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!

Chemotherapy has resumed

Well, I was right about the withholding of my food last week 'cause the next morning (which was a Thursday) I got stuffed in my cage and got taken to the vet and they did all sorts of things to me, or maybe I should say, what didn't they do to me? 'Cause first they shaved my belly and did an ultrasound and then they took my blood pressure and then they put little patches on me and did an electrocardiogram, and after all that they gave me chemotherapy! And I had a new doctor this time named Laura since Dr Peter was on vacation, and Laura and nurse Naarah gave me a different chemo drug this time called Mitoxantrone, which they hope will knock me around less than the Doxorubicin did. And they gave me less sedation than they did before, so I didn't feel as goofy this time when I got back home, but I did feel a little weird all the next day.

And here's what I look like after they shaved me in various places for my ultrasound and ECG:

And Laura said that the ECG shows that I have a heart murmur, which might be caused by one of the walls of my heart starting to harden, either with age or as a result of my high blood pressure; but she said the heart murmur wasn't "clinical" so it didn't prevent me from getting chemo again. And for the first few days after my chemo I felt awful and climbed the stairs very slowly and even felt a little dizzy when I got to the top, and I didn't want to eat very much at all, but Daddy and Uncle Kevin did coax me with some people-food like chicken and fish.

On Thursday night I was wide awake and couldn't settle down, and I was kinda the same on Friday, and I kept myself pretty quiet:

And occasionally I would stretch out next to the heater, but still be very quiet:

But on Friday night I crawled into bed with Daddy, which I haven't done for a long time, and I slept next to him the whole night without waking him, which I REALLY haven't done for a long time! But over the weekend I still didn't eat much and wasn't looking very good, and I did vomit twice, so Daddy got the vet to prescribe me some anti-nausea pills called Maxolon, which he was able to pick up on Tuesday, and ever since I took them, I started eating a bit more. And on Wednesday I just wanted to be held so I clung to Uncle Kevin's belly:

And when I wasn't on his belly, I was at the top of the stairs enjoying the sunshine:

And on Thursday morning my Daddy stuffed me in the cage again and took me to the Carlton vet where the doctor weighed me (I was 5.23 kg, which is about 11 and 1/2 pounds) and then she took my blood, but I didn't fuss this time. At least Daddy didn't have to starve me this time! And when I got back home, Daddy took the day off work and I sat on his lap ALL DAY, except for when he fed me more chicken.

And on Friday the vet called to Daddy to say my white blood count was fine, and they also did a test to see if my thyroid was acting up, and the result was negative, so my heart murmur isn't being caused by any thyroid problems. (I remember that my brother Gerald had thyroid problems many years ago and had to have radiation treatment; he was even radioactive for a week afterwards!). And on Friday I started feeling a bit better and I ate more and more hard kibble.

And today was Saturday and I was such a good kitty that Daddy gave more chicken in the evening, and I keep eating hard kibble and wet kibble, and Daddy and Uncle Kevin get more and more happy when they see me eat more and more. And I always drink plenty of water, too:

So tonight I curled up on the Kevin pillow and soaked up all his attention 'cause I'm a good kitty.

And Daddy and Uncle Kevin will watch me closely every day to make sure I'm recovering OK, and I'm due for another chemo treatment on September 30 but I remember Daddy saying he'd like to talk to the oncologist about switching to a different chemo treatment where I take a special chemo pill every day instead of a big intravenous treatment every three weeks; but I'm not sure what that's all about so I'll have to wait and see. In the meantime it's time for my evening nap, so good night all!

Oscar update

It's been a long time since my Daddy updated my blog but that's because he's been enjoying my company and devoting himself so much to spoiling me that he hasn't had any time to type my blog. But I'll try to summarize all the things that have happened to me as best I can.

At the end of July Daddy took me to the Carlton Vet to have me weighed and have a urine test to make sure my kidneys weren't affected by the chemo I had. And I was furious when Daddy put me in the cage:



And I gave my most pitiful yell that sounded like a human child:





And when I finally came home and was let out of my cage I let Daddy have it and led him straight to the kitchen where I knew my wet kibble was hiding in the fridge...




And so he gave me the kibble and after I gobbled it down I made myself comfortable on my heated pad:

And Daddy was concerned that I had lost quite a lot of weight during my chemo, so he decided to give me a rest from it for about two months so I could get my strength back. And I sure liked that idea, so every morning I would wake up Daddy at 3.30 a.m. for my first breakfast and then again at 6.00 a.m. for my second breakfast, and then during the week Uncle Kevin would be home and give me my elevenses after my morning nap, and then my afternoon snack after my afternoon nap, and gradually I gained my weight back:

And every once in a while Indy would come walking through the backyard and I would want to see her:

And it got really COLD in July and August, since that's winter here, and it got so cold that some more MICE started coming into the house. And on August 1, which was a Sunday morning, Uncle Kevin actually caught a mouse in the kitchen, but I slept through the whole thing until I heard the mouse thrashing about inside a plastic fruit container.

And Uncle Kevin sat me down next to the mouse to see if I would be scared of it; and of course I wasn't, and whenever the mouse would run around in the box, I would bat at it with my paw; but if it stood still, I would just stare at it until I was bored with it. And in the end I got bored with it, so Uncle Kevin took it out to the park where he released the other two mice last year, and we haven't been bothered by any mice again since then.

