Oscar Update

It's Friday here in Australia and it's been just over 48 hours since I came home from the oncologist, and since then I've been slowly getting back to my routine. Daddy talked to the oncologist yesterday and scheduled my first chemotherapy treatment for Tuesday afternoon, and even though he could have scheduled it right away for today, Daddy wanted me to have a few days to rest at home and enjoy my routine a little more before going back to that hospital AGAIN, and I'm glad he did 'cause it's taken me this long to feel like my normal self again.

On the night that I came home I was really wide awake after all that anesthesia and I caused my Daddy some anxiety when I woke him up at 5.00 a.m. and made him follow me around the house, 'cause first I led him to food dish with the hard kibble, and he gave me some fresh food, but I wouldn't eat it, and then I hopped into the bathtub next to the faucet and he let some water drip for me, but I sat there for three minutes and wouldn't drink, so then Daddy led me downstairs and gave me a wet kibble snack, but I looked at it and wouldn't eat it, and then finally I walked into the living room and showed Daddy the big spot on the floor where I had thrown up and the little spot where I threw up only a little, and Daddy wiped it all up, but he still didn't know what I wanted, so he led me upstairs again, and I hopped into the bathtub, and Daddy let the water drip, but I still wouldn't drink, and he sat there and watched me for five whole minutes while I refused to drink, and finally Daddy led me downstairs again and opened a fresh new can of kibble and I did eat a little bit of that because it was nice and fresh. But Daddy was worried about me because I still hadn't pooed in my litter box even after being home for several hours and having a big dinner; and even after eating this fresh food, I didn't poo. And after a little while I came upstairs and hopped onto Daddy's bed and Daddy gave me a body rub all over and eventually he went back to sleep and I slept at his side for a little while, and when he woke up he found me in the front room in my kitty tree curled up on top, like this:

And Daddy and Uncle Kevin had to leave really early for work, and I ate a little more wet food as they were stepping out the door, but Daddy got worried about me again so he came back to check on me, but I was fine, and he watched me sleep in my kitty tree for another half hour. And I woke up when Uncle Kevin came home after midday and we kept each other company during the afternoon. And when Daddy came home in the evening I ate some more, but I still hadn't pooed. So I spent the evening on my green pillow in the living room and spent some time on the Kevin pillow and tried to get my groove back with my routine.

And this morning I woke up for breakfast then took a morning nap in my basket by the window where the birdies feed while Uncle Kevin worked at his computer, and it felt good:

But I still didn't poo, and it wasn't until 2:30 today--almost 48 hours after I had anesthesia in the hospital--that I finally made a big poo in my litter box, and Uncle Kevin was so happy! And then Daddy came home from work early to see how I was, and he gave me some early dinner, and when I had finished licking my lips I jumped into Kevin's office chair and sat like this:

And Uncle Kevin didn't want to disturb me so he brought Daddy's office chair down from upstairs and sat on that, so he wouldn't have to move me. And Daddy joked that I was re-establishing my dominance over the household, and I said, "What do you mean 're-establishing'? I never lost my dominance over this household! I have always been and always will be the master of this home." And Daddy admitted that I was right.

And I want to thank SO MUCH all the animals and friends from all over the world who sent comments to my blog, so my heartfelt thanks go to Keiko, Kenji & Pricilla (in Adelaide); kittens Fui, Suey and Lishy (in Sydney); Julie and Poppy Q (across the Tasman in New Zealand); Kim with Annie, Nicki, Derry, and "angel" Chumley (Canada); Felix, Kona Kitty, Tiny Johnson, The Baby, Maui, Rupert, Sweet Pea, May Ling, Grayce, Scouty, CC, Salem, and their Mom from the Katnip Lounge (USA); the puppy Suja (also in the USA); Whicky Wuudler and his mates, and Ginger Jasper (all in the U.K.); KC, Missy Blue Eyes, Faith Boomerang, Sol, Smokey, BJ, and their Mom ML (Texas); Rusty, Cyndi, Crystal, Cameron, Cotton, Percy, Merci, Buddy & Samaritan (at Jan’s Funny Farm in Georgia); Junior and Orion (Utah); The Island Cats (Michigan); Zippy, Sadie and Speedy (Wisconsin); puppies Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara (Kansas); Artemisia, Fenris, Socks & Scylla; Cat Mandu; Sparkle the Designer Cat; 'Kaika and the Yosemite cats; and The Cats of Wildcat Woods; and thanks to everyone else I might have missed; and a very special meow of thanks to Huffle Mawson here in Melbourne, who told readers of her blog to visit mine, and who suggested that I ask for ham. The thoughts and purrs of all of you are very helpful and encouraging (especially for my humans) during this time. All of us in my household appreciate it very much.

