Chemo Treatment Number 5

The four worse words in the English language are "despite our best efforts." You hear these words all the time on TV, and I have been preparing for these words since Kitty's diagnoses..........you can't prepare! No matter how you try, you can't prepare! It wasn't all bad news, but the doctor did use those words today. It is mainly because Kitty isn't eating like we would all like. She did gain back .2 pounds but I have to keep her on the appetite stimulator and it's still a struggle to get her to eat. The doctor said that it could be and here come those words, that despite our best efforts the Cancer is smarter than we are. I had a complete breakdown because despite my efforts I wasn't ready to hear this. They checked her blood and.....here comes the good news! Here blood counts almost doubled. The Cancer may be smart, but my baby is tough and she is giving it everything she has! They went ahead and started the protocol they have been striving for. They gave her the big guns today! They had to give her an anti-nauseous drug because it make her pretty sick, which sucks when she is already struggling with eating, but hopefully this work! I have to give her yet another pill, twice a day, but...........she's alive and she is not in pain. It's all I can ask for!

Chemo Treatment Number 4

Well, we had another set back today. Kitty lost another .8 lb. I stopped giving her the appetite stimulator because I thought she was eating okay but I guess not good enough. Her blood count is still a little low and they found another small mass which means she is not in total remission, which they were hoping to reach by now. They tried a new drug today that is administered into the muscle called Elspar. Hopefully that will kick this stupid caner into remission. I was really feeling defeated when they took her back to do the ultrasound and confirm they had felt another mass. I saw a poem they have on the wall and it says:

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love.

It cannot shatter hope.

It cannot corrode faith.

It cannot eat away peace.

It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship.

It cannot shut out memories.

It cannot silence courage.

It cannot invade the soul.

It cannot reduce eternal life.

It cannot quench the Spirit.

This rang really true for me. No matter what happens, My love for Kitty will live on. I will continue hoping until she is gone, I will have faith in her healers that they are doing their best work, I will carry the peace of knowing I am giving her the chance to live, I will remain confident that I am doing the right thing, Kitty will still be my companion and I will still have the friends who have supported me through this, I will ALWAYS have my memories of my baby, Kitty will fight with courage, Kitty will still have her beautiful soul, When she leaves, her life will become spiritual and eternal, her Spirit will always be with me.


Send positive thoughts and prayers if you pray to my baby please! She needs all the help she can get right now!

Chemo Treatment Number 3

So, Kitty had her 3rd treatment and check up today. She has gained half a pound back! The doctor and I are both VERY happy about that! Since her white blood cell count was down last week the doctor decided to only give her one medication instead of two because sometimes the Vinicristine can lower the white blood cell count. Her white cell count was still down today so they will only give her the one medicine again next week and see how she responds to that. I am so happy she is doing better! I don't want to get my hopes too up, but we are on the hill going back up! Let's hope that she continues climbing!

Doing a little better!

I just thought I would give a quick update before I start on my homework. The doctor told me to give Kitty the appetite stimulator that they gave her after surgery. I gave it to her Wednesday night and she has been eating much better! She still isn't as spunky as she usually is, but her eyes look better and she is starting to do some of her normal silly stuff like, cramming herself into the box of bottled water with the bottles of water in it, yelling at us if the door she wants opened is closed, and things like that. I don't want to get to excited yet, but I am really, really happy she is eating. Keep your fingers crossed that when I take her to get her chemo Monday that she has gained weight and the white blood cell count is up! Thats all for now, I will update after chemo Monday!

Well, Kitty still isn't eating much. I made her some orange roughy fish and she wouldn't eat it either. She has had little bits of wet food here and there. She just vomited a little. I'm just beside myself! Looks like another night of worrying and no sleep. My poor baby, she is being so lovey and I just can't make her better. This sucks! I hate cancer!

2nd chemo treatment

So, Kitty had her 2nd round of Chemo today. Aunt Brenda took her because I had client visits at work. She lost another half pound and the doctor is a worried about that. She really hasn't been eating like she use to, and the doctor said to try whatever it takes so I went and bought her two different dry foods and different wet food for her to try. If she loses more weight we will probably have to change her treatment plan which I don't want because she is getting the best treatment right now. Her white blood cell count is lower than they would like it to be but the doctor said she isn't worried about that yet. I however am very worried because if we have to change her treatment and her cell count is already low, what will that mean for her long term outlook? I have to admit I am feeling pretty defeated today and it is really hard to keep the tears back. This is a total roller coaster! One day, the outlook is pretty good, and I am feeling good about the outlook and then in one day, I hit bottom and am in fear that I will lose my baby any day! She seems really lethargic and down tonight but it could be the stress of going to the vet and getting chemo again. She really hates going and get's very worked up. I am definitely taking her to the next appt. because I want to talk to the doctor. I hope next week goes better, I am going to be a nervous wreck until Monday now. Keep Kitty in your thoughts please, my baby needs all the good energy she can get!

How is reintroduction going?

