Bugsy's Medical Saga

Hey, did you guys hear the news that I'm home? Some folks new to the bloggie might be wondering what's been going on, and all of you may be wondering what's next in the Medical Saga of The Bugster. So howzabout a little recap and update of what's what.

The Cancer Thing

• In late May, some of the excess pigmentation in my right eye was diagnosed as a tumor by Dr. Regular Vet with a consultation and confirmation by Dr. Eye Specialist Vet. It was determined that the best course of action would be to remove the eye, and test it to determine if the tumor was cancerous or not.
• Due to some bladder problems (see below for that saga), the eye removal surgery didn't take place until mid-August by Dr. Regular Vet.
• The initial biopsy on the eye tissue showed that it was indeed cancerous, so off I went in early September to Dr. Cancer Vet for a CT scan and determination on further action.
• The CT scan showed some residual 'stuff' in the area of the no-eye, but -- happily -- nothing in the lymph node or chest area. Nothing had spread.
• Daily radiation treatments over 3.5 weeks (M-F) were decided on for the residual stuff, and due to the distance of Dr. Cancer Vet from our house, I boarded with them during the week during the treatments. My treatments went very well, so far I've shown no side effects, and I kept up my weight during treatments.
• Last Wednesday (10/7) was my 18th and final treatment!!!

So, what might be expected now?

• Dr. Cancer Vet doesn't really expect any side effects to show up, except maybe for losing some furs around my no-eye and them possibly growing back in white. Since I already have white on my face and throat and other areas, it wouldn't look all that out of place if it happens. I could live with that as the only side effect.
• I go back in a month for a general check-up, then again at the 3 month mark.
• At the 6 month mark, Dr. Cancer Vet will do a CT scan, to see if any of the residual stuff is still there or if it's all gone (and make sure nothing decided to show up anywhere else). The radiation continues to do its job for that long, so there's no sense doing a scan any earlier.

And that's where I iz on the Cancer Thing!

Now, about that pesky Bladder Thing.

The Bladder Thing

• In May, even before the eye tumor diagnosis, I went to Dr. Regular Vet for a bladder problem. It was thought to be just a bladder infection, so I was taking drugs for that. It kept not clearing up, though.
• A week or so after the eye tumor diagnosis, Dr. Regular Vet did an X-ray and discovered I had a bladder stone, not an infection. That needed surgery to be removed.
• Dr. Regular Vet and The Mommy decided it wouldn't be good to do both surgeries (bladder and eye removal) at one time, and thought it was more important to get the stone out first, so that got done in late June.
• The stone was sent out for analysis, but intentionally on a 'slow' basis (~4 week turn-around) to a college lab so it wouldn't cost anything as there was no real medical reason to get the answer back any faster. It turned out to be a struvite stone, which of course is the kind we kitties least want to have if we're gonna have one.
• Right now, The Mommy is trying an 'over-the-counter' healthy type of food that is formulated to help this kind of problem, rather than going on a prescription food. The good news is that I like it and will eat it. The so-so news is that Dr. Regular Vet is hesitant to give his full recommendation to such food over prescription food, but he has an open mind.
• Because of Dr. Regular Vet's hesitation, I had to go back 3 weeks ago just for a follow-up pee test to see if any struvite crystals (pre-cursors to stones) were showing up yet. The good news is there were none...the bad news is that I did have a bladder infection. *le sigh*
• So I took pills for a couple of weeks while at Dr. Cancer Vet Jail, then went back last week to Dr. Regular Vet for a re-check. But I didn't cooperate and give him any pee to test, and was supposed to go back today for another try.
• Instead, Dr. Cancer Vet stole some of my pee while I was asleep for one of my last few treatments this past week and sent it off to be tested!  Without even asking me! Hmph!
• But I'll forgive him, because the tests came back clear, the infection is gone, there still are no crystals, and best of all, I didn't have to get in the cage and car to go see Dr. Regular Vet today!!

The bottom line of all this is that there's no particular follow-up on the Bladder Thing to worry about, and I have a month before there's any follow-up on the Cancer Thing. I'm a free cat with no cage or car ride in my future for a whole month!!! Yayness!

