Jill's Journey

So now that we are almost at the one month ampuversary (I can’t believe it!), it was time to go to the oncologist to come up with a plan to get rid of this nasty nasty cancer for good!

Jill has never been the type of kitty to meow or hide when the carrier comes out, however, she must have realized by now that one of the last times she went into it, she came back without a leg, because she was not happy about going in there this morning.  For the first time since I’ve had her, she fought me and once I got her in, she cried and cried 🙁  I felt so horrible.  Have I scarred her for life?????  It is so hard that you can’t just say to them “it’s for your own good I promise!!”

So off we go to Animal Medical Center for our appointment with the oncologist.  We had been here before, but that was back in June and it was for a consult when we found the osteosaroma on her toe.  We wound up not doing the chemo then, so that was the last they heard from us.  I wasn’t sure if they would remember us, but as soon as one of the doctors walked in she said “oh it’s Jill the hugging kitty!”.

Well.  Could I be any prouder?  Everyone wanted to hug her!  They better not get any wise catnapping ideas while I leave her in their care……..!!!! Maybe I need to microchip her?? hmmmm……..

So they took Jill back to an exam room while I sat with the two doctors to discuss our plan.  She will be going once every three weeks for four weeks alternating Carboplatin and Doxorubicin.  The best part was, they were able to give her the first dose of Carboplatin today, so that saves me one trip!  So off she went behind these scary scary doors but with very very nice nurses 🙂

I then signed some consent forms and talked to the doctors about some questions I had about side effects.  The best part of the visit for me was really her “prognosis:”

OK.  I am really pretending I didn’t see this because I don’t want to get my hopes up.  So, I’m going to tuck this away in a folder and just keep praying for the best 🙂

Anyway, about a half hour later, they brought me my little one (while she was hugging the nurse of course) and off we went home.  I felt horrible, because I had to get to work, but they told me the first time, she is likely to have very few side effects.  Maybe a little nausea and she might be a little tired and hide.  I, of course, couldn’t stop thinking about her all day though.

So now I am home and I was expecting to walk into the apartment and find her under the bed or in the closet.  But no.  Shes on the couch, on her favorite brown blankie and she is DEMANDING treats and a belly rub.  Once she got that though, she did go right to sleep.  I can tell she is definitely tired, but as you can see from the video below, she is more than happy to accept a belly rub.  That’s my little girl 🙂

So.  That’s where we are right now.  The next treatment will be 1/29 and that will be the doxorubicin.

Here are some pics from her days today and a video:

Please rub my belly

Sleepy Sleepy Baby

There is not much to update,  which I think is GOOD news! Things are hopping along wonderfully here as we wait for Jill’s January 8th oncology appointment. She just amazes me everyday!  I wanted to say happy new year to everyone  in the tripawds family. You have all been such a tremendous support system for us through this journey. I hope this new year brings us all lots of wonderful moments with our furbabies and good health. Here are some recent pics and video:

Scar at day 20. I must say I think it looks GAWgeous

FaceTiming with her favorite puppy

Today is 2 weeks since Jill’s amputation!  I can’t believe how time flies!  Today was also my first day back at work since the surgery and my, did I have some separation anxiety!

We celebrated by going out in the snow for a trip to the vet to have her stitches removed…I was not pleased about this, because I don’t know how many of you know how hard it is to get a cab in NYC in the snow, but it’s not pleasant!  And poor little Jilly is now missing 1/4 of her fur!  I didn’t want her to freeze….so I packed up her carrier with her new snuggly blanket and packed her in tightly and off we went.  She was all snuggled up under the covers, I felt so bad having to do this to her:

Everyone was so happy to see her and watch her hop around like a pro – nothing makes Mama prouder!  They pass her around at the vet for hugs and she starts licking all their faces 🙂  Doc says everything looks great, the incision is healing wonderfully.  She still has a little bit of fluid, but it’s gone down a lot and we should give it another week or so.  If it’s not all gone by then, I should give them a ring.  Other than that, she looks great and I can call the oncologist to make an appointment for our consult.

So.  One hurdle, check!….onto the next….

The oncologist unfortunately does not have an appointment available until January 8th which really disappointments me, I would really like to go ASAP and ZAP whatever cancer might be left in her out!  I guess I will just have to be patient though…

I am amazed at what a trooper my little kitty has been through all of this.  I know we are all proud pawrents, but I really think she is handling this the best any little animal could.  Nothing seems to faze her.  The only time she really seems to stumble is when she’s just woken up, but other than that, she’s steady on her feet.  It’s funny to see the new positions she finds herself comfortable in.  She seems to be comfortable “sitting” against me, which she never did before with her two little front feet on me:

JACK ON THE OTHER HAND….poor guy.  I had suspected Jill was having some problems pooping in the litter box, because I had found some poop directly next to the litter box a few times.  HOWEVER, two nights ago, I caught him in the act!  I suspect it is because he does not like the litter I am currently using (it’s paper litter that the vet recommended while Jill’s scar heals).  Hopefully once I can go back to the old litter, he will be ok!  JEESH, can’t you give your mom a break lil guy???

