go get 'em Buzzy!

hi, it's me . . . meep . . .

i'm bloggin' for Buzz today 'cause he's kinda sleepy right now. but he said to tell efurrybuddy that his oncology-thingie went real good today! he's still puttin' on weight (yay!) and his bloods were good enuff for more meds.

today's meds were the IV kind, just like his first dose 4 weeks ago. but he told me that today he put up a real fight, and it took 2 vet techs, my mom & my Jim to hold him down! that's a big change from the first time when he felt too sick to struggle. but they finally got the meds into him, and then he had to wear that funny little yellow bandage you can see in the pic.

yesterday we got such a nice surprise . . . the wonderful people that rescued me n' Buzz a long long time ago sent us a "care-package"! inside were two beautiful handmade beds (one of them is in this pic) and lotz & lotz of toyz! me n' Buzz had fun with the toyz and then got to relax in our new beds - thank you so much Kitty Angels! the surprise made our whole family very happy!

okay . . . i'm gonna go rest with Buzz. thanks efurrybuddy for all of your thinkin' 'bout us - we really 'purr-e-ciate it lotz!

cautiously optimistic

Hi again efurrybuddy! I just wanted to let y'all know that I had a pretty good oncology visit yesterday. I've put on almost 1 lb and my white blood cell count was good enuff to do the next step in my chemo. But the best part is that I'm actin' & lookin' more like my usual self than I have in months! Dr Philibert says he's feelin' good 'bout my progress.

I posted this picture for my mom, 'cause she laffs when I stick my tongue out.

As always, thank you all so much for all of your continued thoughts & purrayers.

chemo

Just wanna give efurrybuddy a quick update 'bout how I'm doin' . . .

My first chemo treatment was last Wednesday and I felt pretty yucky until the week-end. Saturday & Sunday were really nice days. I was very affectionate & purred lotz! I even attacked the scratchin' post and played with Meep a little bit. Monday & Tuesday I didn't feel so good and just slept most of the time.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I went back to see my oncologist. He took some blood and said that my white cell count was kinda low. Instead of doing the next step of my chemo protocol, Dr. Philibert gave me some of the same drugs from last week. Hopefully my white cells will be where they should be next week and we can keep movin' forward.

My mom found the way to increase my appetite - roast beef from the deli (but it's gotta be super rare!) Before I got sick, I couldn't have much people food 'cause I have protein allergies. But my mom & Jim have decided that gettin' some calories into me is more important than my allergy. So now I get a little bit of RARE roast beef (Meep gets some too). Then 'bout 15 minutes later, I come over to my mom and let her know that I wanna eat my new canned food. I graze on little bits of that thru-out the day. Today is a good day 'cause it's only 5pm now, and I've already eaten a whole can of my a/d (chemo food). I've never eaten a whole can of anything since I got sick.

Well that's 'bout all that's goin' on with me. Thanks again efurrybuddy for all of your continued support.

7 random facts . . .

hi, it's me, meep . . .

sorry i can't post any pictures, but my mom's 'puter is broken and i'm using one of Jim's old laptops. my mom says that this 'puter is older than me!

Abby tagged me to play this meme . . . it looks like fun so here goes . . .

1) i'm a little bit more than 4 years old. my gotchya-b/day was actually April 12th, and my mom feels terrible that she forgot to post for me.

2) even tho i "butt-bite" Buzz lotz, i really do luv him.

3) my favorite person in the whole wide world is my Jim.

4) i yawn all the time. maybe it's 'cause i'm anemic sometimes and my brain needs more oxygen.

5) i don't bathe myself. my mom & Jim do what they can with special pet wipes, but i'm really kinda due for my professional bath.

6) i like to carry my toys in my mouth. when my mom & Jim go out, i pick-up my toys and take them into Jim's office - kinda like a present for him when he gets home.

7) i have a special blankie/pillow thing that i hafta kiss before i can go to sleep on it.

so that's my meme. thanks for readin' it.

Bombay tagged Buzz, so he's gonna post his next . . .

Hi efurrybuddy. I'm feelin' a little bit better today. Before I go back to bed, I'll post my meme real quick . . .

1) If my mom asks me a question and the answer is "yes", I will blink my eyes once and nod.

2) I was pretty upset when Meep came to live with us, but now I actually kinda like him.

3) When my mom tries to give me some food that I don't want, I will scratch all around it like it sumthin' in the litter box until she gets the idea and takes it away.

4) Speakin' of litter, I don't scratch inside the box. I prefer to scratch the wall and floor nearby.

5) Sometimes my mom hugs me so much my eyes bug-out and I squeak.

6) I like when Jim rubs my chin and my mom strokes the top of my nose, between my eyes.

7) I'm gonna fight this gross, stoopid cancer as hard as I can!

Thanks for askin' us to play, Abby & Bombay - it was lotza fun. We're not sure who has already played, so if you'd like to, consider yourself tagged!

Dr. Philibert

Hi everyone - Buzz & Meep's mom here . . .

Just wanted to post a quick update about Buzzy's oncology appointment today. Both Jim & I liked Dr. Philibert very much - he is very compassionate and seems very concerned with a pet's quality of life. He's optomistic that even though we probably cannot completely cure Buzzy's cancer, we can hopefully shrink it so that he will feel better very soon.

The tumor is is about 3cm in size, so it is taking up a lot of space in poor Buzzy's chest. Shrinking it will give him a lot of relief in terms of his breathing, appetite, and lethargy. We started his first chemo today.

