Introducing cats is hard!!!

So I brought Chachi(?) out today in his carrier for Jack to look at...Jack wasn't terribly pleased, but he was also sort of curious.

Chachi was out for a good deal today with Jack stalking and growling after him. When Chachi got a little too forward and tried to play and there was some nasty howling going on, I removed him back into his room. Jack is now sulking and Chachi wants out. I'll try again tomorrow when I get home from work and see how they do.

Meanwhile, Jack isn't terribly happy with his food, which is frustrating me a bit. I know that he'll eat if/when he's hungry, but it still frustrates me. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that I, of all people, have a stubborn cat.

The aches are pretty much gone, but I spent the day inside and in my pajamas due to being tired. I have a busy week coming up and I want to make sure I have the energy for it. I really hope that I can make it through my coaching tomorrow. I seemed to be in better shape when I sang yesterday, so I do have to wonder if part of the exhaustion issues was from the aches. That's going to suck during the weeks where I have shows, but I'll just have to get through it and deal.

I almost forgot! Passover starts tomorrow night and I honestly don't know if I can do the whole 'no leavened bread' thing right now since that seems to be a staple sort of thing right now for me. During Passovers past, I'm rarely full since I feel fairly limited in what I can eat and right now, eating salads is sort of out, sadly. I know that an exception is made when one is ill, so maybe this falls under that. I am looking forward to matzoh ball soup though.

The new side effects started showing.

They really started on Thursday when I noticed that I would get these really sharp flashes of pain in my hips, knees, and legs. I took a leftover Tylenol with Coedine that night...which helped, but the pain continued through Friday. In fact, Friday night, I took about an hour nap and woke up writhing in pain. Not fun. Another Tylenol with Coedine was taken and I went to bed.

Today, there are a few twinges, but it's much more tolerable. I hope that means that it's fading. I hope that it's not this bad every time or that it doesn't get worse or I'll need something stronger.

I did a cattle-call audition today (didn't realize it was one...blech) which was pretty good...although the audition wasn't so hot and I was the oldest women in the room by about 8 years or so. I did not get a callback, which is probably for the best as the rehearsal schedule was going to be rather tight with my other commitments. But I wanted to try and I'm glad I got out there. On the way home, I stopped by a local knitting shop where apparently they found the peacock feather earring I lost on Saturday! Whoda thunk?!?

So far, there is cat progress...they have seen each other with minimal hissing/growling and Jack even came into the other cat's 'room' to explore a bit. It's a little stinky since it's an enclosed area with another litter box, but I'm hoping that once the box is out where there is more air circulation, the smelly will stop. The names for the other cat are now between 'Chachi' and 'Oscar'...he's rather messy.

That's the state of things right now. I hope that the twinges are much less tomorrow and I may actually let the other cat out to explore some.

And here he is!!!

That's the new kitty!! So far, he is INCREDIBLY affectionate...so much so that I'm considering naming him 'Herbie'(the Love Bug). I do also think that 'Dino' is a good name too (after Dean Martin). Jack isn't too keen on him right now...there is a bit of hissing and growling and grumbling at the door. Whenever he sees the other cat through the door, it gets a little louder and he runs away, but it hasn't even been 24 hours yet. I should have some time this weekend and tomorrow to supervise some more meetings. In the meanwhile, I'm just spending time in the room with the other kitty...and he just loves that! I settled down in the bed for a bit and he just curled up right next to me, purring and kneading and falling asleep. I hope Jack will come around...I think he will, with time. It took Maggie a while to get used to him in the beginning too.

Physically, I'm tired (no surprise) and achy, but I did take a tylenol and that seemed to help. It's mostly in my knees and hips...last night it was in my lower back some too, but that seems to have gone, thank goodness. I've been hungrier, even though I don't really -want- to eat, but it helps to remind me that I -need- to eat. Luckily, though, I didn't feel much of a steroid crash...hopefully it isn't in the days to come, but I would think that by now, the steroids that I took Sunday and Monday would be out of my system.

The cough seems to be getting a little better, as is the goop still left over from being sick a couple of weeks ago. I found a colony of those Mucinex guys living in my sinuses this morning and I hope that they're mostly gone by now...ewwww.

Trying not to jinx anything...

But so far so good...I'm feeling ok right now. I even had a burrito and a soda today...food I don't usually eat and haven't wanted to eat in a while. My cough is still around, but more like it was before so hopefully it'll give my poor cords a chance to heal up so I can sing.

I also may have a new buddy to bring home tomorrow...I really hope that I don't get another phone call tomorrow saying I can't bring him home!

Today was actually rather full as I had to mail a couple of projects out; one was a knitting project for my aunt (for which I will be nicely compensated) and another is for a Recycled Art project for my High School. My mom and I then went to a local knitting shop where she bought some yarn for me to make her a shawlette and a sweater. We then went to the MSPCA to meet a few cats, went to AC Moore to get buttons (we ended up with beads) for my Owl sweater and then had to come home. I was beat...mom was beat...and I think I did rather well for the day after a treatment.

I'm hoping that tomorrow is just as good!

Highs and Lows and Anxiety

So, my mom came in on Thursday night and Friday I took some personal time and she, I, and Beth went shopping. Beth found stuff...I found a knit dress...we had dinner and then went home.