Here are two pics of her incision from today, one before the stitches came out and one after.  I must say I am so pleased with how great it looks!

Before Stitches Removal

After Removal

And here are two videos of her hopping around the apartment for you to enjoy 🙂

Well I think that’s it for now!

XoXo,

Erica & Jill

Well it’s been 8 days since Jill’s rear leg amputation and so far (knock wood) all is right with the world….I haven’t really updated much, because it’s been pretty uneventful!…oh and I’ve also been stuck in this position basically since she’s been home:

Day 4 at home, Day 7 post surgery was her first day without any painkillers of any kind.  I was a little nervous.  How will I know if she needs any?  Well.  It was like a whole new kitty.  The first 3 days at home she was so tired, she didn’t eat much and really just wanted to sleep.  On Day 4, it was almost like she was saying to me, “Ma, I’ve had enough, let’s play”.  So it was a little hard to keep her still, but after a few hours of her squirming around, I think she wore herself out a little and back to sleep she went.  Her hop is getting so great.  She’s still not able to get on the bed or couch without the pillow steps I created, but she’s trying to.  I don’t want her to try, because I’m scared she’s going to rip her stitches.  But hey, she’s a cat.  It’s astonishing to me how the first day when I brought her home, she would fall every couple of steps and now she’s basically running.  I will try to get some video at some point, but she’s pretty speedy!

I left the apartment today for a little bit and boy did I get a guilty puppy dog look when saying goodbye:

anyway when I got home, the little weasel wormed her way out of the onesie I put on her when I’m not supervising her so she doesn’t bite at her stitches.  She hasn’t been attempting to bite them yet, but she has been going to lick them, and she’s particularly interested in licking the seroma.  Well, I know I’m being a bad mom, but I refuse to put the E-Collar on her.  It makes her so depressed.  So I went to the pet store to see if they had any suggestions and they suggested this cute little Kong Cloud Collar.  At first, she was giving me a little bit of a ‘tude about wearing it:

However, it only took about ten minutes for her to get used to it and I honestly don’t even think she knows it’s on anymore.  It is specifically made for dogs, so I think it should work well for dogs, but I can only tell you about my experience with it with Jill.

What Donut?

Well I think that’s it for now!  Hoping it stays just as quiet as it has been….next up is getting her stitches out next Wednesday and then off to the oncologist to discuss chemo options….

Happy Holidays to everyone (don’t worry, these pics were taken PRIOR to amputation, I wouldn’t torture her in her current state!)…Love,

Erica & Jill  (and Jack!)

Ho Ho Ho

Don’t forget about me!

I completely forget to mention this in one of my earlier posts – but I just wanted to share this quick story.  I was in the pet store a few days before Jill’s surgery, it’s a local, small pet store, just to give you an idea (not a petco or a large chain).  I came upon the softest blanket/bed thing (I’m not really sure how to describe it) that I knew Jill would love and she would really enjoy post-surgery.  I knew it was going to be expensive, but figured I would ask how much it was anyway.  There was only one person working that night so I asked her and she told me it was $90.  Well.  Forget that.  I love Jill, but she already has plenty of beds, plus she really only likes to sleep in mine anyway lol.  But this thing is really soft and I do know she will love it…..as I’m checking out, I tell the saleslady about Jill and her upcoming surgery and she says to me, “Oh my.  Well.  I would really love for her to have that blanket to recover with.  If you don’t tell anyone, I will let you use my employee discount and have it for 65% off.”  !!!!!

I almost started crying right there.  What a kind thing to do for a kitty she had never met before.  I love animal people and I can’t wait to go back to show her the pictures of Jill curled up on her new blankie, because as you can see in these two pictures, she is in love with it!  I just wanted to share this kind story, because it warmed my heart 🙂

Well.  This is exhausting!  I am so so happy my little baby girl is home, but I refuse to take my eyes off of her.  I got really lucky that I had already had a vacation planned for this week, so I am home with her ALL week 🙂

The first 24 hours, I was terrified she was going to hurt herself.  She’s so delicate and really was not getting the hang of walking at all.  She fell down everytime she tried to stand up and I really have to admit, my heart was breaking and I thought “oh no, mine is going to be the animal that doesn’t figure out how to walk on three legs”.  She seemed completely and utterly terrified unless I had my hand on her, in which case she felt safe.  The very first thing she wanted to do when she got out of her case was go up on the bed (her favorite spot in the apartment) and she definitely could not get up.  My heart was really breaking.  Instead of encouraging her to do anything, I  promptly put her up on the couch on her favorite quilt and just kissed her and rubbed her belly for hours and hours.  I am so happy she has not lost her desire to be snuggled.  Here are two pictures from our first 8 hours home:

