Two More Days to Watch. . .

It was another very normal day!

I will say he is getting much more pushy. I have a lot of canned food, and treats and whatever I think he will eat. He has been begging cheese and I have been allowing every whim. He does not look as robust as when we took him off the meds, but every day closer, I am so grateful that he is not ill.

He did do one very weird thing...

He likes to lie on my chest while I recline on the sofa. When he wants to go he is obliged to pat my cheek and give me a real kiss. ONE good lick at least. And he knows it.

Some of his love pats have been a little sharp so I grabbed the clippers and thought I would be smart and just take the edges off.

Normally he bites a bit when he is fed up. This time he did a very odd threat (I WILL NEVER get it on camera but it is odd...) like about to hiss but didn't. Then kept his mouth open.

What is that????

Like "I CAN. . . really I can bite your face off so stop. . . Really! . ."

It was disconcerting and I allowed him to leave.

I say it is weird because it was a bit like he just didn't have the energy to follow through. He jumped off just fine, but I sort of wondered if he was maybe even a little dehydrated. Never stared into his wide open mouth that long! And he did it twice!

We shall see what tomorrow brings.

HEEBIES!

I was watching the Dude, and absolutely thrilled that he was not looking uncomfortable, did not throw up last night and really seems so good, if a little skinnier than I hoped, when tonight I saw the first sign of his heebie jeebies return...

He was kicking his feet, which he was doing a little, but the foot fight was a definite FULL BLOWN symptom... and today he did his little backflip, that starts this older video off...

BUT he is quiet, doesn't yell or hiss at me. He eats his food and his extra wet food.

WE ARE SO CLOSE and I am really happy to see him not getting sick!

Yawning Welcome Home...

We had a couple of nights apart and the Dude... well....

Ever the exciting one, was not too impressed.

I did find a little more vomit trails (he had the habit of cleaning up after these things . . . GROSS!) but food was eaten well, water was consumed somewhat normally.

A little loose stool in the cat box and he is starting to be grumpy. He boxes me a bit more and does not want me to pet him - even after the long separation. I do see a little of the heebie jeebies starting.

He fights his feet, but still silently. I used to have him sit on me and purr and suddenly get a little wild eyed, go silent and run to the floor to hiss and chase his tail. I have had a couple of un warranted hisses in the last week. A lot more foot biting, but no real out right crazy spells.

I can see his personality getting a little different. He is more alert. As I mentioned, I figure it may be going off the medication, not having the disease re-appear. The symptoms are that his more lethargic and detatched attitude since he got back to normal, is going. He LIKES to chase the treats. For a while he would sort of watch and decide if he felt like the reward was good enough.

This morning, he is still a lot more away. More talky than lately and a wee bit leaner, or so I think.... four more days home then off to the kitty spa.

FUNDED!!!

I am on the road, but heard yesterday that I had enough money to pay fully for all the tests, meds and treatment for the Dude!

More when I get a computer under my fingers...

THANK YOU ALL!!!!

We are amazed and grateful.

FIRST Trip Away in a Year...

Well, nearly.

Tomorrow, with no need to sit and stare at him I am heading out on an overnight!

It is odd, leaving him alone, but honestly, just this week, I have been wondering if I had him a little over medicated. I swear, I can't tell you how happy he was looking this week.

I do notice his back, behind his slightly bony hips is a bit greasy. It used to look like he couldn't groom back there. He would hate for me to pat back that far on his back, but when the meds kicked in, he was much more docile. Off meds he just seems spunky! He has been chasing my heels and talking up a storm! He asks for food, but doesn't seem unusually hungry or thirsty. He has been laying around but less sleepy! It is odd that making him sicker seems to have made him happier. He lolls around on his back, purrs like mad and has a much brighter personality than recently.

I am hoping that the act of being on medication, although it helps his health might actually not making everything so good . . . Like when I was a kid, I had allergies. The meds made me function, as in not sneezing on everyone, but I was seriously dopey! Like that!!