As I'm writing this, Daddy is cooking a potato-cheese bake in the oven and the smell is driving me crazy! So I might ask for cheese instead of ham.

Back from the oncologist

I'm back from the Melbourne Veterinary Referral Centre after over a day away from home and unfortunately the news is not good, because a chest scan and an MRI showed that the tumor on my back leg is not the only tumor inside me, because I have what they call a "nodule" in my lung and another in my abdomen, and the big tumor on my leg is so big that it's close to my spine so it would be very difficult to remove it without amputating my pelvis and my leg, and Daddy doesn't want to put me through that, so I'll be going back to the specialist vet again next week to talk about chemotherapy treatment or other care for my cancer.

I'm home now and I'm happy to be home and I'm feeling sprightly and active after all the tests I got put through. And it all started on Tuesday morning at 9.00 when Daddy and Uncle Kevin took me to the Melbourne Veterinary Referral Centre at Essendon Airport, and a nice nurse named Naarah took my vitals (including my heartbeat, my breathing rate, and of course that thermometer up my kitty bum!) and it was all normal and she said I was a handsome cat (which I am, of course!), and then a nice doctor named Peter the oncologist came in and felt me all over, especially the tumor on my leg, and I didn't fuss hardly at all, and then he asked Daddy some questions about me. And doctor Peter explained that the tumor I had (what he called a "sarcoma") was likely to be one of two types: either what he called "spontaneous", which older cats like me get sometimes, and no one knows how they begin; or what he called an "injection-site sarcoma," which is common in American cats like me who used to receive rabies injections, and even though I haven't had a rabies shot in nine years, sometimes kitty bodies will react to something in the vaccine many many years after they had the shot. And doctor Peter wasn't sure which type of tumor I had, but injection-site sarcomas are bad and more aggressive; and he said he would get in touch with the pathologist who analysed my biopsy last week and get an opinion on what kind of sarcoma it was, because it might influence the choice of treatment. But meanwhile I should have some tests to see if there were any other signs of cancer inside my body, since a big tumor on the outside of my leg could mean smaller tumors on the inside.

So Daddy authorized the doctors to do a chest scan and then an MRI, which had to be done at the Referral Centre's facility in Glen Waverly (many miles away!), but nurse Naarah said that the Referral Centre staff could transport me; so Daddy left me with the nurses in the Essendon centre around 11.00 and later in the day I was transported to Glen Waverly in their "ambulance" and then they gave me some anesthetic and shaved my belly (so that I look like this):