Whew, that was a lot of catching up. Maybe we can go for a month without me whining about my medical issues for a change, eh?

But first I must once again thank each and every one of you -- that means you and you and you and you and...well, okay, I can't do it individually, but please know that me and The Mommy and the rest of the Krew thank each of you for all of your purrrrrrs and hugs and prayers and well wishes and everything while I've been going through all this, especially during Cancer Vet Jail this past month. Knowing everyone was sending me all those purrs and good thoughts helped me through it, and surely contributed to the 'no side effects' result!

Right now, I foresee a lot of naps in my future...

There's No Place Like Home Redux

I'm home!

I'm home!

I'm home!

I'm home!

I'm done with my radiation treatments and cancer v-e-t jail !!!!



Did I mention I'm home?!

Ahhhhh....there's no place like home....

There's No Place Like Home

Yo peeps and kits and woofs!

Yes indeedy, 'tis me, the Bugster. I'm home again for the weekend from cancer v-e-t jail.

After we got home yesterday evening, The Mommy fed us some stinky goodness! Woot!

It was yummy. A nice after-birthday treat.

Then I got in some scratching on the scratcher thingy. (You can tell we liked our first one there in the background, that one got pretty well torn up, mostly from Pixie. )

And then some laptime with The Mommy.

I gotta give props to the cancer v-e-t peoples. They were very nice to me for my birthday Thursday! I got extra treats and stinky goodness, and they made me a birthday sign and a hat, and took a photo of me with the sign for my Mommy! (But look at my ears in the photo with the sign...I was there under duress! MOL) They told her I wore the hat for a few minutes, but didn't take a photo of that. But wasn't it nice of them to do all that??!

Unfortunately I had to go back to the regular v-e-t this morning for a follow-up on the bladder infection he said I had a couple of weeks ago, so that was another cage ride. Mean ol' Mommy. I showed them though, I didn't have any pee for him to take for the test! HA! But the v-e-t showed me right back...now I gotta take the pills for another week AND go back again next week to try again for the pee test. Dang it, should have had some pee for him to test me and maybe I would've been clean, and done. *Sigh*

The other bad news is, I still have to go back to the cancer v-e-t on Monday. But the good news is, I only have THREE more radiation treatments, I'll be DONE on Wednesday, and then I come home Wednesday evening! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Still no signs of any side effects, and I've also been holding my weight, which is very important. The cancer v-e-t is very pleased with my progress.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more lap-napping to do...

Silly Saturday

I've been having a nice nap on top of this shelf unit, but now I'm awake.

And after a good stretch...

It's time to go somewhere else! I'm so speedy, I'm just a blur...

Okay, I'll admit these photos are a few weeks old. But I'm sure I'll be up there again this weekend. It's good to be home again after my second week of radiation treatments. And now, with 10 of 18 done, I'm past the halfway point! Everything is going well, and they all love me at the cancer v-e-t's place; I have them eating out of my paw. And so far, no sign of any bad side effects -- this is about the point where the doc guy said they might start showing up. Keeping my paws crossed that none do...

Mancat Monday

It was great to be home this weekend, away from the mean ol' cancer v-e-t place. (Yeah, they treat me fine...other than that whole giving-me-anesthesia and strapping-me-down-to-give-me-radiation 5-days-in-a-row and having-to-board-there-all-week thing...but it's still not home.) Here I am Friday evening, surveying my domain to make sure nothing has changed drastically.

By the time most of you read this, I'll be back at the cancer v-e-t place for my 2nd week of treatments. *Sigh* On the upside, when I come home for the weekend after this week, I'll be more than halfway through the treatment plan!

And then....and THEN! On top of everything else, after being caged up all week at the cancer v-e-t, The Mommy had the nerve to put me back in the carrier cage thingy on Saturday morning to take me to the regular v-e-t for a pee test follow-up from the struvite bladder stone I had surgically removed earlier in the summer (this summer has really sucked, lemme tell ya) and guess what? While I don't have any crystals in my pee, which is a good thing, I do have a bit of a bladder infection. So now I'm on pills twice a day for the next two weeks and then I have to go back and take the test again. I guess that's what I get for not studying for this one!

