Grayson 12/16 Stoppin by to say hi!

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Grayson & Lu

Grayson & Lu

Member Since 2012
Hello everyone!

Sorry I've been so absent. My busiest time at work is from about mid-October to mid-December, and I'm finally able to come up for air a little! Hope everyone is doing well, I plan to check out all the SSs and be able to offer up some words of wisdom (or banter) on each kitty, but need to do my homework first!

Grayson is doing well. We're at 21 weeks since his SRT treatment (radiation) for his pituitary tumor (Acromegaly), he's had a sizeable reduction and seems to have leveled off for now. They said 7-70 weeks to see results, so I'm still hopeful we'll get even lower. That busy schedule was not a time to be terribly aggressive with his dosing, and of course he picked the handful of days when I was really limited to test him, to throw me some greens!!! :mrgreen: An ear infection that didn't completely go away also seems to have affected his numbers, and now, it appears that we've gotten through that! Funny how the littlest thing can make such a difference!

At his 4 month post-SRT bloodwork, we saw his thyroid was low, which they'd told me could happen, so he's been on thyroid meds (Thyrosin) for a month now. We'll redo the bloodwork tomorrow and see if we need to tweek the dose. I don't have to pill him - I just break the pill in half and toss in some crumbs from his freeze dried chicken, and "gulp!" it's down! Easiest one ever!

Hope all the kitties are being good in anticipation of Santa's arrival! Several old toys have made their way into circulation again at my house... always funny when that happens... as if to say "We really LIKE playing with toys, Mommy!" :lol: Of course there are two new scratchy posts in my trunk for them!
 
Lu Anne, his numbers look really good over the past week or so :-D I had no idea that his dose had continued to climb after the procedure. Looks like his dose decrease have happened relatively recently.

Will his thyroid "bounce back" after the tumor is done shrinking? Beau is hyperT, but he went really low on meds a few years ago and became withdrawn, grumpy and burrowed under blankets all the time. Plus his appetite dropped off. Did Grayson have any of those symptoms? The thyroid seems to be really linked to their mood and disposition.

Do you still have to get ready for the holidays now that your busy season is over? I still have a lot to do to get ready, but I don't have any excuse like work :roll:
 
Sheila - we actually dropped down to 20 for awhile, but climbed back up to the 32/34 where he seems to do well for now (previously 50 +3R). It's been 21 weeks since SRT, and Sooty (Perry & Cathy's boy) went OTJ after 26 weeks of Cyber Knife in Yonkers, NY. I'm still hopeful, but CSU said 7-70 weeks for a response, so I'm not expecting it tomorrow (although I wouldn't complain!).

My tour is complete, busy "season" over, and I've been spending the past week SCRUBBING (my Cinderella impression!) my overly neglected house, and "tuning up" my terribly neglected kitties & pups! This is a prerequisite to decorating - up til now it's only been a wreath on the door and a snowman basket on the table just inside (where I set it when I brought it in), and the 3 Santa pics in the dining room (Dom/Jack, Grayson and foster Chloe). I heard Santa won't come to a dirty house (that's what Mom always told us)! :lol: ...and God forbid that my pet sitters find out how I REALLY live! My goal when I get some more bills paid off is to hire someone to clean my floors regularly. I know that probably sounds crazy, but I HATE filthy floors, but I despise cleaning them more than anything! And that will give me time to do the "fun" projects - like replace the wax seal on the toilet that just started leaking, (or that I just noticed, when scrubbing the bathroom floor and tile)..... (did I mention that condo living is looking more and more attractive???) ;-)

Drew the blood today for the Hypo-T - should have results tomorrow. He's been acting pretty normal. Has some "underneath" places he likes to hang out, but also on the chair, the window bench, with the dogs, with the other cats, sun spots on the sunroom carpeting, the sunny shelves downstairs... so no, not withdrawn or burrowed. He definitely seems "happier" - grooming, etc... which I'm sure is related to the cleared up ear infection and lower BGs too... Test should tell us if we need to adjust the dose. I think he's getting .5 mg/day of the Thyrosin.

