So it's 96°F outside today. Not good for puppies or for cats, that's for sure. Leo's apparently not too happy today - a little anti-social and grumpy. Bit, on the other hand, is being very social (laying on my hands while I type). Granted, he doesn't have to go outside - which on a day like today, is a good thing.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Best day ever (Part 2400)
The great thing about dogs is that they live for right now. I mean, RIGHT NOW (i just spent way too much time looking for this Far Side cartoon of a bunch of dogs in a lifeboat with a huge bag of food, voting "Who says we should eat all of the food now", and the caption about why dogs don't survive shipwrecks. Couldn't find it. Hilarious. Trust me.) Leo doesn't really know he's sick - i think he knows he didn't feel well (ok, more time on the couch) and now feels better (ok, let's get off the couch!). Friday, June 15, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Leo finishes round 2, Bit starts
Leo finished round 2 of chemo on Saturday - his WBC was up to normal levels, so he did the last of the 4 drug cocktail that should, we hope, put him in remission. Now he has 2 weeks (and then some) off to recover, let his body heal and to let him be a happy Leo. Of course, right now, he's not so much a happy Leo. This last round was tougher on him, and it has taken some of his appetite - and caused some hair to fall out!
Actually, there's both hair falling out (I find it around my house, in little clumps, when he stays here), but it also grows back very slowly. In his initial diagnosis, he had his belly shaved for an ultrasound. It's still rather stubbly, and isn't growing back quickly. He has some bald patches on his legs, as well, and those are staying that way.
More troubling is his lack of energy for food. It's not a true loss of appetite - he grubs, begs, and still eats, but with much less enthusiasm than he had before. Bally is not his favorite thing, anymore - he needs something more than just the tricky-treat ball to keep him going now. I hope his gusto for food returns - or at least his love of Bally. He loved it so much that he used to take it to bed with him - both his bed (allowed) and my bed (not allowed).
Today, Bit started his chemo - Prednisone (well, prednisolone, a better-absorbed breakdown product of prednisone) and Leukoran, a mild, well-tolerated and every-other-day oral chemotherapy drug. Let's hope that does some good, and that it (slowly) gets his tumor(s) to shrink. I had to make a call on what protocol to use, and this seemed like the best for him, given his age, current strength, tumor load, and potential side effects.
See, this was the decision i had to make - IV chemo, powerful oral chemo, or this route (or nothing at all, really). IV chemo was a non-starter - once a week in the office with needles - not this cat. That would have done nothing for his quality of life, and his personality simply does not allow for that sort of vet commitment. With Leo, it's easy - he goes in, they give him chicken, stick him with a few needles, give him more chicken, and he comes out happy. Hell, he likes the people, the car ride, the new neighborhood, all of it, so to him, it's not traumatic. Just putting Bit in his carrier is a whole production, and causes whining, crying, pooping, hissing, and all manner of complaining. The car ride makes him ill, nervous and uncomfortable. The vet office is terrifying, and he doesn't like being restrained, let alone poked and prodded. He's destroyed many an exam room, and the cat has been politely un-invited from several of the vets in Brooklyn (for real - he was asked not to come back un-anesthetized to several vets. When I say he's bad, he's bad).
The powerful oral chemo was probably the most aggressive possible treatment, but there was one bad side effect - if it worked really well, it was going to kill him. Because the tumor on his colon is rather large and involved, if it were affected too quickly, his colon could lose containment, causing waste to leak (in large amounts) into his abdomen. This would quickly lead to sepsis, and then death, with essentially nothing I could do about it. The Leukeran, while still chemo, is much milder - so much so it may not actually do anything to the tumor- but it will not kill him. The action is much slower, so that as the tumor is (hopefully) destroyed, his colon will have a chance to heal, maintaining it's integrity. Of course, if it is not effective, the tumor could cause his colon to rupture... So it's really a question of how to approach this. The prednisone/nisolonononone will definitely have some effect on the tumor, shrinking it some. Hopefully, with some luck, the Leukeran will do it's thing, and his tumor load will, for a time, decrease. And it's well tolerated, which is important. So while the most aggresive things (surgery, IV chemo) aren't being done, what is being done is best for his quality of life. Again, that sucky phrase.
Although my quality of life is going to seriously suffer. This cat becomes a monster on prednisone - the appetite, the thirst, the activity. But if that's what it takes to get a year of Bitter, well, i'm on board.
Also, anyone need a website?
Actually, there's both hair falling out (I find it around my house, in little clumps, when he stays here), but it also grows back very slowly. In his initial diagnosis, he had his belly shaved for an ultrasound. It's still rather stubbly, and isn't growing back quickly. He has some bald patches on his legs, as well, and those are staying that way.
More troubling is his lack of energy for food. It's not a true loss of appetite - he grubs, begs, and still eats, but with much less enthusiasm than he had before. Bally is not his favorite thing, anymore - he needs something more than just the tricky-treat ball to keep him going now. I hope his gusto for food returns - or at least his love of Bally. He loved it so much that he used to take it to bed with him - both his bed (allowed) and my bed (not allowed).
Today, Bit started his chemo - Prednisone (well, prednisolone, a better-absorbed breakdown product of prednisone) and Leukoran, a mild, well-tolerated and every-other-day oral chemotherapy drug. Let's hope that does some good, and that it (slowly) gets his tumor(s) to shrink. I had to make a call on what protocol to use, and this seemed like the best for him, given his age, current strength, tumor load, and potential side effects.