And Daddy and Uncle Kevin had a very busy time in July and August, 'cause at the end of July they went to Sydney for a weekend, and in mid-August they had to fly to Hobart for a weekend; so both times our neighbours Auntie Fiona and Uncle Nick looked after us, and they were great 'cause they SPOILED me, and I especially liked Fiona because she's a girl and I don't have many girls that get to take care of me.

But I know that tomorrow I have to go to the doctor again since Daddy has already started withholding food from me so I can guess that something big is going to happen. So I'll write again after I find out what the very has in store for me.

I've lost some of my whiskers!

The oncologist did say that I might lose my whiskers, and today I've started to lose a couple, and if you look closely at this next picture, you can see that I still have an eyebrow-whisker over my left eye, but I've lost the one over my right:

But I don't mind too much because not having all my whiskers doesn't interfere with my laptime:


And my Daddy took a video of me purring for him:

and a video of me sleeping, and I'm twitching which means I was dreaming about catching those birdies...

Which reminds me that it's time for me to take my afternoon nap...so goodbye for now...

A new Oscar update!

Hello everyone! I haven't had a blog for a long time but you can blame my Daddy for taking so long to write it. It's been three weeks now since I had my third chemotherapy treatment and I'm actually feeling pretty good although I've been losing weight and sometimes I don't have the greatest appetite. The tumor on my leg has really shrunk but three weeks ago when I was at the vet the doctor told us that the nodule inside me next to my abdomen hasn't shrunk at all, although it hasn't grown either. And the doctor said it might be a good idea to give my body a break which is why I didn't get dragged to another chemo treatment today.

On May 23 our neighbors Nick and Fiona gave me a new toy to play with, and a whole twelve days had passed since my first chemo so I was feeling much better and more energetic so I played with the toy a lot:

And in these pictures you can see where the fur on my side had started to grow back after my cat scan:


Then on May 30, the day before my second chemo, I had a surprise visit from Indiana, and we had a conversation through the front door:

Then on June 1 I got scooped up and taken to my second chemo treatment, and yet again they gave me a sedative 'cause I was a real pest and pulled out the tube they tried to put in my paw, and then I pulled out the next tube they tried on a different paw, and after they finally gave me the drugs I stopped fussing, and they were able to put the doxorubicin into my veins. And I was feeling really wonky when I got home and all I could do was stare into space like this:

And I was wide awake for about 24 hours and didn't eat hardly anything and then the next day I took a couple naps and gradually got my appetite back but I didn't have a poo until my third day home and Daddy even called the doctor to find out if it was normal for me not to poo, and shortly after he got off the phone, I pooed. I got better and better, so that by the next week I felt like curling up in Uncle Kevin's lap like this:

And then on a Sunday morning, June 13, Indy came by again and I ran behind the drapes to see her:

and she was there!

And then she went away:


And another week went by and I noticed something scurrying behind the living room chair and it was a mouse! And not only that, he had a friend! And Daddy tried to take a picture of the mice when they hid behind the filing cabinet, and he got a photo of the one, like this:

And then on the morning of Tuesday June 22 I got taken to the vet again for my third chemo treatment and they sedated me again and I felt wonky again; and when I came home my legs were really wobbly and all I could do was lie on my rump and stare into space:

but Daddy bought me a heated pad for me to sit on so I would stay warm (since it was getting VERY COLD in Melbourne now that it's winter). And I got very attached to it:

But I hurt my hip somehow, and even when the sedation wore off, I still had a really bad limp, although that didn't stop me from running down the stairs, like you can see in these videos:

So Daddy took me to the Carlton vet on the Friday and the doctor prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and it was a liquid that Daddy mixed with some ice cream that he gave me as a treat each day for four days, and I felt all better. But I WASN'T thrilled with those mice being in my house, so for the last few weeks I've slept downstairs all night in the living room looking over my domain and making sure those mice don't come back. And Uncle Kevin found a hole at the back of the stove in the kitchen and bunged it up with some steel wool and ever since then the mice haven't come back inside; but Daddy saw a mouse run underneath the front of the house, so there might be rodents living just underneath the floor for all we know!

So it's been over three weeks now since my chemo, and Daddy's letting me have a break from it, since I've lost a lot of weight and he wants me to gain some of it back. He took me to the Carlton Vet again on July 9 and I had a urine test which proves that my kidney disease is stable and hasn't been worsened at all by the chemo; but my weight was only 5.28 kg (that's only 11 and a half pounds), which means I've lost at least a whole kilo since I was first diagnosed with a tumor, and the doctors don't know if that weight loss is because of my disease or the chemo; and even if my appetite has been good in general, the thing about tumors is that they absorb a lot of the energy that we eat, so I could be eating like a pig and still lose weight. So Daddy's taking me to the Essendon airport vet again next Tuesday for an ultrasound to see how the nodules inside me look at the moment.

So, some days I feel really sleepy and all I do is snooze:

And other days I feel perky and beg for people food:

And most evenings I lounge on my heated pad in the living room and sleep with my eyes open:

And sometimes I have a good catnap:

But I'm still here! And I know that my Daddy and Uncle Kevin love me, and they're doing their best to take care of me. I'm so thankful to all the blog readers who have sent me messages of good wishes.