So we shall give a fuller report when I return to see what a couple of days have produced.

Wish us all luck!

Sitting and Watching....

I have been literally sitting and watching him.

I am trying to figure out when he is going to start getting sick.

It is a hard thing, waiting for the old enemy to come in and take over my boy, as I have worked for two years to relieve his discomfort and distress caused by the disease.

First day he kept waiting for me to ambush and medicate him. He was disappointed. He was also lucky, as I was very preoccupied. I have a spec (that is art talk for "nobody has paid me, but if they like it I MIGHT sell it") portrait pending. So far, the client has rejected my first design and I am in the middle of the second. I will post it all when I get approval!

Monday I had to run over to my subject's office to snap a fast session for the portrait because I want to be in a show which has a Friday deadline for submissions. The Dude was unimpressed.

My first version was rejected and I am in the middle of finishing then photographing what I hope will be an approved version.

Yesterday I participated in the Arts and Business Council breakfast awards. I donated a gift certificate and finished a demo of one of the organizers.

I was able to participate in a really fun morning, schmoozing with fellow artists of all ilks! They sat me with the ballet and some children theater folk. Brought me back to my professional puppeteer days!!!

Last evening I probably hallucinated that the Dude was losing weight. He was mellow the first two days and even on day four, I see a couple of his old symptoms showing up.

His Feline Hyperesthesia, which is like hyper sensitivity to everything . . . basically the name for his heebie jeebies referenced earlier in my blog . . . is starting with occasional twitching. His foot, a little, like shaking an ant off three or four times. His back, a couple of ripples. And his old snotty mood when I pet him below the mid back. He used to rip into me when I would rub ANYWHERE near his hips. Now he is just letting me know it is not a good idea.

There is a little more grump today and I bought all the cheap fatty canned food I could. I want to be sure it is only the lack of his meds, not some other issue and I want him as FAT as I can get him when he goes in....

So.

Really it is boring but tense around here. On with art as a distraction!

Good Bye To the Bottle. Can Your Rescue Use It?

For close to two years these little bottles have been keeping the Dude from crawling the walls, yo-yo-ing his weight up and down and allowing him to find a good life. Tonight will be his last dose if all goes well.

The nifty thing about this process is that it only kills cells that make thyroid hormone. The gland that is supposed to is regulated elsewhere and when the tumor cells start going crazy, spewing out the stuff, the gland is told to shut down. Because it goes dormant, we regulate the amount in his system with this drug. And it works well.

For two weeks ahead, we want the bad cells to do their worst! The radioactive stuff seeks ONLY these kinds of cells and chews them up. Also, just in case ANY of the normal cells are functioning, we try to drive them way underground by the sensors in the pituitary shutting the spigot off hard because of all the yuck from the bad guys. We want ALL of the medicine out of the system so the treatment can do its worst.

After the three hot days, when the cat is actively radioactive, before the half lives start breaking the iodine down, the levels will drop as the treatment clears out. By the time the bad cells are gone, the nuclear missiles are too. When the all clear sounds, the dormant gland will be awakened again and there may be a few odd months of him starting to regulate his own levels.

They tell me not to panic for three months. There is no exact prediction, but way into the 90%'s of the cats come out with perfectly normal thyroids. It is rare that a healthy thyroid is damaged by the process. Apparently if the thyroid comes out underfunctional. (hypo) it was already damaged for some other reason. We x-rayed him to be sure no physical abnormality kept him from having it work.

Fingers crossed I will no longer need this half bottle again!

I am going to send this post to as many local cat rescues as I can. This is a good three or four months of normal for a rescuer who has a sick kitty and can use a little help.

IF any of you know a rescue that needs this, drop me a line and we can meet up when my vet says The Dude is good to go. All the generous people that have helped me needs a bit of passing it forward. THANK YOU ALL.