One Year!

Merlin here!  Today is a very special day.  A day we never thought would happen.  One year ago today, on February 4, 2016, I was diagnosed with large cell lymphoma of the GI tract and spleen.  I was given one to three months to live.  Here I am a year later, defying all the odds and still going strong!

Just over a year ago (February 3rd), I was at the vet, being evaluated by the internal medicine service at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) Small Animal Clinic.  I had been having loose stools and some blood and mucus in my stool, and occasionally vomiting some bile, so our primary care vet thought I had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).  I was at OVC in order to confirm this diagnosis so I could be properly treated.

Merlin in the waiting room at the OVC Small Animal Clinic

They started with an abdominal ultrasound.  It showed that there was something wrong with my spleen, and that my lymph nodes throughout my abdomen were enlarged.  They tested my coagulation (since the spleen is important in blood coagulation), and then I was booked in for biopsies of the spleen and lymph nodes, to (or so we thought at the time), rule out cancer.  We all expected that I would be back at OVC the next day to have an endoscopy to confirm IBD.  I was in great physical shape, and other than the problems with my stool, that seemed to flare up when I was under stress, I was in perfect health!

Merlin after the biopsy - his skin is scabbed from the rubbing of the anaesthesia mask

They were able to get very good biopsies of both my lymph nodes and my spleen.  They sent the samples out to pathology to be tested.  The samples were good, they were clear, they were easily tested, and the results were very clear.  The pathology report was unequivocal.

So later that day on February 4th, 2016, we received the devastating news that I had an aggressive form of cancer:  large cell lymphoma of the spleen and GI tract.  I was given 1-3 months to live.  Chemo would only extend that by maybe a month.  Needless to say, we were all incredibly devastated.   My dad, who is my human, was overseas at the time, and we were very glad that he was going to be coming home for a couple of weeks leave very soon, before heading back overseas.  We thought that we were going to be saying goodbye.

Now here I am a year later, and I am still doing great!  Even my stool issues have cleared right up.  I only vomit if I eat too much cat grass.  While we certainly don't want to jinx it, it looks like I am currently in remission, something that is very common with small cell lymphoma, but is quite rare with large cell lymphoma.  I am very glad to be uncommon!  I am currently on prednisolone, but no other chemo.  I am still a solid Sphynx, with lots of muscle.  I still love to eat, I love to play, and I am enjoying life to the fullest.  We don't know how much longer I have, but we are enjoying every day.

Thank you all for your support, for your purrs, prayers, positive thoughts, and friendship.  It means so much to all of us that we have so many people caring about me.  Thank you my friends.

I honour of this very special anniversary, we are holding a comment-a-thon.  Every comment this post receives between now and 6 am on Monday February 6th, will lead to a donation of 50 cents to the OVC Pet Trust, which is working to find better therapies for pets and people!

Caturday Art: Winter

Hello friends!  We are sorry we haven't been posting this week or visiting our friends.  If you follow Merlin's Facebook page, you will know that our mom started her new job this week.  Since she is still adjusting to her schedule, she hasn't had time to help us on the computer.  Hopefully as she settles in to the job and figures out her schedule, she'll have more time to help us again.

This week for Caturday Art with Athena we have another digital scrapbooking page.  The photo is from our visit with our mom's family over Christmas.

Made with Freezing from Ooh La La Scraps

In other news, Dragonheart could use some purrs today.  He goes to the vet today for some x-rays.  He is still congested and sneezing, and occasionally coughing, even after a ten-day course of antibiotics.  Since he has a heart murmur and mild/equivocal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, they want to figure out what is going on before trying any other medications.  So he is going in for x-rays this morning.  We will update when we are back from the vet, and when we have some news on what they think is going on.  Thank you for any purrs, prayers, and positive thoughts.

Update: 1109 EST - We are back from the vet.  Dragonheart fortunately did not need to be sedated.  He took his "happy pill" - Gabapentin - and that was enough to keep him still for the x-rays.  The good news is that it does not look like he has pneumonia.  The bad news is that because he is still congested and having nasal discharge, he needs to take a different antibiotic for the next 14 days.  Hopefully this will clear things up.  Thanks again for all your purrs and prayers.

Update 2: 1446 EST - So we have the radiology report back.  Basically we are going to see how Dragonheart does on the new antibiotic, and if there's no improvement, we will add an antiviral on Tuesday.  Some highlights from the radiology report (note that Dragonheart is due for his heart scan in the spring, which is a good thing given some of the cardiac issues noted on the x-rays):

FINDINGS: There is pericardial fat accumulation best observed on the right lateral view.  Cardiac silhouette is moderately enlarged...  There is a mild bronchointerstitial pattern consistent with the previous diagnosis of feline asthma.  There is no evidence of cardiogenic pulmonary edema or bronchopneumonia.  CONCLUSIONS: –The mild bronchointerstitial pattern present within the lungs is consistent with the previous diagnosis of feline asthma.  There is no evidence of cardiogenic pulmonary edema or bronchopneumonia.  The upper airway pathology is likely the source of the patient's current clinical signs. –Compensated cardiomegaly most likely due to previously diagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. 

