I had my hen night on Saturday. And today I’m OK. Sunday was a bit iffy – but today I think I’m fully recovered. We went to a pizza restaurant, and then onto bars in the centre of town, and I finally rolled home (somehow – don’t remember the exact details) at about 2:30am. It was great to see loads of people turn up – including some people that I hadn’t seen in ages. Only problem was, there wasn’t enough time to chat properly to everyone – so apologies for that. I’ll have to catch up properly at the wedding!

But now it’s Monday, and I’m still working on my portfolio – beginning to panic a little to be honest with you. Has to be in on Wednesday. I think it’s coming together, but I’ve tried to do it slightly differently than I usually do, and I’m not sure it’s working for me. Also, you know when you think that something will take 2 minutes to do, but then you discover that all the gods are against you, and what you thought was a really simple job takes two hours! Aarrgghhhhh.

I did manage to take a photo of BBC’s wound today – it’s not very good because he kept turning round, but you get the idea. He’s eating really well now (although I think he’s addicted to Whiska’s kitten pouches!), and I think he’s finally beginning to put on weight.

So far things aren’t going well with trying to feed pills to Boo. One pill we could just about manage – an all out fight, then I could let him go, and he could run away and sulk for an hour. Now, we have three pills in the morning (one of which I have to cut into quarters, so it’s pretty much just soggy mush by the time we’ve finished), and two in the afternoon. He’s on Prednisalone, Metronidazole and Synulox (which I think is Amoxycillin). I’ve tried everything – being gentle, being firm, wrapping him up, hiding the pills in food – and nothing works. He just sucked the prawns to death without eating a single piece of pill. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we’re going to have twice daily fights for the forseeable future. The noises he makes are quite incredible!

On the plus side he is eating MUCH better now. I’ve spent about £25 on cat food in the last 2 days, but I think we’ve now found a solution. I’m not sure whether he had a sore tooth / mouth, but basically he wasn’t really eating any of the food I gave him – including the expensive Eukanuba kitten food. So I went to Morrisons and bought some Cat Milk, Whiskas KitBit treats, Whiskas kitten pouches, prawns, ham and sausages. The sausages were not a big success – with pet or owner – very messy! But the KitBits were a big hit! Now, they’re very crunchy, so I don’t know whether they got rid of a rotten tooth, or just tempted him enough to get his appetite better a bit, or whether the antibiotics and steroids just kicked in and started to work, but now he’s muching away at the kitten pouches, and the Eukanuba. So hopefully he’ll be back to living up to his name of Big Black Cat soon.

The thing is, with BBC getting all this special treat food, Holly and Tiswas feel terribly left out – so of course they’ve had to have some cat milk, and ham as well. It’s not a bad life is it…..

If you were to stitch something to be passed on to future generations of your family as an heirloom, what would it be and why?

I’d quite like most of my larger pieces to be passed on – simply because of the amount of time I’ve put into them. However, if I had to pick a single piece – I’d probably choose something like TW’s Millenium Sampler, or a sampler to commemmorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee (I do have a kit – just not started yet!), or maybe the piece that I’m doing for my mum for my wedding. So something that has a symbolic value beyond just the cross stitch. I like to think that possibly in years to come someone will be able to say “Oh yes, my great-grandma stitched that for her wedding / the millenium / the Golden Jubilee etc”.

The vet has just phoned us with BBC’s lab results. Poor cat has got a HUGE infection. I’ve no idea how he managed to get this – there’s no sign of puncture marks or anything, and it’s an odd place for a bite anyway. But the mass is just a big infection, and all that came up on the blood results was signs of a huge infection as well. It’s therefore likely that the weight loss is simply caused by his body trying to fight off the infection.

So, the plan is:
Two weeks of heavy duty, broad spectrum antibiotics – aka the Domestos treatment!
Two weeks of strong anti-inflammatories to bring down the swelling and so on
Feed kitten food to try to build him up, and boost his immune system
Stitches out and reassess in one week
After two weeks of treatment, reassess for surgical removal.

The infection is so big, it will definately need surgically removing, but it needs to get down to a manageable size first. So far, even on basic antibiotics the difference is really noticeable, so I’m hoping that the extra treatment will do the trick.