It's just not FAIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! ::Whine whine whine complain complain complain:: I think I'll put the bitey on someone at the cancer v-e-t's this week...

See y'all next weekend!

Friday Medley

To end the week, we have an assortment of this-and-that for your reading pleasure...

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On Monday, our friend Jasmim gave us an award:

This translates to "This Blog Makes Me Happy". Thank you, Jasmim!

The rules for this award are:

1 - Post the blog that gave you the award
2 - Post 5 things that make you happy
3 - Pass the award to 5 other blogs

So, 5 things that make us happy. We've done something similar with each of us picking one thing since there are 5 of us, but this time we'll just do 5 things that make us all happy.

1. Going outside! (Carefully snoopervised, of course...)
2. If we can't go outside, then sitting in the window seats with the windows open makes us happy as a close second. We don't get chased back inside that way 'cause we're already inside!
3. Napping wherever we want, but especially on The Mommy's lap or close to her.
4. Playing with our catnip toys.
5. Running to greet The Mommy when she gets home from that work thing.

It's always hard to choose who to pass awards on to, but we prefer to do that rather than just give it to everyone. So even though we love everybuddy, we'd like to give this award to:

1. Cats in Trees
2. Pet Meadow
3. Eric and Flynn
4. JB's Small World
5. Cory Cat Blog

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The Mommy wanted to share with you another seller she found on Etsy. She got some really pretty cards from Patti Waltz Artwork; she was really taken with the kitty silhouette, moon and stars, and pretty blue coloring of this card.

The Mommy had some really nice conversations with Patti, and may have talked her into eventually starting a kitty blog for her kitties! The world needs more kitty bloggers.

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The Mommy's looking forward to getting Bugsy from the cancer v-e-t this afternoon and bringing him home for the weekend after he's been boarding there all week for his first week of radiation treatments. After all, tomorrow is Meow Like A Pirate Day, and Bugsy with his one eye is a natural for it! Arrr...

(Of course, Bugsy then goes back to the cancer v-e-t on Monday for another week of treatments -- still 2.5 weeks, or 13 treatments, to go -- but at least he'll be home for a couple of days!)

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And to round out the post and get your weekend started, how about another pretty photo...this is from The Mommy's Tuesday evening drive home:

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Happy Friday, y'all!

Bugsy Medical News

We know you're probably tired of hearing about Bugsy's medical issues, but nevertheless, here we are with another update.

He went to the cancer v-e-t on Tuesday for his first visit. (For those new to the bloggie, he had an eye removed last month due to a tumor. Initial results showed it was a malignant tumor, so our v-e-t referred us to the cancer v-e-t.) This was a radiation v-e-t, who said that those test results on the tumor biopsy showed that there was likely some lingering cancer "stuff" running along the part of the optic nerve that was left behind from the surgery. This meant at the very least, Bugsy would need radiation treatments to try and blast those nasty things outta there.

The nice v-e-t man also wanted to run a CT scan (guess they don't call them CAT scans anymore at the v-e-t offices... ) to check on Bugsy's lymph nodes and lungs, the areas where any additional tumors would likely first show up. If anything had shown up, that would change the whole treatment plan. The results didn't come back until Thursday, so that was a couple of days of waiting...and wondering... But happily, nothing showed up. That doesn't mean that something couldn't still show up down the road, though.

So, the radiation cancer v-e-t is going to work up the exact treatment plan over the weekend but unless we hear otherwise, radiation treatments will start on Monday. It's a daily treatment, 18 treatments, Monday through Friday for 3.5 weeks. Because of where we live and where the cancer v-e-t is located, it looks like it will be easier all around for Bugsy to board with them during the week and come home for the weekend. Not an easy decision, though...but probably for the best both for him and for The Mommy.

Although she just looked at the calendar and realized he'll be spending his 6th birthday on October 1st at the v-e-t's... Well, he'll just have to be extra-spoiled when he comes home that weekend. Maybe they'll sing happy birthday to him there!

So that's the scoop. Let's hope the radiation does its job...'cause it ain't cheap! But he's worth it.

And now we'll leave you with this belly shot:

and