Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 12: Intestinal Romulans

In every galactic journey, there are bound to be some alien perils. I found some this week. They are not visible, but they have a very bad effect on feline bodies.

They make me nauseous, and I will not eat. Nothing that Mom has offered me will pass my lips. Not my favorite flavors of Fancy Feast or any of the gourmet cat foods she could find. Not human salmon, not sardines. Not even that old fall-back, Gerber's turkey baby food.

She has been feeding me with a syringe. Yuck! Forced to eat to stay alive! She has also been forcing me to take nasty medicine to calm my stomach and stop my nausea. Yuck! Yick! When I am better, I will take my revenge on her.

I am, however, drinking a bit of water and milk. Mom says if I stop doing that, I will have to start getting fluids under my skin and go to the vet to get a feeding tube.

I could use some help to eject these evil Romulans, friends.

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 11: I miss my whiskers

The vet promised that my fur wouldn't fall out, but he did say there was a risk of whisker loss.

Sigh. My lovely, long, white kitty whiskers are looking very sparse. I have two eyebrow whiskers on one side and three on the other, and only ONE muzzle whisker. A friend of Mom's asked her if that's affecting my balance or anything (she'd heard that cats' whiskers are like a sixth sense). It doesn't seem to.

But it makes my face look sort of ... bald. Mom says I'm still a very beautiful girl, but I want my whiskers back!

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 10

Will I EVER get through the induction phase of this chemotherapy? Once again, I had to skip a session because of too-low white blood cell counts. It would have been the last of the eight-week induction phase, and we're already into Week 14.

I'm still doing good, though. Still eating well (I gained six ounces in a month!), and loving life. I get whatever I want. Milk in the morning (in my own dish, even -- don't have to wait for Dad's cereal leftovers). Snackies any time I want them. Lots of pats and snuggles.

I do have to take medicine, though. Vitamins and now famotadine, for stomach acid. I have some digestive issues, and the doctor says it's because the chemo drugs zero in on rapidly dividing cells, like cancer, but unfortunately also like the cells that line the digestive tract.

I want to thank all my friends for their good wishes, and especially A Nony Mouse, who sent me another POTP this week (they're working!)

A Nonny Mouse?

I got a Power of the Paw giftie from A Nonny Mouse. Can't really be a mouse. I don't know of any mousies who would give me a present. I'm not really on good terms with the whole species.

Gotta be A Nonny Kitty. Whoever it was, thank you very much!!

Onyx

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 9

Hit another meteor storm on this journey. The dipstick showed my white blood was low again, so no chemo yesterday. Mom is doubling the dose of vitamin goop.

Also, I've become a picky eater again, just nibbling instead of chowing down, which is my normal eating habit. So I got another one of those appetite kick-start pills. It worked, but a little less well this time.

Mom says there's another kind of appetite booster, and she may alternate them.

But I have gained a little weight in the last few weeks. Up to 11 pounds now.

Still feeling and looking good. Alert, not lethargic, and the purr motor is working extremely well.

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 8

Wow, I'm behind on my captain's log. The graphics card in Mom's computer went on the blitz, and it took Dad a while to replace it. I have now had five chemo treatments, and have three more to go in the induction phase. Tomorrow is Chemo No. 6.

I'm doing pretty OK, although I wasn't very hungry after my last chemo. I'd run to the food dishes with my sibs at mealtime, but when I got there it just didn't look good to me. I took a nibble or two and then wandered away. This upset Mom no end, because she knows that kitties HAVE to eat. Diets are one thing, but fasts are out.

So she gave me a little pill that the vet gave her. I don't like to take pills, but she used a trick that one of the members of the Yahoo lymphoma site suggested. She popped the pill as far back in my mouth as she could, then she gently held my mouth closed while she kissed me right on my NOSE! I swallowed the pill right away. And she followed that up with a dropper of water and the same kissy-nose trick, just to make sure.

Well, in about 15 minutes I was STARVING!! I ate a half-jar of strained turkey baby food, and cried until she gave me the other half. I wanted more, but she made me wait an hour before she gave me a whole can of Fancy Feast to myself. Elegant Medley, my favorite. Yum. Gobbled that up, too.

It's clear that we Lymphoma Kitties are very special. My siblings haven't quite come to terms with that. They don't understand why I get late-night snacks and get to lap up milk at breakfast time without waiting for the peeps to finish their cereal. I get my own bowl!

Well, tough stuff, sibs. This is MY time!

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 7

Well, diary, my female peep was confused again (as usual), and it turned out I had to go to the vet again yesterday for another chemo treatment. See, she thought that since I'd gone in four times, I got a week off. But the vet said that the first two trips were only four days apart, and counted as one visit even though I got two kinds of chemo.

But I got the last laugh on the vet, because he couldn't give me any chemo yesterday. Something about my white blood being too low. I didn't know I had any white blood. It always looks red when the vampire techs suck it out.

So instead I came home with a bottle of vile stuff called Hi-Vita Drops. It is a black sticky liquid and the peeps said it smells like marmite, which they ate once in England. They are welcome to it. Blech.

And I gotta go back on Thursday. I'm keeping an eye on my stocking, which is hanging on the fireplace mantle. It had better be stuffed full this year. I've been very, very good, Santy Claws!!

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 7

Well, diary, my female peep was confused again (as usual), and it turned out I had to go to the vet again yesterday for another chemo treatment. See, she thought that since I'd gone in four times, I got a week off. But the vet said that the first two trips were only four days apart, and counted as one visit even though I got two kinds of chemo.

But I got the last laugh on the vet, because he couldn't give me any chemo yesterday. Something about my white blood being too low. I didn't know I had any white blood. It always looks red when the vampire techs suck it out.

So instead I came home with a bottle of vile stuff called Hi-Vita Drops. It is a black sticky liquid and the peeps said it smells like marmite, which they ate once in England. They are welcome to it. Blech.

And I gotta go back on Thursday. I'm keeping an eye on my stocking, which is hanging on the fireplace mantle. It had better be stuffed full this year. I've been very, very good, Santy Claws!!

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 6

I have finished the first half of the induction phase of my chemo (four weeks on, one week off, then another four weeks on).

So I don't have to go to the vet for two whole weeks! Yay!

I am doing very well, In fact, I feel excellent! I run to greet Mom at the door at night, which I haven't done for a long time. She thinks it's because I have the munchies from the prednisone and can't wait for some food to be put down. Whatever, Mom. Don't question the good stuff!

I want to thank everybody for their continuing purrs. Very powerful medicine!

Lymphoma Journey, Star Date 5

I had my third chemo treatment yesterday. This one was sigh-clo-foz-fuh-mide. I got the right Ugg boot to match my left Ugg boot. I threw up a couple of times last week, and Mom was concerned. But I'm still eating fine, so the vet said not to worry. If it gets worse, he will give me something for nausea.

When Dad picked me up after the treatment, the receptionist said I was a very vocal cat. Huh? he thought. Onyx? I'm not usually a talker. That's Jasper's and Vicki's job.

But then he heard me in the back. YeeeOOOOWWWWWW! WOW WOW ROW! MMMMERRRROUWWWWW! When the tech brought me out in my carrier, I stopped yowling and started purring and rubbing the sides of my carrier.

And when I got home, I made for the food dish at a fast trot. Nothing like home food. Hospital food, yuck.