At bedtime, I knew I was going to have a problem.  I gave her a few options of some comfy beds to lay on the floor with, but I KNEW she was going to sit by the bed and cry and want to sleep with me.  I toyed with the idea of sleeping on the floor with her, but then I came up with a crafty way to set up the pillows on my bed so she could sleep with me and not fall off.  We slept the night away (well she did, I never really fell into a deep sleep because I was so worried) and she didn’t move a muscle all night.

Day Two at home was much better.  She’s pretty sleepy from the pain medicine.  She is currently on three doses a day of Buprenex.  She was given a fentanyl drip at the hospital, so she was not sent home with a patch which I am VERY happy about.  The Buprenex makes her very sleepy though.  I can tell about 45 minutes to an hour before shes getting her next dose that she seems much more lively and active.  She even gets up to use the litter box and test out her new hop.  She was hopping around much better on day two and we even figured out a way for her to get up on the bed with a clever pillow set up which you can see in the video below.  I’m amazed how much better she is getting around in just one day.  She’s having no litter box problems at all, which I was really worried about.  I am still petrified to take my eyes off of her in case she takes a spill, but for the first time in my life I am thankful that I live in a 500 sq ft apartment!  I can’t imagine doing this if I lived in a house!  I’m still not sure if I should LET her try to do things or not because shes still healing…..any advice?

Day Two also brought about her biopsy results.  I wasn’t really sure what I was hoping for, but it turns out this new nodule is a met from the original giant cell osteosarcoma that was on her toe.  We will now go to the oncologist in about two weeks once she is all healed to discuss chemo options.  It is breaking my heart (a lot of that going on in the last couple of days!) that after putting her through this surgery she now may have to go through chemo.  I have been told chemo is much easier on cats than it is on people and dogs, but I still feel horrible about it.

Jack seems pretty good about this whole thing!  I am trying to give him as much attention as I can – yesterday he went right up to Jill’s new bald spot and sniffed it like “Hey girl, where’d ya leg go??”  It was pretty comical.

Overall, I am so thankful for many things.  I am so happy that Jill is such a snuggly, easy going cat.  I know so many other cats that are skittish that would probably have come home from the hospital and hid for a week after going through this.  All Jill wants to do right now is be held and pet.  My mom keeps telling me she is going to be miserable when I go back to work, so I will have to ease off that a little!

I also wanted to mention, for future tripawd owners this one thing so it doesn’t worry you, because it worried me!  Jill has developed this pouch of fluid above her scar.  It sort of looks like it could be a fat belly and at first I asked the vet if I just never noticed she was fat, but no, it’s fluid build up.  The vet said to just keep an eye on it, if it gets hot I should bring her in.  It could stay around for about a week or so.  I tried to capture it in a picture, this was the best I could do, but it’s actually bigger in person (sorry for the yucky picture, but I definitely thought it would be helpful for future pawrents!):

Well that is it for now, I am going to see what day three at home brings!  Here are some pictures from day 2 when she was more alert and a video of her getting up on the bed (after five different pillow arrangement attempts!)

xoxo,

Erica & Jill

At bedtime….I thought she would stay here but noooo

Her favorite quilt

Hello to all my fans!

Not too much to update as Jill is still at the hospital until tomorrow, but here’s a quick update and a few pictures of my baby girl.

Day 2 – Still on the Fentanyl drip, so still feeeeeeelin’ good 😉  I sat with her for about an hour and for most of the time, she laid her head in my hand and purred away.  She also ate a good deal of food for me (see video below)!  When I called to check on her later, the vet told me it was the only time she ate all day….I guess these animals really do recognize their people!  She had a bit of swelling at the site of her IV, but the vet said not to worry about it.

Day 3 – No more narcotics, so I was a little worried she would be in pain when she saw me, but nope!  She rolled right on her back for a belly rub.  We did that for about five minutes and then she gobbled up some food.  She then tried to stand a little bit, but wasn’t quite getting the hang of it yet.  She then laid her head down for literally an hour and a half and dreamed away, whiskers twitching and everything while I held her head with one hand and rubbed her belly with the other.  I’m so glad she hasn’t lost her sweetness!  Vet says everything is looking on track for her to come home tomorrow!  I’m a little (OK, a lot) nervous to bring her home.  She seems so delicate now.  As for pain medications, the vet was going to put her on a buprenex drip for the rest of the night and then send her home with syringes of that that I can give to her myself.  I already have practice with that from her toe amputation and shes very good at taking it, so we’re good to go!  When the nurse came to take her away, she let out a sad meow 🙁 but I assured her we will have plenty of time to re-bond over the next week! (I fortunately already had a vacation from work planned!)

