Standing Up To Cancer: An Elvis Update

"The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around... throughout history, "tender loving care," has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing."

-Larry Dossey

Well, my boy is off to chemotherapy! This will be his 5th dose of the stuff, and it is doing it's job well, because he is pretty much his usual goofy self most of the time again. He got two new shirts this week. One is a red and white sailor suit with a blue anchor on it that you see here, and the other one is a flannel tank top that has a big chocolate chip cookie that has the caption, "Got Milk?" LOL. Dr. B told me, from the very beginning, that there would be times when Elvis would look so good that I would actually forget that cancer was in the shadows. Weep.

Yeah, there are times when I let myself forget about it. Alan and I aren't letting it keep us from enjoying our boy, but mornings like this one, when it is really cold outside, and I wake up with Elvis curled into my side, I have to take a couple moments and cry. I know that I will be facing next autumn without him, for the first time in over a decade. Elvis has seen me through times I never thought I would survive, and even when things were going wonderful, and I was on top of the world, he was still there, taking care of me. Somehow, I kinda think that even death won't stop him from watching over me.

Have you heard about the special that will be airing on the three major networks this Friday night? It's called, "Stand Up 2 Cancer." Did you know that cancer kills one person every minute? EVERY MINUTE! My grandfather died of leukemia, and cancer has already touched Alan, when his father was diagnosed with it just a few years ago. Chances are, you might know someone right now who has been diagnosed with cancer, or already lost someone to it. Weep.

Go and look at the website, then be sure to watch it this Friday. It will be on ABC, NBC, and CBS at 8 pm. Watch it. If you donate a $1 or more, you can launch a star for a person you know who has been diagnosed with cancer. Alan and I are going to do that later this week for our boy Elvis. Yes, I know he's a cat, but there is research being done to find a cure for our fur babies as well. We are all in this together. Please remember, cancer can come at any age, if you haven't already had your annual physical, please make an appointment this week to take care of yourself. And while you are there, also talk to your doctor about having an A1C test for diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is on the rise as well.

Nearly three years after her death, I still miss and indeed mourn Pam. I miss her little IM's when she saw me log on really early in the morning, and her funny little comments and emails, and I miss... her voice. This has to stop, or at least more has to be done. Wouldn't it be wonderful if cancer was stopped in our lifetime? We all can't just hope it will happen, we have to make it happen. One day I hope to purchase a star for Elvis from the star registry, and then after he is gone, I can look up, and see him watching over me. It's a comforting fantasy, but I would rather have him cured and sitting by my side. For now, hope is all I have.

Don't forget to watch Stand Up 2 Cancer on Friday, September 5th!

-OndineMonet
"Elvis The Sailor Man"
Berkeley, California
September 2nd, 2008
Morning

Elvis Update: He Loves Me Like A Rock

"Ever has it been that love knows not it's own depth until the hour of separation."

-Kahlil Gibran

Elvis is home from his latest round of chemotherapy. Dr. B. said Elvis is doing well, his weight is maintaining, and the swelling around his nose from the cancerous tumors have come down. He is responding well to all his little medical treatments, which is such good news. His chemotherapy is being done ever 4 weeks now, which is a good thing, meaning that for the time being we have successfully gotten his cancer under control. It's good news for now. I asked Dr. B how much time we might have left, but he simply said, "we aren't putting a time limit on things." Vague, but it's his way not to simply give up and expect death. I appreciate that reasoning, but the logical side of me is saying, "it's better to know what to expect, and when to expect it." Still, the advice Dr. B always leaves me with is, "enjoy each other, and the time you spend together. Don't let the word Cancer rob you of the time you spend together." Yeah... I know. :)

Now about the strange bedtime behavior. Dr. B says, Elvis is waking me up in the middle of the night, and following me around, because of separation anxiety. He doesn't want to be away from me, even if it is because it's time for bed. It's so funny, he used to put us to bed at 10:00 pm, every night. As soon as he heard the 10:00 News come on the TV, he would come over to where we were sitting and stare at us, until we turned off the TV and went to bed. If we didn't respond to the staring, he would pace between the bedroom and the living room, and meow. LOL. He has always know what's best for us, and especially me. He loves me.

So, beginning tonight, I will spend about 15 minutes with Elvis, engaged in extra good attention time. I will brush him, and put his powder on, and maybe plan his outfit for the next day. He has been favoring the scarf from his pirate costume lately, he even asked to wear it to the doctor for his cancer treatment. So funny. We get the pet carrier out, and he knows he will be going to see Dr. B and Mary and Donna, and he will tug at what he wants to wear. It has been really chilly here in the Bay Area lately, so a scarf is a wise choice. Seriously, he has very good taste in clothing, and he's practical too. What a cat!

