Additions to the Prego list

more who will deliver sometime between now and Oct 31.

Katie H

Jennifer W

Sarah A

Laura BT

I expect more to be added...I swear there is a boom right now.

My Sweet Angel

Dear Sweet Beans,

I miss you so much tonight. My heart is aching right now, wishing I could pet your sweet face. I hope you are in kitty heaven right now, purring, eating, and cuddling up on a soft blanket. I wish you were right beside me.

I am heartbroken, missing you. You were the only witness to so many moments of my life. You helped me become the adult that I am and saw me change through many of the biggest years of my life. You were there for me on so many nights when I was all by myself, feeling like my life would always be lonely. I never felt lonely with you there. You saw me through the end of my college years. You saw my first years of teaching and were there to join me in the home office when my career took a change. You saw my first apartment and every single other place that we lived together as a pair. You saw me love and get my heart broken, and when I finally found Chad, you loved him too. You offered comfort, taught me patience, made me laugh when I didn't think I could. You were my little man, and I can't believe you are gone.

A huge piece of my life died yesterday and this hole in my heart weighs heavier than I thought was possible. I hope your last moments were of comfort and that you know how beloved you were to all of us.

I love you little man. I miss you every moment.

Love always,

Mama

Beans Jones (May 1998-March 2010)

http://beansisagoodkitty.blogspot.com

So many pregos

There has got to be a serious baby boom going on. If Iwere to try to list all of the women I know who have either given birth since Jan 1 or are due sometime between now and mid October, I would miss a few because there are just so many...sheesh! Some of these folks are out of town and are people that I may not have all that regular contact with if it weren't for FB, but you have to agree that it is a long list of pregos. (sorry if I missed anyone)

Holly S
Anne O
Ami H
Lisa U
Kim MG
Tara H
Elise C
Tiffany B
Tom O's wife
Shana L
Dana B
Trista H
Kristin B
Christie B
Erin D
Jennifer L
Nichole S
Tammy S
me
Kristy from work
Traci B
Valerie N
Wyoming S
Steve G's wife
Erin M

Beans Update - hopeful

Wow, today did not go how I thought it would go. Two Fridays ago, Beans went in for his transfusion and his PCV was 17. Last week at his checkup on Wednesday, his PCV had dropped a little to 15. I prepared myself for this medicine to not take effect. Beans has been hanging in there personality-wise, staying social with the other kitties and coming to get petted from Chad and me. He seemed to enjoy his little routines throughout the day. All of that, until the past 36 hours...he has vomited twice, started hiding this morning, and seemed to be uncomfortable on his hind legs (a new symptom).

I went to the vet worried and expecting horrible news. I was prepared for his PCV to be down to 10-12 and for us to have the discussion about putting Beans down. I expected the worst. What we got instead was different news...

Beans's PCV went up! Well, without getting overly excited, it went back up to 16-17, so it didn't go up all that much, but it is the first time in a month that it has gone up! Even Dr. Faught expected the number to go down. It was such a pleasant surprise!!! So, we wait another week to confirm that he is continuing to respond to the Chlorambucin. In the meantime, instead of going to extreme measures to determine the cause of the discomfort in his legs, we're going to give him some pain meds to see if the pain goes away on its own. If he still has the spine/leg pain after the meds, then we can talk. That will likely involve an MRI or CT scan (more expenses), so we need to know that his blood counts are going up and that he might beat this IMHA before we spend a bunch of extra money. If we were lottery winners or had a ton of money to throw around, I would have him start looking into the leg pain today just in case.

I'm excited about giving Beans his new drugs tonight. He also got a new anti-emetic to help with the vomiting. He seems to do best when he is on one that is working, so that combined with the pain meds should make for one calm and happy cat.

Oh my gosh I'm trying not to get my hopes up!

Out and About

We have had simply fabulous weather for the past week in Austin, and I'm proud to admit that I went outside to enjoy it almost every day, even if it wasn't for exercise. Today, Chad and I put on our trail shoes and went to the greenbelt to hike. I offered to start at any trailhead he wanted to, so we both picked the Hill of Life (off of Scottish Woods Dr, if you are not familiar). The sun was out, 75-80 degrees, light breeze, just perfect! We descended the hill and checked out the water, which was flowing well. Plenty of people were out swimming, walking dogs, and kayaking, but it didn't seem overcrowded.

