A Few Fun Photos and a Phantom Update

We got almost a foot of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday - 11.9 inches to be precise.  We loved the snow even if it was a bit on the cold side.  Because of the frigid temps, Mom didn't do too much outdoor photo-taking, but we think you can tell from these photos how much fun we had.

Time for a power nap so we can get back out in the snow.

Our kitty pals at The Pouponette have this dangle thing they do with their feet and tails, but Lightning has perfected the head dangle:)

Another one dozing soundly.  But no, he wasn't frolicking in the snow.  He loves the snow, but the cold was too much for him this time.  More on Phantom in a bit.

Hey, Sleepyhead, isn't it about time to head back out?

I don't care if Ciara isn't ready to join me, I want OUT, Mom.

C'mon, Mom - I'm doing that SIT thing - open the door. 

Anyone want to join me??? 

And now Phantom update time.

Look at me, no more cone, and no silly bandage on my tail.  Let me show you a couple of pics of the bare spot on my tail.  If you are at all squeamish, you might want to zip right on by the next two photos.

This is what things looked like when the bandage came off 48 hours after my mini-surgery.  This is on the topside of my tail way up near where my tail joins my body.  My poor floofy plume!  On the left side you see the stitches from where the nice vet removed the bleeding tumor, and on the right is the tumor he left.  If you look closely, you can see that there is another tiny one starting to sprout right near where my fur is still intact.

And here is how it looks now after I got my stitches removed on Wednesday.  It has healed nicely.  The reason the vet hasn't removed the other bad "C" lumps is because the base of the bigger one is bigger than the one he removed and lower on my tail.  My tail tapers down to a very skinny cord pretty quickly.  He is worried that he will have to make such a large hole to remove the full tumor that he won't be able to close the skin properly.  So for now we are just going to leave it there.  Mom is just hoping it doesn't burst.

So that's the scoop on my tail.  Now for my meds.  After switching me from the deramaxx to the tramadol and Marin because of the very negative effect on my liver, I stopped eating.  Mom says I am not a very good eater anyway, but I just didn't want anything and was doing some upchucking too.  At first she thought it was either the tramadol or the Marin.  The vet wasn't convinced, but she told Mom to go back to the deramaxx for a few days and see if my eating picked up.  It did a bit so Mom and the vet decided to go with it for a week.  If I was doing OK, then we would switch again to the tramadol, without the Marin, and see what happened.  And that is what happened.  On Saturday I was off the deramaxx and back on just the tramadol.  Well, within three days of being on the tramadol and no deramaxx, I stopped eating again.  Sorry to be so long-winded, as I am usually a guy of few woos.  I am going to let Mom tell you the rest.


Mom here now.  Because of the risk of damage to the liver from the deramaxx, we had to do another blood panel of Phantom's liver values.  Unfortunately the numbers had worsened substantially.  The values affected are the ones most likely to be impacted by meds like deramaxx.  So we now have a new plan in place for his meds.  After my two regular vets discussed things and also talked to the gastroenterologist in our area, the thought is that the tramadol isn't making his stomach sick.  It is the absence of the deramaxx.  They explained that the two meds are different in the same way as Tylenol and Advil.  Tylenol helps with pain while Advil helps with both pain and inflammation.  Tramadol has the pain element but no anti-inflammatory properties, while the deramaxx does both.  Phantom has a history of chronic pancreatitis.  This is part of why his eating habits are so poor.  They think the deramaxx soothes the inflammation from the pancreatitis enough to entice him to eat.  Without it, his stomach is just off.  So for now, we are going to give him just half of what he has been getting of the deramaxx along with his regular dose of tramadol and Marin.  The thought is that maybe a small amount of deramaxx may be all he needs to keep his tummy happy while the tramadol will help with pain and the Marin will help his liver.  I am not convinced this is going to work because we have had two days of deramaxx so far since the visit and the eating is still pretty poor.  Maybe things will turn around this weekend.

Sorry, Mom.  I really don't want to be so difficult, but you could solve all of your worries if you would just make me a big bowl of pasta and sauce.  (Mom adds, NOT!!!!)


Hope you all have a great weekend. We are slowly trying to get back to blogging and visiting.

Woos - Phantom, Ciara, and Lightning and Mom