I have to admit that when I am on the site, no matter what great diaries are on the front page or rec lists, no matter if C&J is up or there are any of the continuing articles from bonddad, Jerome a Paris, etc. that I read religiously, no matter what unfathomable Travesty-of-the-Day the Bushies have pulled off, if I see anything with 'pootie' in the title that is where I am going first. It is similar I imagine to getting a paper and reading the sports page or comics first, back in the old days when reading a newspaper wasn't a complete waste of time. I love all of PhillyGal's posts, and Irishwitch had a particularly poignant diary a few months ago that is unfortunately now hitting close to home.
I wasn't always a cat fan, and while I won't drone on about my conversion story as I have done in previous posts, the short version is that ten years ago this coming Thanksgiving I found a tiny, six week old stray kitten who the night before must have crawled up in the engine of my parked Mustang to keep warm, fell asleep atop my battery in the cramped space below the hood, and ridden for two and a half hours as I unknowingly took her from Houston to Austin. Dizzy, my namesake, was miraculously unharmed, and I can't imagine not having her with me.
Yesterday I learned that Diz has intestinal cancer. Never a big girl, she is down to six and a half pounds and barely eating. She will be starting chemo therapy tomorrow on the Vincristine/Prednisone/Cytoxan protocol, which appears to have the best chance of success for managing her cancer.
While I am realistic about Diz's prognosis-about half of cats with similar illnesses following this protocol live another 12 months-I was hoping someone in the community with experience and/or knowledge of feline lymphoma can offer suggestions as to ways I can make Diz more comfortable throughout her treatment, or tips as to supplemental treatment I can ask my vet about. Dizzy has enriched my life an unbounded amount, and the least I can do is to make sure her remaining time is spent pain free and as enjoyable as possible-hopefully even a fraction as enjoyable as she has made mine.