Neuroendocrine Tumor - What Will Stop It Forever?

It has been a long time since I last blogged. I have been busy. Things have been mostly good. I got to see my boy at Christmas and spend some time with him again. That was good! I even helped him open his presents, but they weren't any good. No mice or catnip!!

The past three months I have been on a different kind of chemo than Palladia. Since the end of October I have been on Chlorambucil. It has worked very well for almost three months. My calcium levels have been down and all my other numbers have been in the normal range.

Unfortunately, the chemo/Chlorambucil may have stopped working. It's too soon to say, but my calcium levels are creeping back up and I have lost two pounds. I am throwing up once on most days, usually in the early morning hours. It is a small, watery, yellow-green color throw up and we are not sure what that means. I haven't thrown up in four days now so mom is happy about that.

Yesterday she took me to Bluepearl Specialty clinic in Tampa for my three month check-up. I was not happy about being left at that place since I prefer staying at home and cat napping all day. I gave her a big stink eye when she took a picture of me at the clinic. It was scary when she left, but they are very nice at Bluepearl. Except the blood taking part. I don't like having blood taken from my neck and then smelling like alcohol for the rest of the day. Cadence thinks I smell funny when I get home too.

The initial blood test results were not good. We found out I had lost two pounds. We also found out that my liver is larger than last time and the tumor has gotten bigger. My calcium has gone from 10.3 to 11.3 which is the high side of normal.

Mom knew something was going on with my calcium levels because I am drinking more. Sometimes I will jump up on the bathroom counter and wait for someone to come in and turn the water on. Sometimes I will drink and sometimes I will not. The vet joked that I just wanted to run the water bill up.

 Yes! I hadn't even thought of that! That would totally make dad upset. In the past I would love doing that, but now I just don't feel well.

Today I have spent most of the day sunbathing on the lanai. It's nice outside and not cold anymore.

We are waiting to hear back from the vet regarding what to do about taking the chemo pills (Chlorambucil). I am still on the heart medicine - Atenelol, the diuretic -Lasix and the appetite stimulant-Cyproheptadine.

It is harder to get me to take the Vital pet lipids and Celloquent from Vitality Science with ES Clear added. I don't like the way it tastes. I run and hide under the bed when I see it coming in the syringe. When I'm caught and forced to take it, most of it flies out of my mouth.

Life Gold Cancer drops and milk thistle drops from Pet Wellbeing are added to my soft food in the morning and evening, but since I'm not eating much of it, I'm probably not taking in very much of the drops.

Three months.

Three months on Palladia.

Three months so far on Chlorambucil.

Nothing seems to stop this tumor for long.

Three months.

Now we need to find something else to do.

Hopefully, something that will last longer than three months.

Moving And Not Feeling Good, Better Now Though!

The past several weeks have been a little hectic for me and my family. In October we moved back to Birmingham from Pensacola Beach for a couple of weeks to get our house ready to put on the market and to pack up everything that was left there.

During that time I had to go to Auburn University Small Animal hospital for the big four month checkup. I had been on Palladia for my cancer since July and Atenolol and Lasix for my heart since April.

They shaved my stomach for the ultrasound, took blood and poked and prodded at me while mom killed time at Dunkin Donuts. I didn't get an echo cardiogram during this exam because I'm not due for one until December.

The news wasn't good.

My tumors had grown and spread to more of my liver and my calcium levels were starting to go up again after being normal for almost three months.

The Palladia was not working anymore.

The vets suggested IV chemo, but that wasn't an option at that point because we were moving 8 or 9 hours away to the Tampa area so this was probably going to be my last visit to Auburn. The other alternative was a new chemo drug called Chlorambucil and an appetite stimulant/serotonin depressant called Cyproheptadine.

I took these two pills every day for almost two weeks. My appetite improved and I pigged out even on the grain free food that none of us cats really like very well. I started feeling better briefly.

We moved during that time to the Tampa/St Pete area and drove several hours. I did pretty good on the trip.

A few days later I became very sick. After 2 weeks on the new meds, I was sleeping more, not eating much again and feeling lethargic so mom stopped giving me the pills and called Auburn. They told her not to give me any more of the pills until I had my two week blood work. We had to find a new vet in Tampa. Auburn suggested BluePearl. They have an Oncology specialist there so mom made the appointment.

 Last Monday we went to BluePearl for my check up. I was already feeling better after being off the chemo for a few days.

At BluePearl they did bloodwork, a checkup, another ultrasound and also went ahead and did the echo cardiogram on my heart so we won't have to do it next month and they could get a baseline of where I am at right now. They were very nice and we felt very comfortable knowing they were referred by Auburn Veterinary hospital and the vet was an Auburn grad herself. It was a long day of testing and waiting for me and mom but...

Good mews!

