Introduction

My name is Phantom. I am an 8 year old tuxedo cat originally from Alabama, but now living in Florida.    When I was a kitten, I was adopted by a single mom and her son, who was 12 years old at the time. He immediately became my boy and I will refer to him as the Boy on this blog.

The Boy has a condition called Asperger's Syndrome that is an Autism Spectrum disorder. Now there is a lot known about it and many kids are diagnosed with it, but back then nobody knew about it much and the Boy wasn't even diagnosed with it until he was 13 years old. His mom, who is my mom too now, only knew that something was wrong. He struggled in school and with making friends.

That's where I came in.

She thought that by adopting me it would help the Boy become more social, help with his anxiety and give him something to help take care of.

A friend.

But I did more than that. I made them feel like a family again. Mom was afraid that I was lonely when they were at work and school so she decided to adopt a second kitten to keep me company.

She named him Cadence.

I didn't like Cadence one bit at first. Even now I only tolerate him because he is my brother and he loves me. He's not so bad, but he's still a cry baby. When she first brought Cadence home I attacked him and chased him trying to show him who was boss. Mom was afraid I was going to hurt him so she tried to return him to the humane society, but they wouldn't take him back even though she still had her receipt. They gave her web sites to go to so she could learn how to socialize cats to make us like each other.

We were stuck with Cadence.

Mom got on the web sites and learned how to socialize us a little better and I backed off once Cadence knew who was boss around the house. He really liked me and wanted to snuggle all the time. I allowed it when he was a kitten, but as he got bigger- enough was enough. I can't have that snuggling crap.

Things went along great and then when the Boy was a senior in high school, mom got engaged to the Murph. We sold our house and moved into his house which was fine except he had two cats of his own, Ed and Boo.

They were old cats. Boo could barely see or hear and he liked to play with dolls. I liked him okay and was sad when he passed away last year suddenly. We think he may have had a heart attack. He was fine one minute and the next he was gasping for air. He was gone before mom and the Murph could get him to the emergency vet.

It was very, very sad!

Ed, on the other hand, is a challenge. I don't really like him. I've tried, but I guess since he was the dominate male before I came along and he's a pretty boy, sassy sort, it has just been really hard. I go after him, I get squirted with water, I get put in time out, but I can't stop.

Last April we moved to Florida - Mom, the Murph, me, Cadence and Ed. The Boy is in college now, so I don't get to see him much. That really sucks. I miss him very much. He misses me too!

Things were still going along good despite the Boy not being around and having to deal with Ed until last December.  I started to not feel well. Mom didn't notice it much at first. I threw up some, but all cats do. I always nibble on the Christmas trees and I throw up. She thought this was why I was throwing up, but I continued even in February when no trees were around. Then she noticed I had lost a lot of weight and one day I threw up and then went to lay on the bed for the rest of the day. She knew then that something was wrong. I never do that. I usually feel better and get okay after throwing up.

Something was wrong.

She took me to the vet and they heard a heart murmur that wasn't there 7 months before when I had to go to the vet because I had fleas. My calcium levels were also elevated. The vet put me on lasix to get the fluid out of my lungs and special easy to digest food to help keep me from throwing up. He told mom to take me to a cardiologist. We got an appointment a few weeks later and found out I had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an enlarged valentine shape heart with thickened walls.

I was put on Atenolol as well as lasix.

Mom thought that was it. She thought the reason I was sick was because of my heart and now that I was on medication I would get better or at the very least not get worse. The vet said we still needed to keep an eye on my calcium levels. I was put on a different food so he thought that may be why it continued to be elevated, but he said it could be thyroid related or even cancer.

We waited a couple of weeks and then took my blood again and was going to send it the Michigan University for testing to see if my thyroid was the problem. They have a more sensitive test at the university that would be able to tell.  I also had another physical and x-rays.

Unfortunately, during the second round of x-rays a tumor was found in my abdomen. Cancer. The worst possible thing!

The tumor had been there before, but the vet thought it was just food going through my intestines. Then they did an ultrasound and saw that the tumor was in and near my liver. No blood was sent to Michigan that day. The vet told my mom that she should just take me home and enjoy our last days together at that point and deal with any new problems as the arose.

She took me home and cried for two whole days! I didn't really understand why. It was very upsetting. I was feeling so sick that I slept most of the time and hid under the bed whenever I could.

Then mom decided I was too young to just let die without trying to save me. She got a referral from my vet in Birmingham, AL and we went to Auburn University Small Animal Hospital. We had to leave really early to get to our appointment on time and the appointment took all day. A cardiologist did an electrocardiogram and said my heart was no longer enlarged. I guess the atenolol had helped. They shaved my neck to take blood, my stomach to do a biopsy of my liver and my leg so they could put in an IV.

They gave me some drug that made me all groggy so I don't remember much of that day. Mom said I was out of it and was purring and stumbling around like a drunk Irishman. ( I won't even say what she calls the Murph after he's had a few beers!)

The news was not good. I have a neuroendocrine tumor in my abdomen and it is difused (or something) in 90% of my liver. They said my prognosis was poor, but they suggested one chemo type drug called Palladia. Surgery and radiation were not an option. This was my only hope.

Mom decided to do the Palladia. Now I get one orange pill and one blue pill every other day. She has to wear plastic gloves whenever she gives it to me. She also decided to give me some holistic stuff to help build my immune system and clear out toxins. She's also called on an energy healer who told her to put me on only organic food and filtered water. No chemicals.

We've been doing this for over a month and now and after 5 weeks. my blood levels are all normal. I no longer have a heart murmur and I am eating and doing generally good.  I have to get my blood checked every 2 - 4 weeks to make sure the Palladia is not doing any bad stuff to my blood and I go back to Auburn in October for the whole round of blood, ultrasounds and xray's, etc. to see how my liver and heart are doing.

This blog is about my day to day life battling this disease, what works, what doesn't and hopefully will be helpful to any other kitties out there who find themselves with cancer and stumble across my blog. I will try to do regular updates as long as mom lets me borrow her computer.

Meow!