and they did a chest scan and discovered the lump in my lung, and that changed my prognosis, since having a lump in my lung means that surgery on my leg wouldn't cure all my disease. Then I woke up a bit, and doctor Peter phoned my Daddy and asked if he still wanted an MRI done on me, and Daddy said yes, so they gave me anesthesia again and when I woke up it was too late in the evening to go back to Essendon, so I spent the night at the Glen Waverly centre with a tube in my paw to make sure I had fluids; but I was wide awake and charmed the nurses and meowed every time they walked by me (they had 24-hour nurse care at the Centre). Meanwhile Dr Peter phoned Daddy a couple times about the initial results of the MRI, which showed the condition of my abdomen, and how my leg tumor was so close to my spine; and Daddy made an appointment for 3.30 pm on Wednesday (that was today!) to meet with the surgeon to get the full explanation of my scans. And I spent the morning at Glen Waverly and the ambulance transported me back to Essendon in the early afternoon and I was so excited because I knew I'd get to see my Daddy again! And the nurse who brought me on the ambulance paid me such a complement when she told Naarah, "I want this cat!" because she said I was so well-behaved and friendly, and she loved the color of my eyes. And the nurses put me and my cat carrier inside a big cage, and sometimes I sat in my carrier, and sometimes I curled up in the litter pan they had in the cage (I mean, the pan was just the right size to curl up in!), and I always meowed when someone walked by because I love the attention.

And at 3.30 that nice nurse Naarah brought me into the consulting room, and Daddy and Uncle Kevin were there, and when they opened my carrier I leapt out and wanted to explore the whole room, and a nice doctor named Simon the surgeon came in and explained to Daddy what my scans meant while I ran around and played with Uncle Kevin. And basically Simon the surgeon recommended that Daddy not make me have surgery on my leg tumor, since it would be too aggressive and unlikely to be curative, since I have these two other nodules in my body, and maybe even other things they couldn't detect; and he also said that these results were consistent with the "injection-site sarcoma" that doctor Peter the oncologist had mentioned; so the best course of action would be to go back to doctor Peter and discuss treatments like chemotherapy.

And Daddy and Uncle Kevin brought me home, and the first thing I did is run up the stairs and make a pee in my litter box. And then I asked Daddy to give me some wet kibble, and then I got him to give me hard kibble; and at dinnertime he spoiled me with a fishy treat:


And then Daddy hugged me and confessed that he and Uncle Kevin had spent a lot of time last night crying, and they said they love me and want to make my routine as normal as possible, so I hopped right to it and planted myself on my green pillow:

And while I was there, Daddy gave me a yogurt treat:

And then I sat on my Kevin pillow for a long time:

And I was wide awake most of the evening, just like I was on the night after my biopsy, but now I'm getting sleepy after such an exhausting day. I don't know what the future will bring and I don't know when (or if) I'll start feeling sick, but for now I'm so glad to be back in my home after over 30 hours away in a hospital having tests, and tomorrow when I wake up I'm going to sleep in my basket in the window and watch the birdies gather at birdfeeder. And I want to thank all my furry friends who read my blog and have sent me such kind messages and good wishes; it means a lot to me and especially to my Daddy.

My Results from the Vet

I went to the vet again on Friday because it looked like my stitches were coming apart, but it turns out they weren't; but the results of my biopsy came back and it wasn't the greatest news, because the nurse said that I do have a cancerous tumor which is of the "intermediate" kind, which means that it needs to be removed and that surgery could cure it if the surgeons are able to remove the whole thing; but since they can't do that kind of operation at the vet, Daddy had to make an appointment with a specialist "oncologist" veterinarian (that's a tumor-doctor) for Tuesday morning. And the oncologist has a consulting office in the "Melbourne Veterinary Referral Centre" at Essendon Airport, and they use the same facilities as the Emergency Animal Hospital where my brother Gerald spent his last days all those years ago. So I hope it doesn't bring back bad memories for my Daddy; it shouldn't, since Daddy didn't cry when he went there more recently with Pussy Galore that time that her tail got stepped on.

