BAD news.

After a year of my same old aloof, snotty, judgemental cuddly beautiful guy back, a month or so ago, he decided he liked dark rooms more. Nothing much, just sleeping a lot which is a good response to the heat. Then a couple of weeks ago his fat belly seemed not to go down after he ate. So today we went to the doc and he has a tumor, literally baseball sized, squeezing his guts and she says there appear to be some nodules on his heart.

In a perfect world, we would go to an oncologist and find it operable and it would all be covered under some research grant.

I fear my pals who helped so much last year are just going to have to know we gave him a really great year, but his timer is going to run out at about 13. How suitable for a black cat.

I have prednisone which may reduce the inflammation and slow it, but from the speed I saw it grow, I don't think he will see Halloween.

SOOOOOOOOOOoooooo sad.....

An Issue.

On the way home they were leaving me a message. The fur ball we pulled out was pinkish and it was not color from kitty treats, it was apparently a bit of blood.

We suspect ulcers. They wanted to inject an anti nausea and some tummy meds. The barfing is about parr for his usual behavior but the blood is not.

Nor is the fur ball. He throws about three a year.

Normally he binges, eats a lot of dry food, tosses it and comes back to it later (if I am not there.) I wonder if it is the actual vomiting or the stress that is causing him to eat then vomit. He was doing it a LOT before we took him in. When the disease kicked back, he was pretty hungry but not really good at telling what he needed. I understand that is a little normal for HyperT - all the systems run in overdrive. Good news it that it is putting on weight.

The question is why blood?

I am going back this afternoon, as I saved up my geiger counted minutes so I have about 20 more. Not at all sure if he is happy to see me or mad that I did this to him. They think he is improving. His attitude is tolerant of them much more that the last few days.

This is trauma. Actually as freaked as I am I really DO believe more for him. What have I gotten myself into!????

The Dude Speaks to His Fans...

The paparazzi sneaked up on him and got a comment for his public.

I am getting a trickle of money in the mail! It appears the fund website is very sticky . . . maybe it is an Arizona thing, but lots of people have said it is hard to donate. If you want to, don't let that stop you! I am putting all cash donation acknowledgments on the fund page as well.

I will take donations at

The Dude c/o Jones

PO Box 994

Scottsdale, AZ 85252-0994

USA

Or just keep clicking!

We thank you

Long Weekend

No news is a slow news day.

The dude has had nothing new to report. He is feeling the humidity like his mom, but staying healthy and putting small amounts of weight on.

When I spoke to the Radiocat lady, she was telling me that if they suspect the kidney issue, he may have to go off his meds for TWO weeks, not just the one.

I am hoping that the bout I had with bad meds does not repeat itself while we are prepping for the cure. If you doctor even MENTIONS shake it, SHAKE IT.....I got a new bottle with some particulate in it. I ASSUMED it was some food coloring or flavor, as they make it in all sorts of tasty treats so pets don't want to sit on your face as you sleep and smother you in revenge.... but it turns out it may have been the meds themselves! For a couple of months I was not shaking and apparently under-dosing him until he got very sick. Two weeks off the stuff would seriously make him a mess.

Meanwhile, I am trying to get a little business so I can PAY for what is not covered in the fund.

Anybody want some really fine Art Prints????

Click in to my Fine Art America store. These reproductions are all very affordable.

Got all the Paperwork.

Waiting is the hard part.

I have all the paperwork. The list of things we have to do before the procedure. The stuff they sent to the doctor.

This is going to be very boring from here on in.


I may have to start remembering stories to tell about the dude. NOW that he is back in good health, he is back to his normal, staring, waiting and sleeping. That is pretty much it!

I will try to snap a good race around the living room next time he tries one. He likes to do laps... across the vertical blinds, various chairs and often into the laundry area.... Try to keep the camera handy.

Amazing Tales...

I left Colorado in 1980, I am pretty sure. Of course I was all grown up and living my own life. Had traveled as a performing puppetteer and missed my 10th high school reunion, so most of my friends were new. All Denver adults, not my Littleton kid friends.

Flashback via Facebook!

The most amazing thing is happening because of my cat!!!

Just this week one of my best high school pals dropped into my fundraising site to help out and tonight, an even more amazing event! My very best girlfriend from Junior High, as I recall, gave me a donation.

I remember being a very odd little girl, I tended to get along better with friend's parents sometimes. Her mother was a little older than mine and I really remember how cool the old music her mom played in the house was! The old movies I loved were stuff we could talk about, much to the dismay of my friend who was learning how to make curls on rollers!

Wow, how a little event on the internet can make your brain FLY back in time.....

Back to your regularly scheduled story......

The dude was boring today. He acted exactly like a cat!

I tried to take some better movies of him on my new cell phone, but he was very dull. Getting fatter and being healthy for the procedure, but his usual boring, staring, unsettling self.

All is well.

The Sacrifice

When you go to the radiation therapy, you are asked to bring something of comfort of the cat that will be destroyed (because it will be radioactive!)