Separation Anxiety In Cats (Peteducation.com)

-OndineMonet
"Mr. Man"
Berkeley, California
August 7th, 2008
Morning

It's Going To Be Interesting Living Out Of My Car...

"Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I am just as happy as I was when I had $48 million."

-Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California


It's going to be interesting living out of my car, at least until the finance company repossesses it. Thing are just the dire. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has chosen this coming Thursday, July 31st, as his target day to sign an order to reduce the pay of over 200,000 state employees, Alan included, to the federal rate of $6.35 an hour. He isn't even offering the state minimum level of $8.00 an hour. What that means for us is that we will be homeless in just a few months, Elvis's chemotherapy treatments will have to stop, and we will be putting him to sleep as soon as 2 weeks from now.

We have some food put aside in case of an emergency, enough for a month. I don't know what will happen with our cars, we might sell one of them back, but I don't know where we will get gas money for the one we will keep. I will get rid of all non essential items, such as the Internet. That will happen first. The thing that hurts me the most it the thought of looking at Elvis in the eyes, as I take him to Dr. B's to have him euthanized. What do I say to him, and then how do I live with it? He is at Dr. B's right now, getting the last chemotherapy treatment we will be able to afford. The pain over losing him is more then I can take sometimes. As I write this, and I face head on what is in front of us, I can't even breathe.

This still doesn't have to happen, but I know it will. From everything I have read, the slashed pay rate will probably go well into October. Oh we will get a big fat retroactive paycheck when the politicians finally have their way, but by then my little boy will be gone forever. Forever is a very long time. Now ask me why I will never trust a republican, any republican, again! If I lose the roof over my head I will survive, but Elvis won't. His little life shouldn't end this way.

-OndineMonet

Correction: The federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour.

Elvis Update: Baby It's Hot Outside!

"Cats were put into the world to disprove the dogma that all things were created to serve man."

-Paul Gray

Elvis has come through his third dose of chemotherapy just fine. We dropped him off at Dr. B's office early Tuesday morning, and then, in an effort to calm our nerves about things, we decided to spend the day in Golden Gate Park. We have been in the middle of a huge heatwave here in the Bay Area, temperatures this week have reached over 110 in some areas. It's oppressive. It's really hard on Elvis, so Alan and I were both so pleased that he would at least be in a air-conditioned office for the day, but as it turned out, he spent the night in the hospital as well.

That was difficult. When I called to see how he was, Donna told me that he was doing fine, but that he was still a little groggy, so Dr. B thought it would be good for Elvis to spend the night. Sigh. That made me sad, but in some ways it came as a relief. As I said, it has been really hot, but also, when I was in the park that day, my blood sugar suddenly dropped... large. I had a small amount to eat before we left the house, but the mixture of the stress about Elvis's health, and the stress of trying to exercise in the park, my blood sugar said, "enough is enough!" By the time we crossed the bay, on Tuesday, I was just exhausted.

I asked Donna to please give Elvis a hug for me, and tell him I love him. She kind of laughed, and said in a kind tone, that she would as soon as we hung up. I can trust she did that for me, because Donna is such a sweet lady. In fact everyone in Dr. B's office are amazingly compassionate, loving, wonderful people. I know in my heart that Dr. B is the best veterinarian in the East Bay. He and his staff not only treat the pets who are brought to them with compassion, they treat the pet's humans with compassion as well. It will never be easy to come to terms with letting go, I know it will kill me, but on every level that counts, I know when Elvis is experiencing his final moments, he will be doing so, surrounded by love. Real love.

We don't dwell on those moments. We are doing really good today. Elvis sees the doctor in two weeks, and right now we are just the same old family we were a year ago. We are fine. We are all together. There's nothing wrong with that! :)

-OndineMonet
"Watching The Garden"
July, 2008

Elvis Update: Twisted Whiskers

"Attitude is the way you mentally look at the world around you. It is how you view your environment and your future. It is the focus you develop in life itself."

-Unknown

When I took this photo of Elvis back in May, I didn't realize it's strange and wonderful "Twisted Whiskers" quality. LOL. I love Twisted Whiskers, and now I have a pretty good photo of my boy posing as one! :)

Elvis has been having a hard time recently. I mentioned last week that Dr. B was unable to give him the dose of chemo that was scheduled for last Tuesday, because his blood level wasn't where it should be. It is a common thing with chemo, sometimes the doses come every 3 weeks, sometimes they come every four. There are some other things happening that have us worried, because no matter how you look at it, it isn't good news. The most striking is that Elvis has dropped 1/2 lb. in the last two weeks! That is a lot for a cat to lose.

He is such a trooper about taking his medicine. He never fusses much, but I know he hates it. Alan has been giving it to him every night before we go to bed, and often times it leads to some serious, silent crying from us. I know the medicine will help him feel better, and it does, he is a happy little fellow most of the time, but at the same time I know we will have to let go soon.