So while it's not great news, it's not horrible news either.  Thanks again for your purrs and prayers.

Caturday Art: Secret Paws

Today for Caturday Art with Athena we have a digital scrapbooking page documenting our wonderful Secret Paws package from Savannah's Paw Tracks!

Made with Santa Paws Page Kit by LouCee Creations

Caturday Art: Happy New Year!

Since it is New Year's Eve, today we have a Happy New Year digital scrapbook page for the Caturday Art blog hop with Athena.

We are so delighted that Merlin is here to celebrate the new year with us.  We are also very thankful for all our friends who have supported us with their purrs, prayers, and positive thoughts, over the last year.

Happy New Year!

Thankful Thursday: Christmas 2016

Hello all!  We are back from our adventure!  We are also very thankful that we had a wonderful Christmas this year.  We had not only one, but THREE Christmas celebrations.  We had our first celebration Christmas Eve morning, at home; then we went to visit our mom's family, and had Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day there; then finally we came home again and had another Christmas celebration here on the 27th!

For today, we are going to share some photos from our first Christmas celebration.  You can click on them all to view them larger.  We are very thankful to have a wonderful home and to have received such wonderful presents!  We are extremely thankful that Merlin is still here with us to celebrate!

These look like interesting presents!

Which ones are for me?

Can I open them?

I'm good at helping open presents

What's in here?

Oh, these look like treats!

Bonito flakes - yay!

Devi wants some Bonito flakes!

What else is there to open?

Oh, freeze dried bites - yay!

Any more presents for us?

Here mom, let me help you with that.

This smells interesting

Can I help you dad?

Thank you for the mousie!

We are still waiting on our Secret Paws package, but given how slow Canada Post can be, we aren't surprised.  Hopefully we will have our package to share with you all soon!   In the meantime, you can check out what we sent our Secret Paw, Stunning Keisha!  You can also check out more Thankful Thursday blog posts through the blog hop at Brian's Home.

Sunday Selfie: Merlin

Merlin here!  Since this week is my special week (my 9th Gotcha Day is on December 22nd), I have a Sunday Selfie for you this week!

Since we have a bunch of snow on the ground, I am staying warm under my nice, fleece blanket.

Be sure to join us for my Gotcha Day celebration on December 22nd!

Caturday Art: Christmas!

Hello all!  This week for Caturday Art with Athena, we are continuing to get into the holiday spirit with a digital scrapbook page.

Created with Holiday Delights by Jen Yurko

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Thankful Thursday: Baby Sister

Hello all!  Today is Thankful Thursday with Brian, and we are thankful for many things.

First of all, we are very thankful that Merlin is back to normal.  We are thankful for all our friends who purred, prayed. and put their paws together for him.  Thank you!

Today, though, we are also thankful that we will be getting a new baby sister in March!  She has just been born, so she is tiny, and it is hard to tell that she is a tortie (you can just see that she isn't quite a solid black), but here is a video of her with two other Sphynx babies.  She's the one at the bottom.  As you can see, they don't even have their eyes open yet!  (Oh, and the breeder got our mom's name wrong in the video, but it's our little girl, we've been assured!)

 

So we are thankful that we are getting a new baby sister, and thankful that our angel sister Arwen was from a responsible breeder who honours her health guarantees in her cats.  We support rescues, and Devi was a rescue herself!  It's just that not many Sphynx end up in rescues (especially in Canada - there are more in the United States), and our dad is sadly allergic to furred cats.  We do support rescues and donate to them when we can.

Wordless Wednesday: Merlin in a Box

Caturday Art: Happy Halloween!

With Halloween just around the corner, this week for Caturday Art with Athena we have a Halloween-themed digital scrapbooking page!

(If you would like your own digital scrapbook pages created, check out the information here.  The money raised by making digital scrapbooks will help pay for Dragonheart's CT scan, which is not covered by pet insurance.)

Wordless (more or less) Wednesday: Magical

(If you would like your own digital scrapbook pages created, check out the information here.  The money raised by making digital scrapbooks will help pay for Dragonheart's CT scan, which is not covered by pet insurance.)

Caturday Art: Merlin

Hello friends!  We are back!  We are settling into our new house, and lots of the unpacking has been done.  There is still quite a bit more to do, but our mom finally has a bit of time to help us with our blogging again.

This week, we have two digital scrapbook pages for Caturday Art with Athena.

First is a page documenting Merlin's milestone in making it to our new home:

Kit - My Pet Cat - Clever Monkey Graphics; Template - Tempting Tidbits 1 - Dagi's Temptations

The second digital scrapbook page features photos manipulated with the Waterlogue app for iOS.  This layout has been nominated for Layout of the Week at Ginger Scraps!  If you don't mind registering at Ginger Scraps, we would appreciate any votes!  You can vote here and we are the first layout in the thread.

Kit - Picture Perfect - Laurie's Scraps and Designs; Template - Leaving a Legacy Designs

Thank you for any votes!

