Hi Internet!

I'm still here! Banana is still seizure free, 11 weeks tomorrow! He has, however, started refusing to eat his treats about a third of the time, so I've had to get some pills to give him as a backup. What a little jerk!

We also had him at the vet a couple of weeks ago because he was coughing, but that has since stopped. Chest x-Rays did not indicate asthma as we had feared, but they did seem to show that his heart is "on the big side." As there is nothing we could to do treat this even if he does have an enlarged heart, we're just continuing with the One Day at a Time plan. 

I'm going to start posting more again soon! I swear!

Okay, everybody.

I think this guy is going to be okay.

He had a seizure on August 22nd. For the week after that he had stopped itching but still seemed on edge a lot of the time - he was grooming himself for long, long periods of time, to the point where he was having hairballs every 4-5 days, which has never happened before in his life. On Saturday the 30th of August he was a nervous disaster almost every waking second and by the end of the day I was at the end of my rope. I know I have said this before but this was FOR REAL. END OF MY ROPE. I assumed he was going to have another seizure any second and just be an anxious mess all the rest of the time for however long he managed to live. I went to bed that night seriously thinking about his quality of life (and ours!) and whether it was worth it to keep dragging this out.

But since then, he's been pretty much normal. No more seizures, no more nervous grooming, no more hairballs. He's demandingly affectionate and has a normal cattish amount of wild spells followed by relaxed sleeping and cuddles. He loves his thrice daily treats and gets very demanding when he knows it's time for them. (Thank the baby Jesus for that veterinary compounding pharmacy.) He's essentially a normal cat. It's incredible. 

So I think it just took a really really long time for that phenobarbital to get out of his system. Even with tapering so slowly to practically nothing, it was still almost a month after the last dose before he stopped being anxious and uncomfortable. But now - he's not. He's okay. Maybe a touch jumpier than he used to be, but well within normal limits, and probably even less so than his neurotic sister. The people on my forum says it's even possible that his recent seizure was caused by the phenobarbital levels dropping in his system. I don't want to assume that's true, however, because I think it's unrealistic to not expect more seizures in the future. There's no denying he's epileptic. But I feel like as long as he is healthy and happy otherwise, I can totally 100% deal with this - emotionally, financially, whatever. Yeah, if he lives ten years he's going to cost us a lot more money than (hopefully) all our other cats will cost us in our lives combined. And will require 3x a day pet sitting when we go places. But I feel like we can go places! And do things! I'm really proud of us for sticking with it and figuring out his issues. Our little special needs buddy. He's worth it, no doubt. Sometimes I have been thinking that God gave Banana epilepsy so I will be sure to appreciate him every day. I don't even believe in God! But you never know, I guess. I'm sure not taking a single day with him for granted.

Blah

Banana had a seizure at 2:30 Saturday morning. I had sort of been trying to convince myself the first ones were a fluke and he wasn't epileptic, but I guess that is not the case. I spent most of Saturday wallowing. It's just not FAIR! He's so sweet and loving and ornery and hilarious and cute! Why does this have to be happening to this cat? 

Look how little and cute he was. 

Anyway, I'm better today. The people on the epileptic cat forum say that as long as the seizures are 6 weeks or so apart, that's considered controlled. So I guess now we just wait to see what happens. For the past two days he's actually been really calm and affectionate, even closer to what I would consider a Normal Banana than he has been since this all began. We have options - we can increase his Keppra, or add other medications - if his seizures are frequent. 

But it sucks. Waiting to see what will happen, not knowing, the fact that it's happening at all. Bummer times a thousand. 

A New Chili Glaze

I have a chili glazed tofu recipe I make a lot but decided to try this new one from the Cooking for Two book. It's crusted with cornstarch and corn meal before frying, too, whereas my standby is just sautéed. 

I served it over rice mixed with edamame and fiery sesame oil. It was great!

Drunken Noodles

Here is another delicious thing I made from that Cooking for Two cookbook: drunken noodles with chicken and bok choy. 

It called for rice noodles but I thought egg noodles would be better so I used them instead. It worked great!