We hiked the flat creekside trail to the left and made it to Scupture Falls. During the hike we were able to see a group of three kayakers go down the series of small waterfalls on the way. We also saw them navigate Sculpture Falls in front of a large crowd of onlookers who were out sunbathing, drinking, swimming, and tossing balls to their dogs. I don't think I have ever seen kayakers do rapids/falls like that live (not on tv). It was really cool!

I'm proud of myself for making it up the HOL without stopping (except for two seconds to pet a couple of dogs). I didn't run it, of course, but I did have a pretty steady pace the whole way. Woohoo! For those of you who don't know what the HOL is, it is a huge hill (not sure how long it is, but I would guess somewhere between .6 and .8 mile) and is quite steep and rocky. We used it week after week all summer long to do hill repeats when we trained for Pikes Peak. I have much respect for the hill and can proudly say that if I wasn't pregnant and if we were both walking, I could probably beat most of you who are reading this up the hill Anyhow, it brought back at least one positive memory of Pikes Peak training, the most miserable summer of training I have ever experienced.

Beans on Monday (with pic)

I know you want to know how Beans is doing today. So far, he is doing okay. This past weekend was interesting getting to reacqaint ourselves with his regular personality. The new anti-nausea/anti-vomiting drug he is on (Reglan) has been working like a charm. Beans has been consistently interested in food since Friday evening and ate like a champ all weekend.

One issue that we discovered this weekend is the fact that Beans's new appetite means that he now fully exhibits the signs of an anemic cat...he started trying to eat his cat litter. He has been so nauseated and sick so far that he hadn't really been interested in eating anything, but now that his interest in food has come back, the litter was definitely a surprise to us. If you have never heard of this or think it is gross, google 'pica'. It is a symptom found in anemic animals (as well as pregnant women) when they are trying to get certain minerals into their diet. As you can imagine, it is quite dangerous, especially when we use clumping litter. We immediately replaced the clay litter with the 'Feline Pine' litter so that Beans wouldn't become even more sick. Honestly, I'm still watching him for any signs that he may be 'plugged up', but so far it doesn't appear that he got very much litter in his system. Don't worry, I haven't had any tendencies towards pica during this pregnancy either.

Chad and I purchased some very high quality canned food for Beans at Bark n Purr. We also got a supplement to add to his food in order to try to give him plenty of iron in his diet. The goal is to get him the highest quality food with high levels of iron to try to get him producing red blood cells more easily while the new drug takes effect. Ultimately we need the new drug to suppress his lymphocytes, while his own body to continue to produce new red blood cells.

Beans also got a new bed! He has been feeling so weak and after practically two weeks spent hiding in our closet, I figured he would like a new cushion to rest on. Costco had a super soft bed for 15 bucks that I had already spotted last month, so when we passed by it in the store, I grabbed it and immediately knew Beans would love it. Chad and I joked about how folks buy pet beds with the best intentions and the cat/dog wants nothing to do with it. I think he figured that we would put the bed down in the house and it would sit, empty, while our cats continued to lounge on our chairs, the carpet, or on our bed. Nope. Not Beans! I sprinkled some catnip in the bed and he knew exactly what to do...

He loves it! Beans is actually sitting in it right next to me now as I'm typing, punching (milking) the padded sides and purring. I love this kitty!

Beans on Friday

He got his second blood transfusion today, this time from 18.5 pound kitty donor Jasmine. When I picked him up, his nose was so much pinker than it was this morning, I was startled to realize how pale he actually had been. He has been meowing and eating since he got home (a half can of fancy feast in his belly now), and overall is much happier. This will likely only last a few days, but it sure nice to see him comfortable.

Beans is now on Chlorambucil (Leukeran), which had to be specially compounded for him at the pharmacy today. It came in its own special warning bag stating 'chemotherapy drug' that also contained a latex glove to wear when handling it. I bought extra gloves at the pharmacy for both Chad and I to wear if we need it. The pharmacist assured me that even without all of the extra precautions we are taking, I would be fine coming into contact with the intact pills as long as I thoroughly wash my hands. If a pill breaks open for some reason, we would need to be more careful. Either way, Chad is going to learn how to give Beans the pills and we'll both have on gloves as backup protection.

