Day by day

Numbers - I've never particularly cared for numbers.  But, my sister on the other hand has made numbers her career.

Numbers can signify how much weight you need to loose, what your various lab values in your bloodwork are, your birthday, how old you are,  how many siblings you have, your number of friends on Facebook, miles per gallon your car gets or how many miles you've traveled, and how many frequent flyer miles you get for those you actually traveled.  Numbers show your bank balance or lack thereof or even how much sugar to put in cookie batter.  You get the idea, numbers are everywhere.  Numbers can mean so many things.

Right now, my world is centered around numbers.  As in, number of days.  The type of cancer Willy has gives 20 - 80 days as the average survival rate after detection of tumor.

Our clock started on February 13, 2010.  That is the first time that we have evidence that there was a tumor.  It was over two months before we were able to put a name to the tumor, but detection of the tumor clock started on 2/13/10.

I went to the calendar that hangs by the back door, and I flipped back to Feb 13th and I started numbering.  Today I wrote his number on today's date. 

He's eating, he's sleeping, cat-napping, playing, being social, affectionate.  He spent part of the morning torturing another poor lizard who ventured into Willy's territory.   I was sitting on the sofa and Willy was in my lap when all of the sudden, he was off like he was shot out of a cannon, across the room, through the door, onto the porch, and in a matter of seconds he wandered back into the living room with his prize. I have to confess that I got out my camera and shot some video of the events following the capture.  I felt sorry for the lizard, I truly did, but for me, it was the joy of seeing my little boy active, feeling good, enjoying his life.  I can rewind and watch it as many times as I want to.

It's the times like this that I am glad that I opted for not giving him chemo.  I would not want him lying sick for days at a time, only to start feeling better and then us starting the cycle all over again with another dose of chemical in an IV. 

The increasing number on the calendar everyday lends to the feeling that I, that we, made the right decision.

I have added ES Clear to his daily regimen.  It's a combination of several herbs and it's made for cats with cancer.  I've read testimonials singing its praises.  I have to say, I was a little hesitant at first, especially when he threw up 3 different times after I started it.  But, I kept at it because he'd really just upchucked hair balls.  It is supposed to help rid the body of toxins, and I guess all that hair hanging around can't be a good thing. 

So, back to numbers - he'd gained a tad bit of weight when I took him in for a quick check earlier in the week,  all of the numbers on his last bloodwork looked good, and today, well, today - we made it to day 106.  Willy has already beaten the odds, and I can't help but feel good about that.