It's hard to tell when Dr. B will say the time is right. We have a strong verbal agreement between us that when the cancer starts to spread, or the chemo stops working, or Elvis's begins to be in pain, that will be the time. So far none of those things is happening. No pain to the touch, no tumors in other parts of his body, just the occasional bloody nose. When that happens he comes over to me, so I can wipe it with a soft tissue. LOL. It's so sweet. It didn't take me long to teach him that, he is such a smart little guy.

Sometimes, however, it's the things Dr. B doesn't say that worries me the most. Last week he looked a little bit sad as he weighed Elvis. I didn't ask why, I knew on some level that he was really concerned. Still, we have an appointment for this coming Tuesday. Elvis is outside playing right now. I can hear his bells as he walks across the yard in search of large yellow swallowtail butterflies. There have been a lot of them this year, and knowing him, he has already made a friend with one of them. LOL. Tuesday, will be a long day, so I am glad he is outside playing today.

Twisted Whiskers Website



-OndineMonet
"Twisted Whiskers Elvis"
Berkeley, California
May, 2008

Dude... Where's My Fur?

"It is foolish to tear out one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness."

-Cicero

LOL. I mentioned in an entry last week, that Elvis has been pulling his hair out. Needless to say, it was a long weekend. We had no clue why he was doing this. I looked on the Internet for possible reasons, among them was that he was perhaps sensitive to the chemotherapy drug, Doxorubicin, the first does of which he got just last Tuesday. In humans, it causes body hair to fall out, and it causes skin irritation, and can be some pretty nasty stuff. In felines, it has a lot less side effects, but it can also cause the skin to become itchy and hot. The thought of my kitty possibly having to live with this side effect hurt my feelings like you wouldn't believe. Just when I think I love this guy to the limit of human love, I find myself ever deeper. I love him more then anything. So, I have been more then a little stressed over the possibilities. Fortunately, Elvis had an appointment with Dr. B today, and instead of hearing the worst, I got some really good news. Happy news.

Elvis isn't pulling his fur our because of the chemo, he is pulling his hair out because of an aggressive case of fleas. A few weeks ago, when Elvis had visited the doctor for his first dose of steroids, Dr. B's nurse, Mary, gave Elvis a dose of Advantage, along with his medication. We thought we were good to go, but unfortunately, the oil glands in his back, which help distribute the Advantage, are not working properly, probably due to the cancer. As a result, Elvis didn't get anywhere near the full effect of Advantage, and he had a nice collection of fleas eating at his lower back. He has never had a flea problem before, so for the first time in his 11 years, he was being irritated to a monumental degree. Of course he started pulling his hair out! It would be like someone suddenly threw itching powder all over me! I totally understood! Eureka... problem solved!

Elvis got a nice dose of Advantage, and a shot of antihistamine, and now we have a happy, content kitty once again. I need to make a stop later today to pick up a flea comb, to add to our grooming sessions, but we have fun with grooming, so I know he will appreciate a little added time and effort. Elvis has always been so good about such things, tilting his ears so I can clean them out with a Q-tip, sitting very still for toenail maintenance, and keeping his mouth wide open for toothbrush time. I should probably do an entry about our sessions with physical appearance. LOL. He's is such a cool cat, I hold the brush, and tell him to "brush your face," and he rubs both sides of his nose against the brush. He is so suave. LOL. What a looker! And guess what the best news of all was today... look at his nose. No blood. The chemotherapy is working! :)

That's my boy! :)

Elvis is happily playing with his new catnip mouse! I think I will take a nap now!

:)

-OndineMonet
Elvis
May 20th, 2008
Afternoon

Steven's Feline And Furball Friday: I 'm Ready For My Close-Up Mr. DeMille

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."

-Unknown

LOL. My cat loves the camera. My cat is mostly ham. My cat is a star. Meet my cat Elvis! LOL. Elvis has always loved posing for photos. I think I did something very right with him when he was very little. When he was a wee one, and I saw how goofy he was, I immediately brought the camera into things because I just knew I would be able to get some good candid shots of him, and I did! He saw me enjoying this action, and he seemed to take to that happiness like a moth to a light. From the time he was about 2 weeks old, we had a regular routine of camera time, followed closely by praise and play. Last night, as we sat on the steps of the storage room, Elvis and I got in a really good session of fun. He's good for me... no doubt about it. :)

Now, about his first experience with chemotherapy. The name of the chemo drug Dr. B is giving Elvis is, Doxorubicin. Apparently it is a very common chemotherapy drug, used most often with the kind of cancer Elvis has. It was given to Elvis by a slow intravenous injection. According to some articles, it takes about 10 minutes or so, to administer start to finish. Elvis did really well. He had no negative reactions to the medication, but Dr. B kept him overnight, from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, for observation, just to be sure all was well with my boy. :) It was. :) We will know soon if the chemo is doing it's job. With a little luck we might be able to see a full remission. I am really hoping for that. I hope you will hope for it too.

