the past few years

Man, time sure does fly when you're having fun! Here we are in 2010 and I have taken a moment to look back at the past five years. So much can change in a short period of time.

2010 - Chad and I spent our first Easter together in Austin after traveling for four years in a row. We are expecting our first child. Neither one of us is training for a specific race right now. Chad now owns his own construction business and we both work out of the house.

2009 - We went to the Masters this weekend in April 2008 and Chad got to meet a bunch of my extended family. I was completing my first training season with Team Rogue and had just started tapering for Nashville. We were also now living in our first house together.

2008 - Chad and I had just gotten back from our honeymoon and he moved into my condo in South Austin. We would register for St. George again this April and I would train with Mac over the summer. Chad qualified for and ran Boston 2008, despite our wedding and honeymoon getting in the way of his training.

2007 - Visiting Tara in NYC this time in April. Chad had not yet proposed. He had not yet qualified for Boston, so we opted to not go that year even though I could have technically run it. I was running with Mac's PR for the 5k/10k group at the time, and we were planning to sign up for Ruth's BQ group for the fall marathon training. We registered to go to St. George again. I had quit teaching and started my current job in January of 2007.

2006 - Tapering for Boston. I had one of my best groups of students that year in school. I had been dating Chad for about 8 months.

2005 - just entered the lottery for St. George. I was running in the PR for 5k/10k group that spring and was planning to do the fall marathon training. Note: I was two months away from meeting Chad.

Thank You Easter Bunny!!!

The Easter Bunny visited me for the first time in many, many years! I
love white chocolate!

Exercise!!

Guess what? In the past week, I have exercised five days! This is the most exercise I have done in a long time. You should be very proud of me. What did I do, you ask?

Sat - Prenatal Yoga (1 hr 15 min)
Sun - really long hike (2hr 42 min)
Tues - walk 1:30/run 1:00 (3 miles)
Wed - easy walk (2.4 miles)
Thurs - moderate paced walk on TLT (55 min - probably 3.5-3.7 miles)

It doesn't look like much, but it is something. Distance is distance, and I did at least 14 miles this week in 4 days. That is more than a lot of people in our city do each week for fitness, plus I did yoga. Time doesn't matter. I can assure you that I'm breathing moderately hard within my limits and the pressure of the bump on my bladder is part of the slowness factor.

I'm also excited about the new shorts and capri pants I received in the mail. See, very few of my running shorts fit over my huge ass. I may look somewhat proportioned in my maternity clothes, but when you see me trying to fit into my regular clothes, you can tell how much my body has changed. Running shorts and pants just don't fit the same anymore, even with elastic waistbands. Those that have a waistband that I can still fit into and manipulate hit my belly right in the middle and compress the bump in a not-so-flattering way so that I have to do the 'roll-down'. The roll-down then hits so low on my widened hip area such that I have a huge muffin top from behind. That and the seat of the shorts/pants is stretched to the fullest. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my 'maternal storage' in the thigh area has gotten large enough so that my thighs now permanently rub together and cause riding up of the shorts in the crotch area. It is not pretty, folks.

Anyhoo, I found some awesome maternity workout shorts and capris that do not cut into my bump or back fat, nor do they ride up in the middle. They are a sturdy material and worth the money that I spent for 4 1/2 more months of feeling good about myself. If they make working out that much more bearable, I figured it was worth it to get a couple pairs.

If you see me out and about working out, tell me my body looks good and to keep up the good work. I need all of the encouragement I can get. (oh and Nedra and Dionn...your comments on FB last Saturday were wonderful for my self-esteem and I didn't say Thank You!!)

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.

Snow at our House (by 11:20 am)

More Beans Updates

Last time we spoke was last Wednesday and Beans was doing well the day after his blood transfusion. Jump to Friday morning - we took him back in to get his blood levels rechecked. The goal is always to have the levels go up. The vet was concerned on Friday because his level was at 15 (normal is 30+), so he recommended he come back in on Saturday to check again. If Beans was going to be declining, we didn't want it to go all weekend unchecked. He also called one of the internal medicine specialist vets, who recommended Beans start a second immunosuppressant drug. Total med count = 3.

Saturday - His blood level, thankfully did not go down, but also did not go up either. Beans was sitting at 15 again. The vet mentioned to us that his heart rate was high and listed some side effects and complications that were possible on the new medication. Specifically, we were to be looking out for loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and panting. Don't know if you know this, but cats really aren't supposed to pant, unlike dogs. We were optimistic about the 15 - at least it didn't go down - and we were prepared to let Beans go into mid-week this week without a trip to the vet.

Sunday - On Sunday night while Chad and I were watching the Olympics, we heard a horrible wretching sound from the other room. Turns out Beans was puking up the biggest load of cat food I have ever seen! Really, the main pile of partially digested food was the size of a kitten. He managed to make two or three piles for us to clean up before he went into the living room to calm down. Chad and I turned to look over at him and he was sitting with his eyes glazed over like a zombie, panting like crazy. My poor buddy was exhibiting all the side effects we had been warned about by the vet on Saturday. I sat with him and put him on his side to relax, while his poor exhausted body continued to heave and pant. Inside I was freaking out and I burst into tears. I really thought he was going to die right there in front of me. Turns out he just needed a breather after puking up such a huge load of food, because after a few seconds of me crying, he popped right up and scurried into the other room. We spend the rest of the evening listening to him try to eat more food and watching him enter and leave the living room, trying to be social.