He also got a new antinausea drug that is supposed to work better than the last one he was on. Woohoo! I told the doctor that if these were the last days for Beans, I definitely wanted him to be able to enjoy his single greatest joy in life - eating food!

Yay for Beans! Now we cross our fingers and wait. While we wait, I'm going to try to smother him with kisses and pets.

yup, another Beans update

Beans had his abdominal ultrasound. Part of me did think that maybe he just wanted to experience what 'mom' experienced with the whole ultrasound bit. They didn't find anything, which was honestly a big relief. I had prepared myself to hear that they had found tumors or some other kind of untreatable diagnosis. At least with finding nothing, we can focus solely on his bloodwork without worrying about some other underlying condition.

After receiving the antinausea/appetite stimulant med on Tuesday, he had a very active next 24 hours. He ate very well and had definitely perked up in the personality department. He also started meowing for food and as an 'answer' to many of the things I was asking him. He is pretty cute about talking back and having a conversation, though not as verbal as Chad's cat Felicia. By Wednesday afternoon, however, he was back to being a zombie. He still seemed interested in food, though he could hardly take any food in.

I did some research online (yes, I know, that is not always a good idea), but found some good suggestions for trying to get him interested in eating more. Instead of giving him canned salmon this afternoon, I poured a little bit of the can juice into his dry food. It worked like a charm to get him eating, but he did struggle a bit. He vomited the first part of it back up, but after I cleaned it up, he went to the bowl again and ate some more (probably about a teaspoonful). Some food is better than no food. I plan to have a variety of foods and 'tricks' available over the next few days.

Tomorrow he goes back in to the vet for a blood test and likely another transfusion. We then will talk about the next drug he will start to treat with. I'm a bit scared of the next step because many of the drugs that are left are quite dangerous to him as well as me. I'm not allowed to handle them because they are dangerous to the pregnancy, so Chad will get to learn the fine art of giving pills to Beans. I know he can do it, but I think he is a bit concerned. I'm also concerned because there is at least one drug available for treating him to where I can't even come into contact with Beans's fecal matter or urine (not that I have been doing litter box duty), but I'm also concerned about fecal and urine particles getting into our house and onto his fur. I'm afraid to pet him. I wonder about coming into contact with his saliva. Anyhow, I'm terrified.

I hate this, and am still very sad about the whole situation.

Pic from this weekend - happy Beans

Here we are on the recliner sometime this weekend. Beans is sprawled out on my lap, 'milking' the blanket, and purring (for the first time since he became ill). Miko is chilling in her spot at the top of the recliner. Beans stayed on my lap for a good 30-45 minutes and I loved every second of it. Notice in the background the collection of books - a few for entertainment, most for baby-prep.

Beans Update 3-2-2010

I'm feeling very sad about all of this. Beans has not been doing well. He continues to be lethargic and has had trouble with his appetite. Poor guy isn't responding to the meds he is on. Today at his vet appointment we had the serious talk with the vet. Beans's blood count is back down to 12.5 (from 15 - needs to be at 30), which is close to the level of needing another blood transfusion. The sad and scary thing is that his weight is down to 10.2 pounds (loss of over 2 pounds in last 2 weeks).

The bad news is that ultimately another transfusion may not guarantee Beans all that much extra time because he has not been responding to the two immunosuppressant drugs he is taking. This is our current plan -

• abdominal ultrasound - to try to identify whether there is anything abnormal causing the IMHA (particularly something like cancer or other things that would be more difficult to treat)
• if ultrasound comes back with nothing identified, then we do the blood transfusion and start the third immune suppressant drug
• third immune suppressant drug may take some time to become effective, so we wait to see if he responds. If he doesn't, there is not much else we can do
• if ultrasound comes back identifying something else bad that is difficult to treat in addition to his IMHA, we may be facing a sad decision.
• in the meantime, to help him with his appetite and to hopefully prevent further weight loss, Beans will take an appetite stimulant/anti-nausea medicine in addition to his other pills. He is also allowed to eat anything he wants and was sent home with 2 cans of Fancy Feast (kitty crack - pretty much the fattiest, luscious food that sick cats tend to want to try to eat).

I cried in front of the doctor. I knew I would this time. He was very nice and felt so sad for me, too. I predict more tears to come, but maybe Beans will shock us all.