A bit oxymoron, as how hard it is to bring something beloved and comforting that will never be seen again. But this is a no-brainer.

The Dude has NEVER destroyed a stitch of fabric or furniture from his youth (socks - yes, sofas -no) because a sisal scratch post was all I ever got him. This particular configuration has always been a favorite, in fact this is his fourth one.

IF I find another in a pet store, it will be replaced. It has hung along looking worse and worse because I have NOT seen any. A new post-style has been donated by my boyfriend, but actually what the Dude loves is sprawling across it and scratching it while he reclines . . . What a slacker!

Hyper Thyroid.

Long time ago, I heard about this disorder when a former roommate had an old girl with the problem. She was a very grumpy bony little old lady.

I had to treat her with the TRANS DERMAL gel. Morning and evening... first you had to catch her.... then rub the TINIEST amount of Vaseline stuff in her ears. I really had no idea what it was.

Then when the Dude got it, I woke up.

I am going to ramble. I would really appreciate anyone who could do it more clearly, jumping in and giving me some corrections, but here goes:

The thyroid is sort of the gas pedal in the body. It tells all the other systems how fast or slow to run. If it is sending out too little hormone, you get fat, bad slow and bad hair.

If it is too much, everything makes you crazy. Much like me on coffee, hyperthyroid can give a cat upset tummy - it is always hungry, but it burns it up too fast too - intolerance to heat which is bad as I am cheap so I keep the house very warm in the summer. It ramps up the heart, the kidneys . . you name it, it can go hyper! Old cats get it a lot.

The gland that does the work gets whacked out and works too hard. Some of the cells get big and sloppy and take over the whole process. Much like the normal guys in social situations, the fat sloppy hyper cells go amok and the sane ones (notified that there is WAY TOO MUCH thyroid in the system by the pituitary gland) hide from sight, laying low, not wanting to be involved. But they are still there but seriously chilling.

Three ways to treat it are:

By meds. It basically negates all the hormones. My cat is really very easy compared to my old friend. He is not HAPPY but hardly protests and even reminds me to get up and NOT to go to bed too early without his treat (an that ugly thing I shove in his mouth too.) They have pills and plungers and rubs and it is all pretty effective really. The symptoms go way back, the weight goes up and they look real good on the outside. BUT they are not cured. The meds put a lot of wear and tear on these organs too.

Surgery. I guess now that they have micro stuff, it might be better, but a cat is a small body and it needs anesthesia and cutting open and recovery. All that and HOPING they got the right stuff. Lots of cats have other issues and it is always risky working on sick cats or even sick people. This is sort of a last resort and I have heard some sad tales.

RADIATION (spooky music please!)

My vet has recommended Radiocat which is a franchise. It has a procedure that is really amazingly simple with a nearly unbelievable success rate.

Remember back in the Japan earthquake they were giving everyone iodine? Thyroids and iodine have a very wonderful relationship. Our salt had iodine in it as a good thing. Keeping everything regular as it were. Apparently thyroids attract the stuff. The idea was to jam tons on NON radioactive iodine in and fill up the places the bad stuff would go - they are just that tight!

It also seems that the Radioactive stuff is a sizzling hot shot. Where it lands it fries. As with all radioactive stuff it moves fast and dies young. SO the idea is:

Shoot a specific amount of the isotope into the system to have it go home to the tissue that makes the thyroid hormone. As the good guys are quietly hibernating keeping out of the damage caused by the screwed up cells, by the time the I131 had burned the intruders out, the healthy tissue comes back to work in a clear clean environment. Both the iodine and the bad cells are gone. The pituitary notices the levels going back down and calls the normal cells get back to work. With a little settling in everything should be up and running fine in a month or so!

ALL (and I have looked real hard for bad stories) of the info I read on it is really good. The potential damage is so small, and the damage itself is much LESS nasty (hypothyroid... the fat cat?) and much more easy to manage.

Feel free to comment and correct. I have a lot of fun trying to make sense of complicated things so I may be having TOO much fun and not really understanding it.

The called me back and I missed the call, so we will probably NOT get a slot until August. Hopefully that make it PAID IN FULL . . . .

A Little Too Excited.

Short but sweet:

I got in touch with Radiocat, which will be its own post next.

They explained the whole procedure, how it works, what is so right about it and why it is the best idea! I talked to my vet and she will start her end as SOON as we have a schedule from the Radiocat. She is fine with waiting on her end.

Another baby picture. He still kisses me, and still runs like heck after!

The Dude is really doing well enough that he is fighting with me again. And purring SO LOUD it is like another cat. Getting his meds right is a big revelation. With a couple more weeks fattening him up before we have to take him off ALL of his meds for a week before he goes, I hope he doesn't crash, but I have this weird sense that I won't know him when he is healthy! (I wouldn't mind if he stayed aroung 14 pounds - 18 was just embarrassing!)

Thank EVERYONE for their donations, I am overwhelmed with the generosity!