And I'm trying to convince my Daddy and Uncle Kevin not to worry about me, since there's nothing they can do until I meet with the oncologist; and as for me, I still feel happy and energetic, and I insist on maintaining my daily routine, which includes sitting in the sun on the stairwell:

and eating a yummy treat in the sun:


and watching the birdies:


and sitting on my Kevin pillow in the evening:


So on Tuesday the doctor will have some recommendations about what to do to me next (if anything); and until then, I'm going to enjoy the sunshine:

My return from the vet

I'm back from my ordeal at the vet and I'm SO glad to be home! Last night Daddy didn't feed me any food after 8.00 pm and I spent the whole night beside myself because I was STARVING and I pawed and pawed at Daddy's leg and I jumped up on the sofa and knocked things off the bookshelves to get Daddy's attention and I meowed and I meowed but Daddy wouldn't give me any food. So when Daddy got up this morning and still didn't feed me, I could tell something was up, and at about 9.00 am Uncle Kevin scooped me up and petted me and talked gently to me and he carried me closer to my cat carrier and I said "NO!" and I REFUSED to get inside that carrier, but Uncle Kevin finally managed to shove me in, and we got on the tram and got to the vet, and the nurse wanted to examine me, and this time I REFUSED to LEAVE my carrier, but they pulled me out, and then the nurse poked and prodded me and stuck that stupid thermometer in my bum again, and when she was done I made a beeline for my carrier, and I stayed there for a few hours until they were ready to operate on me. And they gave me some anethesia and I fell asleep and when I woke up I had stitches on my left side and a big patch of shame where they shaved lots of fur, and I had a pink bandage on my front right paw where an IV tube had been. And they gave me a special pain-killer called methadone which was a kind that wouldn't affect my kidneys. And the doctors also gave me some food, and I was starving, so I gobbled down a bunch of wet kibble. And at about 5:oo pm Daddy and Uncle Kevin came to pick me up, and we went home on the tram, and as soon as Daddy opened the door of my carrier, I zoomed straight upstairs and went to my litter box in the bathroom and had a big poo. And then I walked into the front room where I have a smaller litter box, and there I had a big pee, and Daddy was silly enough to take my picture:


And then Daddy gave me a scoop of hard kibble and I helped myself:


And then I noticed that my dish of wet kibble wasn't downstairs, so I meowed and convinced Daddy to give me some wet kibble as well. And then I settled down onto the couch on my green pillow and got back to my routine of evening relaxation:


And I have to go back to the vet in 10 days to have the stitches out. And the vet took out a small chunk of that tumor, about the size of a small lump of sugar, and it will take between three to seven days for it to be analysed, and then they'll know whether I need to come back again and have surgery to remove the whole tumor. But until then all I can do is relax and get myself back to normal...

I have to visit the vet yet again!

I had to go back to the vet again last Wednesday because Daddy noticed a lump growing on my back left leg and he had never noticed this lump before and he would know since he gives me a body rub every night. So Uncle Kevin popped me in my cat carrier on Wednesday morning (since Daddy had to work) and took me to that doctor I saw only a week before, and the doctor took out some electric clippers and shaved over the lump, and then he took a needle and did what he called a "needle biopsy" which meant he stuck a hollow needle into the lump two or three times with a digging motion and tried to catch some of the cells inside the needle; but to my great surprise it didn't hurt at all and I didn't make any fuss. And the doctor said that it's not unusual for older cats to get lumps, and some lumps grow very fast (like this one did!), but it's important to find out what kind of lump it is since some lumps can be very bad if left untreated; but other kinds of lumps can be left untouched. And now I have shame on my side in addition to the shame on my neck, so now I look like this!


And the doctor phoned on Friday with the results and said that the needle biopsy showed "spindle cells" which are cells that can show up in "fatty tumors" which are a kind of tumor that is bad if it's not removed. But the needle biopsy was also inconclusive, so I have to go back to the vet again tomorrow (Wednesday) for a different kind of biopsy where they will give me some anesthesia and then cut a small portion of the tumor out so they can examine it. And then, if it ends up being a bad kind of tumor, I'll have to go back to the vet one more time for surgery. So Daddy is being very strict with me tonight and not allowing me to eat anything after 8.00 pm because I'm not allowed to have a full stomach when they give me anesthesia.