Caturday Art: Happy Thanksgiving

Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada, so this week, for Caturday Art with Athena, we have a digital scrapbook page that celebrates giving thanks.

If you would like your own digital scrapbook pages creates, check out the information here.  The money raised by making digital scrapbooks will help pay for Dragonheart's CT scan, which is not covered by pet insurance.

Wordless Wednesday: Stretch!

Interested in a digital scrapbook page?  Check out the information here.

Wordless Wednesday: Whirlybird!

Interested in a digital scrapbook page?  Check out the information here.

Sunday Selfies: Cone of Shame

This week for Sunday Selfies with the Kitties Blue, we have a sad selfie of Devi wearing the cone of shame.  Poor Devi has to wear it for two weeks until her stitches from her skin biopsies dissolve.

Devi

Thanks again for all your purrs, prayers, and positive thoughts.  We may not get around to visiting our friends much over the next two weeks, as it is both crunch-time for our mom with regards to her graduate program (she needs to have everything finished by August 19th), and because both our mom and our dad need to get the house ready for painting, cleaning, and staging starting August 22nd, before putting it on the market on August 30th in preparation of our big move in the Fall.

Caturday Art

This week for Caturday Art with Athena we have a digital scrapbook page of Merlin that our mom made on Thursday, which marked 6 months since Merlin's cancer diagnosis.

Made with Kitty Cats by Connie Prince.  Click to view larger.

In other news, Devi is doing well after her skin biopsy.  The vet took several samples from lesions that looked "active."  The placement of the lesions is unusual - it's not what she normally sees if there are bites, or an infection, or allergies, so hopefully the biopsies will give us some answers.  The vet sent the samples to a dermatopath (a pathologist specializing in dermatology - the skin) and we should have the pathology report by next Friday.

Devi has to wear the cone of shame until her stitches dissolve (or the vet may have to remove them if they haven't dissolved after two weeks).  As you can see, it is one of the soft cones by Kong, so it isn't too bad.  It's not one of those horrible, hard plastic ones.

As always, thank you for your purrs, prayers, and positive thoughts.

Six Months Since Merlin's Cancer Diagnosis

Hello all!  Merlin here!  Today marks another very important milestone in my fight against cancer.  It's now been six months since my cancer diagnosis, and I have outlived my prognosis by three whole months!  I've basically lived for double what they expected me to live!  I am so happy that I am getting to spend a lot of quality time with my dad (and my mom too, but my dad was gone for a while, so it's so good to have time with him).

I'm still doing really well, other than in the litter box.  My stool is soft, and there is occasionally blood or mucus in it.  I also tend to run like a wild cat through the house after I get out of the litterbox, so my mom suspects that it hurts to use the litterbox.  So that's not very good.  I also occasionally make a meow that sounds different from my ordinary meowing (being a pointed Sphynx - a blue lynx point and white to be precise - I like to talk a lot, just like Meezers do).  My mom isn't sure if this strange meow means anything, as it's hard to tell, because I do like to talk!  But my behaviour seems perfectly normal, so my dad doesn't think it means anything much at this point.

I still wrestle with Devi, and every now and then I have to give her a good smack, to let her know who is in charge.

I continue to gain weight, because the steroid chemotherapy I'm on increases my appetite, so I'm hungry all the time and eating lots.  But that's okay!  At this point we would much rather have me gaining weight than losing it!

At this point we are enjoying every day and treasuring all the time we have together.  In just about another month, I'll turn 9 on September 1st!  Back in February when I was diagnosed with large cell lymphoma, we didn't think I'd even come close to making it to 9, and now I'm almost there!  As our primary care vet said, though, with cats, the course of lymphoma is always hard to predict (she said it's much easier to predict timelines in dogs).  She said some cats last less than a month, and some up to a year.   I've made it six months so far, and I'm still looking good!   Who knows, I may even get to see our new home when we move in October!  But we are just taking it day by day.  We know that at any time my spleen could suddenly give out on me (as the cancer had spread to my spleen when they did the biopsy) and that would be the end.  We are trying not to think about it though, and just cherishing the time we have, and taking lots of photos and video.  My mom says she thinks she'll need to get a new external hard drive to store all the photos she's taking of me!

Thank you all for your purrs, prayers, and positive thoughts.  We appreciate each and every one of our friends who are thinking of me, sending me their prayers, their purrs, and their positive thoughts.  Thank you.  And with our thanks we are joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.

Wordless Wednesday: Brothers

Sunday Selfies

Hello everyone!  This week for Sunday Selfies with the Kitties Blue we have some phone selfies.  So the quality isn't as great as we would hope.  As always, you can click to view larger if you like.

Devi

Dragonheart

Merlin

Thanks again to everyone for their purrs, prayers, and positive thoughts.  We have started transitioning to the new food, and Merlin and Dragonheart seem to enjoy it.  Devi, the one who needs to eat it, doesn't like it as much, but hopefully she will come around.  Dragonheart seems to no longer be in pain since starting the painkillers.  Merlin is still doing great.  You can visit his facebook page to hear him purr.