A good sign came to me this morning, in the form of my boy causing a small ruckus. Elvis loves to taunt the nearby dogs into barking. He is a bully of sorts when it comes to dogs. LOL. Earlier today, I let him out to play in the yard, and he almost immediately went to the fence all the way in the back of the yard, where he could yet again make poor Mickey the Bulldog crazy with need to "Flatten THAT CAT!" LOL. I watched Elvis sit down very gently, stick one of his front paws under the bottom of the fence, and mew. Over came Mickey, barks a blazin'. LOL. Mickey has a very strange bark, which never fails to inspire the other dogs up the hill to barking. LOL. It was quite a concert around here. LOL. That's my boy.

Elvis a little less dramatic. Puckering up for a kiss. :)

Yes, I am hopelessly in love. I am a true cat fancier. I like looking at websites that deal with cats and cat care. The other day I found a really cute site that lists some signs of whether you are truly a cat owner or not. I had such a good time going through this list, and I have to admit, I saw myself in those descriptions right and left. LOL. I chose a few off the list that definitely describe me as a cat owner...

From Catowner.com

1. You kiss your cat more then ten times per greeting.

You have to understand... he is just soooo kissable!

2. If you are cold, you put a sweater on your cat!

Well of course, doesn't everybody? ;)

3. You and your kitty have matching outfits.

Blush!

4. Poop has become a source of conversation for you and your significant other!

Well, it's important! LOL

5. You celebrate cat events (new cats, cat birthday, etc) by throwing catered parties with lots of people, but ignore your own birthday.

Now to my defense, I also throw parties on my birthday. We love to celebrate.

6. You have a set of towels with "his, hers, and "kitty's."

LOL. Yes, Elvis does have his own towel for after his bath. It says, "I Love My Mommy" on it. :)

7. Your Mom calls and asks how the grandcats are!

Yep, my Mother-in-law does indeed do that! She even has a baby book of Elvis!

8. You snap your fingers, and pat the sofa next to you to invite your guests to sit down.

Ut oh... guilty! ROFL. I do that! I confess. But I only do that if I really, really like you, and you don't shed or give me fleas! ;)

That was a fun list. If you have a kitty you can play along too. You can find the list here. I love participating in Steven's Feline and Furball Friday. You can play too. Just stop by his blog for all the details!


-OndineMonet
"I'm Ready For My Closeup"
Berkeley, California
May 14th, 2008
Early Evening

Elvis Update

"In the middle of a world had always been a bit mad, the cat walks with confidence."

-Rosanne Amberson

For those of you who are new to my blog, I thought you might like to see why my cat's name is Elvis. LOL. There was never any other decision to make, when it came to a name for our boy, see, he was born with his name. I swear my Elvis is the reincarnation of Elvis Presley, because he shares so much with him. Food is my boy's favorite thing, followed closely by his love for women, he has managed to pick up every woman he has ever met, and he takes really good care of his friends. Not to mention the resemblance, and his sense of humor. LOL. My Elvis is a charmer to be sure. To say that I am proud of him would be a huge understatement. I LOVE him, and I always will. He will still have me laughing and smiling about our years together, when I am a very old lady. He is the one you never get over.

After trying the steroids, it has become clear that they aren't working. It seems that the cancer Elvis has is much more aggressive then we once thought. Fortunately, Elvis has a guardian angel, and we are going to be able to at least give the chemotherapy a try. He gets his first dose today. He has to be at the doctor at 9:00 AM, and we will pick him up at around 5:00 or so. Dr. B wants to see how he does with the drug, just to be sure there is no adverse affects. I am really hoping Elvis does well with the chemo, I love spending time with him, and he isn't in any pain right now, but he is uncomfortable. He has a lot of wheezing coming from his nose, and breathing is becoming much more difficult due to the erosion going on in his nostrils.

A good sign is that the bleeding from his nose has stopped, and he is really playful and loving. He is continuing to groom himself properly, and he asks for his meals on schedule. He played outside yesterday, I caught a glimpse of him walking across the back yard, on his way to the lemon tree, where he sometimes plays in the late afternoon. I have come to think of that tree as Elvis's lemon tree. It is so cute when he lays his head on a lemon and goes off to sleep. Over the winter, when he couldn't go out to play, he would steal an onion or an apple from the pantry, and rest his head on it. He makes me smile. And hopefully, with a little help from the chemo, I will have him as long as a year from now, and he will still be making me smile. So far, he is my little trooper, taking his medicine, and keeping to his schedule without complaint. I wish I were as brave as he is! He is my hero!

If you would like to read about the different types of Feline cancer, I found a great website called, Feline Cancer Resources. Give it a look see.

-OndineMonet
"The King's Baby Picture"
May 25th, 1997