And Daddy and Uncle Kevin are naturally very worried about me, but I keep telling them not to worry about me at all, because I don't feel sick, and I have a healthy appetite and lots of energy and I'm not in any pain, so there's no reason for them to upset themselves about what the doctor might find. As for me, I stick my to daily routine of looking at the birds through the window:

and licking myself in the sun at the top of the stairs:


and examining all the orchids that Uncle Kevin brought inside the house last night:

but I was a VERY good kitty and didn't bother the plants at all. So as a reward I get to sit on the Kevin pillow on the night before my biopsy:

Another Trip to the Vet!!

Daddy took me to the vet last week for a blood test and it was awful! I was sitting in the living room enjoying my morning nap when Daddy scooped me up and petted me all over and tried to make me feel all cuddly but I could tell something was up when I saw my cat carrier on the floor and Daddy stuck me inside and closed the door behind me. But I'm an intelligent cat so I knew this could only mean one thing: the vet! So I pawed at the door and begged to be let out:

And I let out the most miserable yowl I could think of:

And then Daddy thought, "Why don't I take a video of Oscar so I can post it on his blog?" But I said, Forget the camera, Daddy, and get me outta here! Please!

But of course we ended up going to the vet anyway. And the doctor took my blood pressure with that awful machine that pinches the base of my tail; and then he took blood samples from my chin, so he had to SHAVE my chin and then he took two needles' worth of blood while the nurse pinned me down. But I was a good kitty this time and didn't channel Gerald or hiss and fight like I did before (although I did wiggle a lot).
And Daddy put me back in my carrier and set me down in the waiting room in front of a glass cage full of kittens that were up for adoption. And the kittens were adorable! Then the hospital cat, Kofi, who's a tuxedo-cat about eight years old, came up to me to say hello, but I wasn't in the mood to have him gawk at my shame, so I hissed at him.
And when I got back home and Daddy sprung me from my cat carrier, I ran straight to the middle of the living room floor next to my toy mouse and took back ownership of my domain (and you can see a bit of the shame on my chin in this picture):

And later that evening Daddy had chicken for dinner and he rewarded me with a chicken treat for all the vet drama I went through:

And after dinner I prepared for my evening nap on the living room couch (can you see my shame again?):

And since that day, things have gone back to normal. Every morning I take a morning nap in the living room in my basket next to my plant (and I usually sleep, unless some busy-body like Daddy insists on taking my picture):

And if the weather is sunny, at midday I hop upstairs to sit in a sunbeam and watch the rainbows made by the crystals hanging in the window:

And when Daddy and Uncle Kevin come home at night, they give me dinner, and then I have my evening nap on the living room couch:


And Daddy says that the results of my blood tests are that my kidney disease is stable, which is good news, since it means it's not getting any worse, so I can sleep without any worrying dreams.

Another Happy Day at Oscar's House

Yesterday was Maundy Thursday here in Australia, which meant that when Daddy came home, he knew he had a long weekend off (since Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays), which means he can spend all weekend spoiling me. And Uncle Kevin will be home, too, so they can spoil me together! But on Thursday night they weren't paying quite enough attention to me, so I had to remind them of their solemn duty to spoil me whenever they're home, and since Daddy was spending far too much time on the computer at the start of his holiday, I jumped up onto the shelf in Daddy's office, and he thought taking my picture with the flash would encourage me to jump down, but little did he know that my eyes would glow with magic:

And I admit I was a little freaked out by the flash at first, but I refused to be intimidated, because it was my plan all along to tease Daddy into standing up and fetching me...

and when he just kept taking pictures, I politely ignored him:

But he finally took the hint and gave me some kitty kibble; and after all that, I had to clean myself:
And then I camped down on my Kevin pillow (which is Uncle Kevin's lap) for a nice long snooze, and when I woke up, Daddy took these adorable photos:

And then today, which is Good Friday, I spent all day getting Daddy to spoil me, and he did an excellent job. I got lots of kibble, and lots of lap time, and Indiana even came into the backyard for a visit and another contest of yowling. And in the evening I spent over an hour on the Kevin pillow, and I ended the day with a drink of water out of the tub:

So that was my Good Friday. Good, yes?