Saturday, we drove around, ran some errands, and decided it was so gorgeous that we'd have to go to Salem. We did...bummed around...I bought some tagua nut buttons in pink and purple, and then we came back and I went to look at a kitten. He was adorable...very playful and seemed to like me well enough, but I wanted to see who was at the shelter who needed a home.

Sunday, we went to the Animal Rescue League of Boston and I looked at 4 cats...the 4th was THE cat! A 4 year old female who decided I was her human! I was all set and excited to be taking her home on Tuesday after her spaying on Monday. Thing is, I got a call today from the shelter. Turns out that before she was to be spayed, the vet found a heart murmur. This meant that I would have to pay for an echocardiogram (about $300-$400 or more) before she could even be spayed...and if she had heart disease, who knows what her life span would be? So sadly, she won't be coming home with me. This makes me terribly sad. Tomorrow we're going to go to the MSPCA to see if we can find a new buddy. If not, I may go back to the kitten.

Today was the new treatment of Taxol and Herceptin. I took my 10 pills of decadron the night before (blech) and they gave me half the dose of Benadryl and apparently I did not have the allergic reaction. The Herceptin one also went fairly well, I guess...the thing is, all of the side-effects would show within the next 3-4 days. Some of them are kind of scary in that they could hurt my heart, but apparently my echocardiogram was ok, so keep your fingers crossed! It was just a very long session...we were there by about 9:15am and didn't get out until after 3:30pm.

Finally! A real person!

I finally got to speak, at length, to the oncologist!

Regarding the decadron, there is nothing she can replace it with. She knows how badly I crashed even on a taper of the lighter dose of it but apparently the decadron is the only thing that can help prevent possible anaphylactic (sp?) shock. So...yeah. The good news is, the crash may be on that Tuesday, so I will have my mom (and subsequent chemo buddies) with me. My only concern is if it goes past that...but we won't know until we see what happens.

She is going to check and see if she can use something other than the Benadryl though since I have the adverse reaction to it. I'm less concerned about being hyper-awake for the 6 1/2 hours during the treatment than I am about the steroid crash.

I also asked about the cough and she said I could have some low-level allergic reaction to the Cytoxin, which can manifest in the lungs. Good thing is, no more Cytoxin! Bad thing is...it sometimes takes weeks to months to clear up. The treatment that they usually give, however. is STEROIDS...so maybe when I take the butt-load of decadron on Sunday, it'll help clear things up! If not, then we'll know that it's not that and I'll get to go to my PCP to figure it out.

My echocardiogram that I got yesterday was 'perfect'...no effects from the Adriamycin, which is a good thing.

On a completely unrelated note, I met the kitten last night. Unfortunately, she really had no interest in me at all, which was kind of sad for me, but 1) she is a cat, and 2) not all cats are for all people. I'm going to go looking at a couple other shelters this weekend, particularly the Animal Rescue League and maybe the MSPCA because those aren't no-kill shelters. I'm really beginning to think that I want a cat that's around a year old or so...this way, I can rescue a sweet cat that might not otherwise get a chance. I wish I could rescue an older cat, but I just don't think that I can right now. There were some at the ARL that looked really promising, including one that reminded me so much of Maggie in her expression! I wish I could provide links, but if you go to Animal Rescue League of Boston, click on 'Cat' and then 'Female' and these are the ones I'm interested in (in no particular order):

Harmonica
Fanny
Tammy
The pretty grey, splotchy kitty below Tammy (Apricot)
Baby
Candy
Miss Marple
Cowbell (black and white kitty on page 3)
Maya (below Cowbell)
Susie (no picture)
Dallas

So I will either go Saturday or Sunday to look at them...and we'll see, I guess!

I'm melting! Mmmmeeeelllltttiiinnggggg!

Ok, maybe not so much melting, but I'm shrinking, girth-wise.

Now, I think most women are always looking to lose some weight...stupid media and such. I also recognize that about 9 years ago, when I left Grad School, I gained a bit of weight...but I needed to do so. I was only about 107 in Grad School and a size 0/2...and it was a little too small for me. I got to close to 120 and a size 4...and sort of stayed there, although I did end up balancing between about 116-118. I stayed at a pretty solid size 4 though and was happy with that.

Now all my clothes are too big! I don't know my weight, but I measured my waist about 2 weeks ago or so and it went from a 28 1/2" to a 27/" waist...and none of my bottoms fit right now. I might have shrunk a size there...from a 4 to a 2 and it doesn't help that I don't have much hip to begin with. When I get down this small though, they sort of seem to disappear, which makes wearing clothes kind of hard as women's clothing are often cut to show off curves!

I'm rather happy with the smaller waist and flatter abdomen, but this is not how I want to tone! I didn't want to lose actual weight, see...just get muscle tone...which I can't really do because even walking up a flight of stairs can wind me most of the time. How am I supposed to exercise???

I'll probably gain the weight back once my appetite returns, but I hope I don't lose too much more in the next couple of months or I'll start looking skeletal!


Oh! So, the oncologist never called me back yesterday...and when I called again this morning to ask for her (turns out she isn't in today...grrrrrrr) the receptionist seemed very surprised that she didn't call me back! Apparently, she will be paged.