I'm at work all week this week, but it's pretty quiet so far. Last week was all kinds of luncheons and dinners w/ various groups. Nice, cuz I didn't have to cook much! I FINALLY bought my Hershey kisses yesterday, so now I have to get busy w/ my cookies (I only make peanut butter/kiss cookies) - which I make for LOTS of people (tour homeowners, hairstylist, dr, vet, petsitters, the guys from Environmental Services - trash/recycling/compost etc etc - who do me a HUGE favor cleaning up leaves & debris before the tour). One year I made 41 dozen cookies! YIKES!!! I'll be lucky to do about 12 dozen this year. ;-)

I also have some friends' kids that come over and help decorate my dog/cat tree - so hopefully we'll do that this week. We also make "poppers" - wrap Milk Bones in toilet paper/paper towel rolls and share them with everyones' dogs. This year we'll do cat toys as well Lots of catnip on hand! And order pizza! I'm not sure who has more fun - me, the kids, or Dom & Jack (taste-testing/quality control). I put the tree up last night, and brought the boxes out w/ the special ornaments. Several of the kids have helped since they were teeny tiny - now they're 12! and probably won't find it as much fun as they get older, so I need to continue doing that while I still can! (or trade them in for some other peoples' kids!) :o
 
Wow, if those are your plans for your "non-busy" time I can't imagine what your busy time was like! And, I hate to tell you, but condo living doesn't get you out of doing things like replacing wax seals. Or if you live in a big enough building where you can just call someone to come do it, you pay a lot for assessments.

I know what you mean about dirty floors. When you have animals you can't keep up with them. I am forever sweeping up cat litter and my carpet is disgusting. Don't know what to do about it - except rip it up and put down something else when I can afford to do it.

I like the idea of trading in the older, bored kids for someone else's younger kids, but don't tell them I said so!

I got my FDMB calendars yesterday. Saw Grayson's photo - and Sneaker's on the same page. The calendar looks great this year.
 
Did you get an Acro calendar too? I took one to my vet this morning - she LOVED it!

Grayson, or a reasonable facsimile of him, is featured 5 times! Him in his b'day hat, his back side as he was seeking treats in the breadbox, he & Leo w/ their CSU doctors, his CT scan of his tumor, and his 7th b'day cake (the FF kind).

I love BOTH calendars! People at work are going to have to see them both!!! :lol:
 
No, I didn't get the acro one. I thought about it because of Grayson and Sneakers, but I just can't afford both and my kitties are in the FDMB one. The acro one sounds like it is loaded with good info, but Deanie added a lot more information to the FDMB one too. If my sister still hung out on the high dose forum, I might have gotten an acro one for her instead, but you guys are all on facebook or yahoo now anyway, aren't you?
 
Hullo Grayson and Lu! I see we are back on around the same time frame :lol:

Yes, Sheila- mainly FB. This year I bought the acro calendar for me and my vet. I could get two and since Sneakers is a high-dose kitty... acro got it.

and Lu- I love those peanut butter cookies with the kisses on top! I made those for years.
 
Heather - all 16 dozen are given out! And the one person I didn't have an address for, I ran into in Walgreens when I picked up G's insulin! I bought some ziplock bags and bagged some, went back in & handed them to her!

Making another batch (or 2-3 or 4!) tomorrow or Saturday, so I can deliver on Sunday and take Monday to dinner.

As for the calendars, I've got one of each! I like them both! (I'm kinda biased... Grayson is in each (5 of his pics in the Acro calendar!) My little rock star! :lol:
 
OK, those cookies sound too good. They are the perfect solution when you can't decide between peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. My dad would love them. He's in Charlotte..... and he has a gray kitty. Does that make any difference...?
 
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