The chemo was working. My calcium levels had gone back down to normal again. My tumors were the same - no bigger and no signs of spread, no heart murmur, but the walls of my heart are a little thick and therefore the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy diagnosis still stands, but I have no signs of heart failure.

Also, all my blood work was normal and liver levels normal, no signs of liver failure from drugs.

The vets suggestion was to continue the Chlorambucil, but every other day instead of every day and continue the Atenolol, but slowly wean off the Lasix.

Mom also started giving me the krill oil, herbal anti inflammatory and a little celloquent every day although I don't like it and always try to run. I do better with pills that syringes of liquids. Mom had stopped giving it to me every day when I started on the new chemo drug. She does think it makes me feel better though and is still looking for a holistic vet to help combine the holistic with the traditional.

So far she hasn't been able to find one. The one she thought she found never sent the herbal meds that were promised. We are not sure what happened, but don't want to go back there either because we would rather find a vet that combines both types of approaches since I am on chemo and have a very aggressive type of cancer.

I am doing much better right now taking chemo every other day and eating grain free food for the most part and doing the immune protocol along with milk thistle and a few drops of life gold cancer drops in my food.

Now mom is looking for another, yes ANOTHER, local vet to do bloodwork and regular exams. BluePearl is just a specialty vet and we need to find a regular vet to do bloodwork, get prescriptions, etc. We found out I had cancer right before we moved to Pensacola Beach and now we have moved again to St. Petersburg, FL. I have gone to my normal vet in Birmingham, AL, a vet in Pensacola Beach, FL, Auburn University Animal hospital, BluePearl, a holistic vet and now another vet in St. Pete.

This has been a long, tiring, scary, not to mention expensive process. Please pray for me to keep getting better and stronger and make this cancer go away forever.

Purrrs and headbonks to all my furrylicious blog readers.

A Visit From My Boy

Saturday I wasn't feeling well. I laid around all day and didn't eat much. Mom was worried about me, but that all changed when my boy showed up. Cadence ran off scared when he saw the boy, but I recognized him immediately even though I don't get to see him much anymore. I felt better right away and may have even purred a little.

My boy is in his third year of college now and has Asperger's syndrome. So do I. It was something else we had in common. Other things we have in common are the boy use to follow mom around meowing loudly and pawing at her too. She didn't like this, especially when the boy was in high school  Mom bought a book once that said all cats have Asperger's. We read it every night after the boy was diagnosed.

The boy has his own apartment. Last summer he came home for a few weeks, but not this year. He hardly comes home at all anymore because he has a part time job now. I miss him!

He's been my boy for over eight years now. While he was here he slept in my room and I jumped on the bed and slept with him.  Just like old times. I didn't even mind him picking me up and holding me. I usually don't like to be held, but I made an exception for my boy.

I've got another big red krill oil stain on the side of my face. Mom is using a dropper now instead of a syringe. It works better until I turn my head suddenly, then it ends up all over me and all over the floor. I don't mind licking it off the floor. I don't like the dropper or the syringe. Mom's afraid to put it in my food because then I may not get the entire dose.

This is what I get every day because of the cancer.

1. In the morning I get organic soft food with Nu Pet Granular and a few drops of milk thistle sprinkled over it. Then I get 4 drops of Herbal anti-Inflammatory from Vitality Science mixed in cat milk.

2. Then every other day I get the Palladia pills. Mom doesn't like giving me these, but she's afraid not too. My calcium levels have gone down since taking them. Sometimes she skips and goes two days instead of every other day. On the days she doesn't give me the Palladia she gives me a few drops of Life Gold Cancer Drops from Pet Wellbeing.

3. In the afternoon I get Atenolol and Lasix for my heart. I had developed a heart murmur when all of this started so mom took me to a cardiologist who said I had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. My heart was enlarged and shaped like a valentine heart. Not good. When they finally took me to Auburn, I didn't have a murmur anymore and my heart wasn't enlarged after three months on the meds. I am still on the meds though.

4. In the evening I have another can of organic soft food (one can divided among three cats same as in the morning) sprinkled with Nu Pet Granular and a few drops of milk thistle.

5. Right before bed I get the krill oil and something called Celloquent both from Vitality Science. These are shot right in my mouth with a dropper because the syringe didn't work at all and I don't like either of these things in my soft food. Sometimes I have a little cat milk with a few drops of NHV ES Clear in it.

6. I have bowls of filtered or distilled water and Life's Abundance organic hard food set out for me at all times. I usually eat the hard food around 4 or 5 am. 

Friday I go back to the vet for the blood chemo panel. They will fax the results to Auburn. I hope my calcium is still normal. I am doing much better now than I was in June before I started the holistic meds and the Palladia.

Mom hopes the cancer goes away forever. So do I.