Here are some pics from day 2 & 3!

Sweet Girl

Looking a bit more alert

the Boo-Boo 🙁

My hand was asleep at this point, but there was no way I was moving it!

Surgery Day

So, today was the big day.  I woke up this morning after a horrible night of sleep, because selfish Jack was screaming for food all night.  I mean, really?  Your little friend is about to lose a limb.  You can fast for 8 hours buddy.  Jill and I had a nice snuggle this morning, and off we went.  I actually wasn’t nearly as emotional as I thought I would be, just a general feeling of complete nausea!

I brought the nice ladies at the front desk a big box of munchkins as a “Happy Holidays, thanks for everything” gift (read: bribe) and then the nurse came out and ripped my little one from my arms 🙁  She told me the surgery would be “sometime this morning”…so off I went to wait.  At around Noon, the surgeon called and told me everything went great and it was probably the best feeling I’ve had in a while.  The waiting really is the worst part.  She confirmed that this new nodule is not on bone at all, it was under her skin.  So the mystery continues….

The vet was having their annual holiday party tonight, so while I was told I couldn’t visit Jill until tomorrow, they were going to have to bring armed guards to keep me from going in the back to see her.  It wasn’t actually too difficult 🙂  The nurses brought me right back and there she was….HIGH AS A KITE!  Seriously, give me some of what she was having!  The nurses told me she was already trying to stand a little bit and had already gone to the bathroom twice by herself (poop and pee).  I don’t get easily grossed out at all, so the scar wasn’t shocking to me – especially since I have this terrific website that has prepared me for what to expect.  I sat there for a while and just rubbed her little head and chest and she was purring a little and a doing a little bit of kneading actually!  I am so happy she was feeling well enough to do that.  Heck, it seemed to me like she might have the munchies. I’m so happy she is at a hospital that is so caring and lets me come visit whenever I want.  She is going to be staying until Saturday, and you cant bet I will be there everyday until then 🙂

While I was in the back, there was a couple saying goodbye to their dog who was being put down.  It was heart wrenching and it really put things in perspective for me.  I am so lucky to have however much time I have with Jill.  I am glad for everyday that I have with her.  I am anxious to hear back about the biopsy of this nodule, but we will get through it and we’ll get through the chemo and I’ll cherish every moment I have with her.

Here are some pictures and a video of her  (warning one is a little graphic of her scar)………..Now on to recovery!

Here we are snuggling before we leave for the hospital…please excuse my just woke up look 🙂

Hi Mama!

OOOOH this is goooood stuff

Ok…I won’t lie.  I’m mildly freaking out.  Multiple things are going through my mind.  I should tell you, I went through a very bad experience when Jack was neutered.  You know, neutered.  As in “Oh, don’t worry, it’s the simplest procedure they do hundreds of them a day.”  Poor lil guy had a very bad reaction to anesthesia and we didn’t know if he would make it.  He had to be hospitalized for about a week, a kitty neurologist was consulted and so on.  Thank goodness he pulled through, but the whole thing pretty much traumatized me, so as you can imagine, anytime one of my babys has to be put under, I don’t like it.  It makes me nuts.  And that was just a simple neutering….

I’ve tried to keep myself busy, but all I can really seem to do is google “cat leg amputation” “preparing for your cat’s leg amputation” “cat osteosarcoma”….etc……I seem to be driving myself crazy.  I’m not really sure how I’m going to get myself through tomorrow, but reading everything on these blogs and forums has been such a big help.  I know that since all of you have gotten through it, so can I.

I know it’s much harder on us than it is on them, but the thought of her waking up and spending three nights in the hospital not knowing where she is makes me so sad 🙁  maybe she will meet a nice little friend there….

I will keep you all posted tomorrow!

Chill Mom, I got this

A Shopping we will go!

There’s  nothing this gal likes to do more than shop, so when I read that I should get some onesies for Jill to wear after her surgery, I was pretty excited about the idea.  I knew it would give me something to do to keep my mind off the upcoming surgery and I am very fortunate that Jill wont mind wearing these at all (as you can see from the video below, she actually is quite comfy in them! I will definitely have to cut the sleeves and make them short sleeved with all the kneading she does!)   She does, however, HATE wearing the E-Collar.  It depresses her, she wont move when she is wearing it at all.  So this alternative sounded great to me.  And my Jill can’t just wear any old onesie….so off to the stores I went.  And here are some pictures of her modeling her new digs 🙂  Oh, and don’t worry, the “whining” you hear at the end of the video is not my Jilly, it’s the puppy wanting to play 🙂