Well, it wasn't horrible........as long as I kept myself between Kitty and Jazzmine. If Kitty got anywhere near her she started hissing like a maniac. Nothing will wake you up quicker than a cat standing over you hissing, especially as loud as my little old lady Jazzmine. Kitty finally ended up sleeping on one of her scratching posts. We will see what happens tonight. Not sure where Jazzy will want to sleep. I sure hope she stops this nonsense soon! Well, off to cram a pill down poor kitty's throat and to see where everyone wants to end up for the night! Until the next post................

Re-introduction

Okay, so I am going to try to let Jazzmine back into our room tonight. Kitty is laying on the floor next to the bed instead of in the bed like she has been but she seems okay there. Jazz seems very happy to be back in our room, she was all over me. I feel bad having banished her but I had to give Kitty as much peace as possible when she had just had surgery. The emotional part of this has been really tough! Hopefully everyone will get along tonight and we can have another piece of our new normal routine in place. We shall see what the night holds!

Here is a pic of a happy Jazzmine!

So, I forgot to mention something pretty funny! Kitty has always been able to say "ow", "no", and "mom", but the other day when we were trying to wrap her up she actually yelled at my sister by name! She said "Brenda!" I kid you not; I wish I would have had the camera running for that, because it was funny!

Anyway, Kitty seems to be doing pretty good today! The chemo doesn't seem to be affecting her too much so that is good! That's about it for now, I'll post more later.

Chemo Day 1

So I took Kitty to get her sutures out today and to talk with the Oncologist about Kitty's treatment. When we got their they decided to go ahead and start her treatment. Her surgeon thought they would wait a week or two but the sooner the better I guess! It looks like I will have to take her in once a week for about 6-7 weeks for a 45 min. chemo session for now. She will also be on prednisone for about a month in pill form, which is loads of fun! After the initial treatment the Oncologist will decide what if any more treatment Kitty needs. I will post a bit more on this later, but if you ever have to go through this, be prepared for a hefty bill! Anyway, Kitty is VERY happy to have her sutures out and the wrap off her body, and she seemed to take the first chemo treatment pretty well. Jazzmine is still hissing at her so I am still separating them at night. I don't quite know what that is all about so I will have to do some research on that. Anyway, here are some funny pix of Kitty at the vet today. She was climbing around on the computer and checking everything out. I think she was trying to see how she could get out, poor baby!

Kitty Getting her Medicine 2

This is the 2nd part of Kitty getting her meds. Shows her fiesty side a little more.

Kitty Getting her Medicine 1

This is what I go through withKitty every time we do medicine.

Day/Night 10 Thursday August 12

Just a quick update. Kitty's wrap worked it's way half way up her belly so the majority of her sutures were showing when I got home. I didn't have enough wrap to do a full re-do so I just added on and re wrapped the bottom and then wrapped a cloth around her and safety pinned that around her. Hopefully that will last till tomorrow. It looks to me like her surgical wound isn't as healed as it should be for 9 days after surgery. It looks to me like it is splitting a little. My sister says no, but I'm a little concerned. I will just have to keep an eye on it. I sure hope they don't have to put more in on Monday, I want her to be done with the sutures! Jazzmine is still hissing at Kitty, so she will be banished yet another night from our room. I can't wait until this part is over. It is exhausting! I wake up every time I hear her move, I am stressed out from the guilt of kicking poor Jazz out, which isn't helping any. But, both of my baby are alive and home so I am grateful for that! Well, goodnight all!

Kitty's Home!!!

On the way home. Let me out!!!!

Finally! Fresh air!

I got Kitty a dog bed since she can't jump yet.

Kitty in the ER

Poor baby in the ER with her little IV

Here is Kitty the night I took her to the ER with a temp of 105.

After surgery with her tummy drain. She hated that thing!

Getting Caught Up

Okay, so I mostly have you all updated to the trials and tribulations of Kitty. There are of course a few more little mishaps like when I had to give her a pill on Monday and it took at least 4 tries with peanut butter to get it down her. At least I think she got it down, I never did find it........who knew cats could spit pills so far! I think she must be part camel! Anyway, we did get the results back from her biopsy. Kitty has Lymphoma Cancer. There is no cure for Lymphoma so the best we will be able to do is make her as comfortable as possible and prolong her life as long as she is not suffering. From what the doctor said, we should be able to keep it from spreading for 10-12 months. After that, it is out of our hands. I will know more after our appointment with Oncology on Monday. Hopefully her strong will and character will keep the cancer from spreading and we will still have many good years. In the mean time, I am going to research alternative options, and consider any and all advice I get. I may not utilize it, but I will listen and pass on anything I learn here. Maybe I can help others going through similar issues and maybe I can get some help too! I am going to remain positive, and continue to help my baby fight for her life! I know I will have bad days, and I know there will be a lot of tears, but I will not give up on her! I took on the responsibility of being her mom so I owe it to her, to give her every opportunity to live the longest, happiest life she can!