See, this was the decision i had to make - IV chemo, powerful oral chemo, or this route (or nothing at all, really). IV chemo was a non-starter - once a week in the office with needles - not this cat. That would have done nothing for his quality of life, and his personality simply does not allow for that sort of vet commitment. With Leo, it's easy - he goes in, they give him chicken, stick him with a few needles, give him more chicken, and he comes out happy. Hell, he likes the people, the car ride, the new neighborhood, all of it, so to him, it's not traumatic. Just putting Bit in his carrier is a whole production, and causes whining, crying, pooping, hissing, and all manner of complaining. The car ride makes him ill, nervous and uncomfortable. The vet office is terrifying, and he doesn't like being restrained, let alone poked and prodded. He's destroyed many an exam room, and the cat has been politely un-invited from several of the vets in Brooklyn (for real - he was asked not to come back un-anesthetized to several vets. When I say he's bad, he's bad).
The powerful oral chemo was probably the most aggressive possible treatment, but there was one bad side effect - if it worked really well, it was going to kill him. Because the tumor on his colon is rather large and involved, if it were affected too quickly, his colon could lose containment, causing waste to leak (in large amounts) into his abdomen. This would quickly lead to sepsis, and then death, with essentially nothing I could do about it. The Leukeran, while still chemo, is much milder - so much so it may not actually do anything to the tumor- but it will not kill him. The action is much slower, so that as the tumor is (hopefully) destroyed, his colon will have a chance to heal, maintaining it's integrity. Of course, if it is not effective, the tumor could cause his colon to rupture... So it's really a question of how to approach this. The prednisone/nisolonononone will definitely have some effect on the tumor, shrinking it some. Hopefully, with some luck, the Leukeran will do it's thing, and his tumor load will, for a time, decrease. And it's well tolerated, which is important. So while the most aggresive things (surgery, IV chemo) aren't being done, what is being done is best for his quality of life. Again, that sucky phrase.
Although my quality of life is going to seriously suffer. This cat becomes a monster on prednisone - the appetite, the thirst, the activity. But if that's what it takes to get a year of Bitter, well, i'm on board.
Also, anyone need a website?
Friday, June 8, 2012
The cat
Leo isn't the only furry one that's around. There's another dog, Luna:
Luna is a nut. She marches to her own band - not just a drummer. She's slightly agoraphobic, loves cats, and doesn't like food. So, yeah. She's also 12 and, while a complete lunatic, healthy.
Then there is the cat, Bitter. Bitter is also 12-ish (dunno, got him when he was about a year and a half in the summer of 2001).
Bit used to be fat, lazy, and angry. Recently, he's become skinny, lazy and angry. Over the past 6 weeks or so, his weight loss, lack of eating, and digestive issues have become a problem. He, too, had an elevated white blood cell count as well (which Leo had, initially). 3 courses of antibiotics, some x-rays and a bit of sedation later (he doesn't do the vet well, among other things), and no changes. So, back to VERG (we're they're best customers) and some more tests. And then the news came - Bit has cancer, too. He has a tumor on his colon, and it may have started to spread.
This has been hard to take. First, knowing that Leo is sick. Then finding out that Bit, my little angry one, is terminal - it's been a difficult week. Bit isn't a candidate for chemo, since he's rather "fractious" and tends to bite, scratch, scream, poop, pee, and destroy things when the vet tries to take blood, let alone injecting drugs. He simply can't do it, personality-wise, and it's probably too far along to really help. So it's quality-of-life time for the angry one.
And that sucks. Quality Of Life. Living through that applied to humans, it's a euphemism for a painless (relatively, anyway) death in fairly short order. My boy only has a little time left. And that's hard to take. He's sat on my hands for all of my grad school papers, been with me through some very tough times and has kept me sane when I didn't think I would be able. Yeah, he's a cat - a solitary hunter who uses people as a means to get food. But when he sits on my legs, paws on me, and falls asleep purring, you tell me that I'm just a lunchbox.
Although I'm still convinced that he checks to see if I'm breathing while I sleep to see if he can eat me yet.
Bit used to be fat, lazy, and angry. Recently, he's become skinny, lazy and angry. Over the past 6 weeks or so, his weight loss, lack of eating, and digestive issues have become a problem. He, too, had an elevated white blood cell count as well (which Leo had, initially). 3 courses of antibiotics, some x-rays and a bit of sedation later (he doesn't do the vet well, among other things), and no changes. So, back to VERG (we're they're best customers) and some more tests. And then the news came - Bit has cancer, too. He has a tumor on his colon, and it may have started to spread.
This has been hard to take. First, knowing that Leo is sick. Then finding out that Bit, my little angry one, is terminal - it's been a difficult week. Bit isn't a candidate for chemo, since he's rather "fractious" and tends to bite, scratch, scream, poop, pee, and destroy things when the vet tries to take blood, let alone injecting drugs. He simply can't do it, personality-wise, and it's probably too far along to really help. So it's quality-of-life time for the angry one.
And that sucks. Quality Of Life. Living through that applied to humans, it's a euphemism for a painless (relatively, anyway) death in fairly short order. My boy only has a little time left. And that's hard to take. He's sat on my hands for all of my grad school papers, been with me through some very tough times and has kept me sane when I didn't think I would be able. Yeah, he's a cat - a solitary hunter who uses people as a means to get food. But when he sits on my legs, paws on me, and falls asleep purring, you tell me that I'm just a lunchbox.
Although I'm still convinced that he checks to see if I'm breathing while I sleep to see if he can eat me yet.
Round 2 - a slight setback
So now we're in round 2 of chemo, and Leo's been happy and healthy. Which is great! He's responded well and his bloodwork looked good. In fact, we were almost done with the second round chemo - the same as the first round, again.
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