend showing my Daddy how much I love him.

Tomorrow is October 31 here in Australia, which is Halloween! And even though Aussies don't really celebrate Halloween, it's a very special day for black cats, so I expect to be worshiped!