As soon as I figure out how to get pix off my camera and on to my computer I will post some pix of Kitty at the hospital and during her recovery. I will be relying on my friend Genn to help me out with that. I will also start posting some of the notes I have come home to from Kitty. (I'll explain how that works later!) :)

The journey continues

So, we left off with Kitty coming home on Saturday August 7, 2010. She was so happy to be home and I was so relieved to have her with me. Now at least I didn't have to worry about her being in a cage at the hospital wondering why I was being so mean. She had a bandage wrapped around her belly that the Dr. said had to stay on for 24 hours since she had new sutures put in that morning. I was given two liquid medications to give her orally, twice a day and one pill to give her every three days if needed to stimulate her appetite. I knew medicine time wouldn't be fun, but I wasn't prepared to go to war, just to give an 11 pound cat two syringes of medication. I'll tell you what, for a sick cat who just had surgery, Kitty proved to be pretty darn strong! The first night, I think I wore more of it than we got down her, but I did my best! I took the bandage off Kitty on Sunday and before I could even move she had proceeded to almost rip out one of her sutures. Off I went to the store to find surgical wrap to try and re-wrap the cat! The first go round did not go so well. I tried to cover her sutures with gauze before wrapping her and ended up with gauze sticking out everywhere and her wrap looked like a drunk person did it. Round two went a little better because we used an ace bandage but that tended to stretch out and my smart little girl was able to roll it down and uncover her sutures, which she again tried to rip out. By now we are at Tuesday and I get a call from home that Kitty is being unbearable because she can now get to her sutures and will not leave them alone. So, I take an early lunch, go buy gauze and my niece meets me at the house and we try again. This time we don't get it tight enough but we are getting better. My sister and I have another go Tuesday night and we get her wrapped pretty good! So far so good, we haven't lost any sutures!
On Saturday when I got Kitty home we discovered another problem. Her sister (my 20 year cat) decided she no longer knew who Kitty was since she smelled like the hospital and proceeded to hiss at her if Kitty even entered the same room as her. Well........considering we all sleep in the same bed, this could be a problem, which it was. I thought maybe Jazzmine would get over it and realize it was Kitty. No such luck! Kitty has now been home for 5 days and Jazzmine is still hissing at her. Needless to say, I have had to banish poor Jazzmine from her room and set her up in another room so Kitty can get her rest and heal. Jazzmine, who has been with me for 20 years, now hates me and thinks I am the worse mom ever! Hopefully she will forgive me when I am able to let her back in. (will post more in a bit)

Meet Kitty

So, I decided to start a blog because Kitty and I are about to be faced with some really tough times. I thought blogging might help me and maybe even others going through similar things with their furry babies. I know not everyone understands those of us who consider our "pets" our children......but, this blog is not meant for those people.

So, a little background on Kitty. Kitty came into my life about 8 (ish) years ago. My niece rescued her from a college campus as an abandoned and starving young cat. She brought her home and I took care of the shots, spaying......the fun stuff, and after a lot of work getting her and my old lady Jazzmine (who will be 20 in february) to get along; Kitty had settled in as part of the family. When my niece moved out, I told her Kitty was part of me and Jazz's family and she couldn't take her. I think she was a little irritated at first, but came around when she realized how happy our little family was. Fast forward to the present and you will see why I have started this blog. Last Tuesday Aug 3, 2010 I came home to find a very different Kitty than I am use to. She was laying downstairs, looking sad and not running to greet me like normal. I tried coaxing her to come upstairs or come see me and she had no interest. I tried to pick her up and was greeted with a growl.......something was definitely wrong with my baby. My sister and I took her to the ER and her temp was a frightening 105.9. They wanted to keep her but she is very skittish and I knew she wouldn't do well. I stayed there until 1:30am while they got her temp down. I Took her home, didn't sleep and called my regular vet 1st thing on Wednesday. They got her in at 10:00 and her temp was back up to 104. She was showing signs of pain in the abdomen and the vet felt I needed to get her to the hospital/specialist ASAP. They were able to see her at 2 that day and I took her in and they ran a host of tests and determined that she needed immediate surgery to repair a perforated intestine and they informed me that she more than likely had Cancer. Needless to say I was devastated and my whole world was turned upside down. They gave me a tour of the facility; showed me where she would have surgery, where she would be monitored after, and where she would recover for the next 2-3 days. I couldn't believe this was happening and that I was going to have to leave her. The next three days were really hard. I visited her during lunch and after work every day. It was so hard to see her like that and have her look at me, like "why are you leaving me here? Why don't you take me home?" I cried every time I went to see her and every time I talked about it. The hospital staff was wonderful and the doctor called me with an update every morning. On Friday morning she told me Kitty was a little feisty which was a good sign..........mild understatement. When I showed up Friday evening Kitty had a Will Bolt sign, a Muzzle sign, and a Caution sign on her kennel. In addition she had a privacy screen over the door to her cage to minimize her exposure to the goings on of the busy recovery room. The poor tech caring for her that day proceeded to tell me that poor Kitty had a bad morning and when she was trying to give her the morning meds, she scratched, bit, and peed on her. She said, "it was so bizarre! One minute she was fine and the next it was like demons took over!" Yep! That's my girl! I told Kitty, well you are maintaining your bad ass attitude! I finally got to take her home on Saturday morning and then the fun really began.............. (to be continued)