Monday - Beans seemed to do okay overnight. I wasn't all that worried about him since he hadn't vomited again overnight. It was all okay that is, until about 10:00am when we heard him wretching again. He managed to puke four or five times, sharing the love in our bedroom and upstairs on the landing. Of the newly carpeted areas in our house, he only has the living room, the guest bedroom, and Chad's office left to christen with puke. He has hit four other separate room already. I made an appointment with the vet and just got back. His blood level, thankfully is still holding steady at 15, though we do need for it to start going up soon or we'll have to discuss further treatment options. Our plan is to assume that the vomiting is caused by the new drug that he has started - his body should adjust to the medication and the vomiting should stop in a day or so. Beans got an anti-nausea shot from the vet today that should make it to where he is comfortable for the next 24+ hours, hopefully giving him another day to adjust to the new immunosuppressant medicine.

Oh and for the record - Beans is very skinny. His once 18.6 pound frame was brought down into the 13 pound range with a strict diet and exercise over several years. He has hovered around 13 pounds for a few years. Last week he weighed 12.1 pounds. Today he weighed 11.4. I freaked out when I heard the number. He hasn't weighed that little since he was a kitten.

I'm trying to be realistic. I know full well that this disease might kill him. I'm prepared financially to do one more blood transfusion and a couple of other drug options before talking about him really dying. I have already broken down several times at the thought of losing my little man. He is my main little dude. The other cats in our house do not love me like he does. It will take a long time to develop another relationship with an animal that comes close to the relationship I have with Beans. I have already saved his life when he was a young cat...he better keep fighting while I try to save his life again.

Beans Update and a pic of me

First, Beans. He did receive the blood transfusion yesterday and his red blood cell count rebounded into the lower part of the normal range. The doctor felt like he could come home last night and continue through the week with us monitoring him at home. We are still giving him Prednisone twice a day, now with an additional antibiotic as back up for an infection that they screened for. He came up negative for the infection, but our vet conferred with another vet at the office and they both agreed it would not hurt Beans to take the antibiotic just in case the infection was somehow missed.

He felt so much better last night. How do I know? He ate more. He visited us in the living room. He meowed at us more. He hissed and growled like his normal self when he had had enough petting. He jumped on the couch several times and insisted that I pet him, which he had not done in days, and also which had me beaming and almost on the verge of joyful tears. He continues to do well today...the coloring in his gums is still pink, so hopefully we can make it until Friday before visiting the vet again. We are scheduled to have him go in Friday for a recheck on his blood levels. Hopefully they will still be in the normal range.

And for me...some of you have seen me lately hiding in my big puffy coat. I am definitely rounder than I used to be. Here is my first public preggo shot in my maternity jeans in front of our house.

with the good comes the bad

Amidst all of the excitement of hearing our baby's heartbeat yesterday, our little family had a different kind of drama going on. My sweet kitty Beans had been feeling a bit under the weather and started to refuse food (even canned food) and withdraw. Our big boy never refuses food, so when he hadn't eaten and started to hide in our closet, I knew it was time to take him in to the vet yesterday. Of course, I was hoping it was just a little cold, but deep down I was expecting really bad news.

We got bad news. Beans apparently has IMHA (Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia) - google IMHA if you are curious - which basically means his body is attacking his red blood cells as a sort of immune response. His red blood cell count was dangerously low and the doctor suggested he might need a blood transfusion. We started him on the recommended course of treatment (Prednisone) yesterday and were able to bring him home last night to observe and monitor him. When we took Beans to the vet again this morning, we were hoping for good news. Beans seemed to be feeling better...he was more alert, ate two small meals overnight, and overal seemed a little more like himself.

We got bad news again today. Apparently Beans's red blood cell count dropped again, so we really needed to give him a blood transfusion today. When the doctor called, they had already done the kitty blood-typing and had sent one of their vet techs home to retrieve her kitty to be the donor kitty. I used to work there, so I am familiar with the concept of donor kitties, but never did I think Beans would be the recipient of donor blood. I know kitty personality doesn't come with the blood, but I really hope the donor kitty is a sweet, mellow kitty instead of a firecracker. Lord knows we don't need any more spunky, feisty blood in Beans!

We'll find out later today how it all goes, and hopefully will get to bring Beans home tonight to rest. It is likely that we'll have to treat him for a long while for this and there is no guarantee that he will survive it. I'm devastated that he is this sick. He has already been hit by a car, recovered, has a misshapen bladder as a result of the car that has had a blockage, has a wax plug covering his left eardrum that has not been able to be successfully removed, and now this. His nine lives are almost up, so I hope he has more fight in him left than we think.

I love my Beans.

More Updates

Now that we have gone public, I thought I would also share the link to the baby blog. I'll likely be posting most of the baby stuff there, though now that my life has been taken over by all of these new baby-related thoughts, it is likely to seep over into this blog a bit.

Baby blog here

We recorded the heartbeat (including some of what the doctor says) and have posted it there. It sounds so cool.

Baby Jones

We have been somewhat lying to a bunch of you out there. I have not been running, but I haven't been nursing my injuries as much as we've letting on. The main reason I haven't been running is because I'M PREGNANT!!! I have been exhausted this first trimester and my body just couldn't take it.

Today we are past the 12 week mark and heard the heartbeat for the first time. I'm so excited to share the news with everyone officially now!! Baby Jones is due August 30 and we are both very excited. I feel very lucky to be sharing this news with everyone.

(Also as an update to my TMI post from Dec - I did not have to have the surgery to remove the polyp because of the pregnancy. We found out we were pregnant just before Christmas.)

Updates to come later!!

My Mullet Man

If you are going to be out running or spectating the Austin Marathon this weekend, look for Chad. He is pacing with Ken for the 3:20 pace group during the race. They'll have their signs, of course, but more importantly they'll be wearing their mullets. The mullet-wearing 3:20 group has been a tradition for years, and I know that Chad wears his mullet with pride during the race. He has already brought it out this year and has modeled it...I must say he looks as cute as ever in it. Pictured above is a shot of the two of us from last year's finish chute.

He looks so handsome in that mullet...I love it!