My problems now include:
How to get yeat more pills down a very grumpy cat, who has BIG claws and teeth, and isn’t afraid to use them.
How to feed BBC the kitten food to make him bigger, without Holly getting at it, and getting even fatter than she already is!

Ah, well. If that’s all I’ve got to worry about – life is good.

BBC had his operation on Thursday. First of all, the vet sedated him so that she could palpate the lump properly without getting her hand bitten off! They also did an X-ray which showed that the lump wasn’t attached to the ribs – which is good news. Then they proceeded to a general anaesthetic and did a biopsy on the lump, and a blood test. Poor old Boo now has a 3 inch incision on his left side, along with a HUGE shaved bit, and three shaved bits on both front legs and his neck. He’s in hiding at the moment, but I’ll definately take a photo when I find him!

He’s supposed to be kept in until the stitches come out – but that’s quite simply not going to happen. He made a run for it less than an hour after getting home, and has escaped about 4 times since. He seems very perky still, and is eating and drinking normally, even though he’s still skinny.

He went back for a post-op check today, and the vet was happy with him. The lump actually seems less painful now, just two days after the biopsy than it was before. He’s on antibiotics tiwce a day (which is fun for me, I’m sure you can imagine), and now we’re just waiting for the results, and hoping and praying that it’s not a secondary cancer from his fibrosarcoma on his ankle.

Keep your fingers crossed for him, won’t you?

He has to go back to the vet’s today. Last week I noticed that he had a lump on his lowest rib on the left hand side. With his history of cancer on his ankle, I decided not to hang around, and to go straight to the vet. The vet wasn’t sure exactly what it was without doing a biopsy, but thought that it could be some kind of abcess or infection (maybe caused by fighting), or it could be cancer again. We decided to leave it for a week to see if it went away, got bigger, smaller, or burst open, or what. Unfortunately a week later, it’s still there. He doesn’t seem to like me touching it, but I’m not sure whether that’s because it hurts, or just because he doesn’t really like being stroked along his flanks anyway! He’s also lost a lot of weight – he no longer lives up to his name of Big Black Cat – more Averaged Sized Yet Slightly Skinny Black Cat.

So, we’re back off to the vet’s tonight, and no doubt he’ll have to go in for a biopsy, or a full laparotomy (or whatever they call it) to remove said lump. Ah well, that’s what pet insurance is for. Poor old BBC though – if it’s not one thing it’s another. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted on what happens, and we may get some more photos of a grumpy looking cat with multi coloured dressings.

OK. Today I really, really, really need to do some work on my portfolio. It has to be handed in on the 23rd August – but I’m working a lot of shifts between now and then, plus I have two birthday things and my hen night in between. Which basically leaves me about 2 days to finish my portfolio. Add to that the fact that I thought I’d decided what to write about, but when I started, I realised that wasn’t going to work – then you realise I’m in a bit of a mess.

Right then, off to write about oxytocic drugs and the third stage of labour….

reading <a href="”> by Anya Seton. It’s one of my mum’s favourite books, and she’s been nagging me for years to read it. It tells the story of John o’ Gaunt (the Duke of Lancaster) and his affair with, and eventual marriage to Katherine Swynford. I thought it was OK (although I did get annoyed with Katherine in parts), but I don’t think I’m as crazy about it as my mum is. For this type of historical novel, I think it’s fairly well researched – there’s an introduction about all the work she did before writing it, and an explanation of the main sources. Worth reading if you’re interested in this period of history, and want something quite light going. The main problem I had is remembering who was who!

I’m supposed to be writing my portfolio now – so I’m going to be reading some trashy, girlie fiction for a while: <a href="”> by Marian Keyes.

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog who offered good thoughts and prayers for David and his family. I’m overjoyed to let you all know that he’s been found – a bit dehydrated, but otherwise OK.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers, I’m in no doubt that they made a huge difference.

Perle Moon

It points to the Blog of a friend on one of the Bulletin Boards I visit. Her son has been missing for more than 24 hours. Her blog post includes his photo, and obviously the more people who see this, the better the chances of finding him.