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AnniCat's CafeTales of a Warrior Kitty 9/24/2007 Poof! All Gone!All in all, a pretty damn good weekend. Friday night we played poker over at Big Bill and the First Lady’s place. Didn’t do so hot, but it was still fun. Saturday was work in the morning, but Saturday night we had the Cut n’Color Extravaganza! Johnny was in town from Louisville and wanted to cut his hair and it snowballed from there into the soiree.  resk and eb1kenobi did cut and color and Johnny and I cut.
I donate to Locks of Love about every 10 inches, so the timing was good for me. And
The First Lady was awesome! She did a great job with my ponytail. It’s still a bit uneven, but I kinda like it like this. Is asymmetrical back in style yet? I almost want to do it so that it looks dramatically asymmetrical. I haven’t had that look since the 80s, and I haven't had it this short in about 3 years.
and
9/9/2007 Sweet Dreams, SamanthaI've been meaning to post since Thursday, but I haven't had the heart. Samantha had been hiding under the bed and Tuesday when I actually had to move the bed to get her out to come and have breakfast I knew that it was time to make her last V-E-T appointment. I called Dr. O'Keefe's office to see if they had a donation program, and they did, so I made the appointment for Thursday morning at 8:30 am.  Of course, Wednesday night Samantha was a little alert and waiting at the door for me, but still not at all herself. We cuddled most of the night. She slept with me and didn't get back under the bed. We had a good talk. My friend Sue drove us, which was amazing since Resk had to work. Dr. O'Keefe took one look at how much the tumor had grown and said that I'd done the right thing. That it was time and it was good to have her go before she started having any pain. They made a cast of her paw with her name for me, and were wonderful about asking what our wishes were and how we wanted the procedure to be done.  I miss her like crazy. She was an amazing friend, and we lived through so much together. 17 years is a long time. Lots of live lived in those years, for both of us. It helps to know that she never had pain, that it never got to her brain, and that she was still the sweetest cat ever right up to the end. Knowing that she'll be able to help teach others helps too. I think that was the right choice, and I think she' d be happy with that. Again, thanks to all for your thoughts and purrrrs while Samantha was sick. They helped both of us more than I'll ever be able to express. 7/23/2007 Samantha NewsBeen about a month since I gave an update about Samantha and a few folks have been asking about her. There’s a third node that has started to swell below her ear and the cancer is visibly growing back into the eye socket. I had a bit of a meltdown when I saw that, and then while reading email I felt something tugging on my foot and she was pouncing on the lace of my sandal, playing and batting at it, then did the “midnight dash” across the apartment with Bebe so they could slide on the hardwood floors. Not bad for a 17 year old kitty with cancer.
Needless to say, she’s a lot more energetic since we stopped the chemo and LOVES the nipnubs that I got for her from the art fair. She’s eating more too, so I think that the nausea has finally passed from the drugs. I’m still giving her the appetite stimulant since she is still kinda thin, and she takes it like a trooper. Not terribly happy about it, but she suffers me my indulgences. ;-)
Thank you all again for all of the good thoughts, healing light, purrs and purrayers!! Please keep ‘em coming. 6/26/2007 Update About Samantha KittyI just called the Vet and canceled the rest of Samantha’s Chemotherapy sessions. The cancer has gone into a second lymph node and in the 2 weeks since we discovered the second node they’ve both grown. She’s still acting like a very happy energetic kitty, especially for being 17 years old. The folks at the Vet’s office said that she really acts like a much younger cat and can’t get over how sweet she is no matter what they’re doing to her. So, we’re going to hang out for a while, and when she starts to show that she’s in pain, I’ll take her to go to sleep. Vet couldn’t give me an estimate on a time line, so for all I know it could be a long way off or it could be in a month. Regardless, it’s time to let nature run her course. Thanks to everyone for all of your support, good thoughts and prayers. 6/13/2007 Samantha UpdateSamantha
had chemo this morning, and there's another lymph node that has become
cancerous. they talked about removing the nodes, but i decided against
it. we've changed the chemo that she's on to see if it will work better
and are still calling it month by month. she's not in pain or
discomfort and i hate to put her through another surgery. add to that
the fact that she's 17 and i just couldn't rationalize it. the Vet said
that even if i didn't do another thing that I've done the best for her
that any cat could ever ask, and lots more than a lot of pet owners
would have done. i figure, since i was planning on at least 2 more
rounds of chemo, that would be the logical route. 5/16/2007 Samantha's Kitty Chemowell, shock of shocks, she's improving. the lymph node has shrunk by about a quarter and the white cell count is good. she's gained 5 oz ...i really had convinced myself that she wasn't coming home today. the talkativeness she's had since i started the appetite stimulant is a side effect of the drug, so it isn't a tummy ache or anything, and we don't have to do antibiotics again unless her white count drops again. she is, however, furious with me. lol whatdya know. i'm not crazy ... 5/2/2007 Samantha Blood Count CheckSamantha pre-surgery  Samantha's white blood count is really low. Specifically her Neutrophil count, but there was no fever so they gave me an antibiotic to help with that today. She's dropped over a pound in the last 2 weeks, so now we have an appetite stimulant too ...who'da thunk anyone in MY household would ever need an appetite stimulant!!!!
Samantha post-surgery and stitches 
4/17/2007 Samantha Kitty UpdateTook Sammy in to have her stitches out today. I don't know if I forgot that she had to have all of that biopsied, or if I'd blocked it, or what ...but I wasn't really prepared when they came in and told me that the tissue that they'd biopsied came back with infiltrative sclerosing carcinoma. |
otherwise known as Cancer. Seems that the tumor had grown down behind the occipital bone and they couldn't get it all. It's into her lymph now, and there's a good chance that it will come back into the eye socket. I turned down radiation treatments. She's 17 and it was going to be $4,000 ...but I had then go ahead and give her the first Chemotherapy treatment. It's a lot cheaper, and since it's intravenous it will kill any random cells that are floating around, not just the lymph and eye socket that the radiation would have targeted. she's also going to be on a drug called piroxicam which has been shown to attack cancer cells in cats. We'll try this for a month and see what her pathology reports show when we go back in May. If she's the same or better we'll keep going this route. If she's not ...then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Thanks again to everyone for your continued good thoughts, white light and prayers. We accept and appreciate them all. Slurps & purrs, Anni & Sam 4/8/2007 Samantha Kitty UpdateSorry so long in updating everyone. Sam came through the surgery very well, and is healing up nicely. She looks like Frankenkitty and we've decided that she is in need of a rhinestone eye patch. She's been jumping up to her hiding spots and into her sunshine window ledge and not missing, so that's a good sign. She's eating, drinking and all of that good kitty stuff, so it looks like she's on the road to recovery. She'll get stitches out in a couple of weeks, and I should hear back about the pathology results next week. Thanks for keeping us both in your thoughts! 3/29/2007 Kitty UpdateSamantha will be having surgery next Wednesday to have the 3rd eyelid removed. If the tumor has grown into the eye then they'll take that at that time also. I've got her back here at home and have to give her drops 3 times a day until then.
It's what has to be done, but I will admit to being in a little bit of sticker shock.
Thanks so much for all of the good vibes!
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