Dr. Philibert is hopeful that Buzzy could live for a year or more if this treatment is successful. As long as Buzzy is comfortable and happy, we are going to continue the chemo. One of the things that Jim & I like about the dr. is that he seems to share our feelings that if it becomes clear that Buzzy is no longer enjoying his days, we will stop putting him through the treatment and do what is best for our little boy-cat.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of their continued support, well-wishes, and prayers. We've just started down a very long road, but it's wonderful to know that you are all out there pulling for us.

goin' to the dr.

Hi efurrybuddy, J.P. Buzzerbee here . . .

I really wanted to thank efurryone so much for all of their kind words and purrayers. My mom is kinda a mess right now, and all of your support has helped her lotz.

Tomorrow is kinda a big day for me; I'm gonna get my biopsy and meet with an oncologist. Hopefully I'll just be pretty sleepy thru most of it, and Jim & my mom will do most of the talkin' with the doctors.

I'm doin' okay . . . the lasix has been keepin' the fluid in my chest under control so I can breathe better than I did last week. Food isn't really doin' much for me these days, but today my mom put some chicken breast in a little broth (low sodium) and baked it in the oven for me. 15 minutes later, I was chowin' down! I actually ate two whole "tenders" by myself! Well, maybe Meep helped a little bit.

Speakin' of Meep, he has been bein' a great little brother. He doesn't bug me much, and he cheers-up my mom when she gets sad.

One thing that's got me a little concerned is this crazy pink carrier . . . I mean I might not be feelin' so great, but I'm still all boy-cat. Jim and my mom got it for me over the week-end 'cause it zips open all the way around. That way if my chest is sore from fluid or procedures, nobody has to pick me up to get me in or out. I can just lay flat on the bottom, and they can zip-open/zip-closed the carrier around me. I gotta admit that does seem like a nice feature, but c'mon - pink?!?!

Okay . . . I'm feelin' a little bit tired so I'm gonna go lay-down. I'll have my mom post after the doctor appointments so y'all know what's goin' on. I may be a lover, but I'm still a fighter. I'm gonna do all that I can to get well, and I know that Jim & my mom will do their best to make good decisions for me. Once again, thank you all so very much for your thoughts & purrayers.

a scary day with some bad/good news

A note from Mom:

Let me first thank everyone for their continued support and good wishes. It means a lot to our whole little family.

I'd also like to apologize for the boys not posting very much; it's been a hard few weeks, but we finally have some news.

Buzzy has not been doing very well lately and the last week or so has been especially bad. He hadn't really eaten anything since Sunday, even though he's on an appetite stimulant. Then Tuesday he started to have a lot of difficulty breathing. Rushed him to the vet where they did an x-ray. Turns out the poor guy's chest was completely filled with fluid. There was so much that his lung capacity was at less than 1/4 what it should be. Dr. Wendy tried to do a chest tap to drain-off some of the fluid and get him some relief. But Buzzy was already pretty stressed by that point and was very "un-cooperative". Since sticking a needle into his chest was pretty dangerous to begin with, Dr. Wendy decided it was not safe to continue. She gave him a shot of lasix to help him eliminate some of the fluid on his own. Everyone at Dr. Wendy's was amazing as always, and did all that they could to get Buzzy (and Mom!) feeling better.

Jim is away on a business trip that he really does need to be at (got lots more vet bills in the future) and has been wonderful with the long distance support. But that did leave Buzzy, Meep, and a pretty wrecked Mom to get thru the night on their own. Little Meepster did his best to make me smile and he did a very good job. Poor Buzzy was just in no shape to do anything; he couldn't even get comfy enough to be able to fall asleep.

Today Buzzy seemed to be feeling even worse then he did yesterday. We had an appointment for an ultra-sound that was about 45 minutes away. Now I am the first to admit that I am not much of a driver under the best circumstances. But the thought of all that highway driving while trying to comfort Buzzy at the same time, was way to much for me. Luckily I found an incredible car service that took us to the appointment, waited for us, and then brought us home - you should have seen the receiptionist's face when Buzzy & I came in with a limo driver carrying the x-rays! (Now that Buzz has ridden in a Town Car, I'm not sure how he's gonna feel about our little Ford Ranger!)

The ultra-sound revealed that Buzzy does have a tumor growing right near his heart. It's about as big around as if you brought your forefinger and thumb towards eachother but left a 1/2 inch gap. So that is indeed the bad news. The good news is that the dr. is pretty sure it's lymphoma, especially given that Buzzy is FIV+. We have an appointment next week for a full cavity ultra-sound and an aspiration (like a biopsy) so that we'll know for sure. If it is lymphoma, we might have some treatment options. After those tests are performed, we have a consult with the oncologist to determine our next steps. (Thankfully Jim will be home for those, or I might have a break-down!)

With the dr's help, we'll try to determine what's the best thing for Buzzy. Of course we want to keep him with us forever, but we need to do whatever gives him the highest quality of life possible. There's only so much we can put the poor guy thru and hopefully this new info will help us figure-out what's best for our little boy.

Ugh - if you're still reading, my aplogies; I didn't mean for that to be so long and detailed. Thank you to all our blogosphere friends for always being there for us. We'll post more when we have updates.

Take care everyone. People, please give your kitties (or other critters) a big hug & a kiss, and kitties, please give your people a head-butt & a kiss.