Cooking for Two

For the past month or so I've been obsessed with The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook. I got it from the library and after a week's worth of recipes ordered it from Amazon. I don't really know much about cooking meat and it has a really comprehensive range of ingredients and cuisines. I also love that it only makes enough for two portions, so I'm not tempted to overeat and/or don't end up with a bunch of leftovers. I've done a poor job of taking pictures but here is one thing I made last week, a summer quinoa/corn chowder with avocado and cheese.

I like the book so much I'm considering going through the entire thing in a systematic way, checking off the recipes like I haven't done since Appetite for Reduction!

In other news, I don't have any new pictures of him but Banana's recovery since coming off the phenobarbital completely has been pretty stunning. He is back to being a curious, affectionate pain in the ass, jumping on top of the 6-foot bookcases and knocking things off the counters onto the floor. Sometimes he scratches for a few seconds but never to the point where I'm worried he's going to hurt himself, and it's getting better all the time. He still has about a week before the drug will be completely out of his system, and we're pretty optimistic that he'll be completely over the itching by then. It's amazing. AMAZING. I guess when you stop giving an animal a medication to which he's allergic, the results are going to be pretty positive.

Deep fryin'

A few years ago I got Ben a deep fryer for his birthday. It's kind of a pain to deal with but since we're back on meat we keep getting it out to make fish tacos. 

It's worth it. Every time. 

Catch you later, phenobarbital!

Today is the first phenobarbital-free day of Banana's life since May 5th. It has been an extremely long and stressful road for this entire household. I tapered more slowly than the neurologist even recommended, stretching out another two weeks based on recommendations from the epileptic cat owners' forum I belong to. The overall trend over the last couple of weeks especially has been positive for sure, although he does still have some minor itchy issues that bother him from time to time. 

Personality and mobility wise, though, he is much, much better. His coordination and balance are completely normal, which was never the case when he was on a therapeutic dose of phenobarb. 

He's also curious and active again, playing with Papaya and running to the windows to look at birds. 

So now we just have to wait and see if the itchiness goes away completely over the next couple of weeks. The phenobarb will stay in his system for at least that long yet. If he's still itching after that, we can look into other things - food allergy, maybe? - but I am 100% confident we've done the right thing getting him off phenobarbital. 

I feel like I have my cat back, finally. For now, I guess - I am still holding my breath a little bit. At least his issues are infrequent and tolerable for the time being. And hopefully by mid-August they'll be gone completely! If not, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. 

Little Chickens

I've been bored with our regular food lately, which means I am diving right back into the meat world.

I do feel a little guilty, but not guilty enough to not eat it, so here we go! Tonight I roasted Cornish game hens with honey glaze, some Parmesan-crusted asparagus, and artichoke hearts with lemon and basil. It was all great! Perhaps not the most appropriate for a 93 degree day but, you know. Who cares. 

Banana had had an itchy weekend but today was better than yesterday. Just trying to hang in there for the next few weeks until we can get him off phenobarbital completely. The tapering is really really frustrating. But I know it has to be done. 

I'm thinking of making a calendar called Cats Who Usually Don't Care About Each Other Cuddling On The Stove. 

Fajitas!

Remember when this was a fun blog about food? The Mexican place by our house has had these tropical fajitas as the special all summer and I'm pretty obsessed with them. They mix up carnitas, chorizo, and chicken with peppers and onions and serve it in half a pineapple. So fancy!

It's a huge amount of food, too. When we went there on Wednesday there was enough left over for Ben and I to share for dinner the next night. 

As far as the cat goes, I'm pretty sure we are on the right track. Banana is much, much more like himself even after only a few days on Keppra. 

He's clumsier than ever, but at least he WANTS to jump on stuff now. Yesterday he didn't fall off the kitchen counter even once, so I think it might be starting to get a little better. The combo of a full dose of Keppra with the phenobarbital still in his system has got to be pretty potent. We still have 3 weeks or so before we get him off the phenobarb so I'm hoping that by early August we'll have a good idea of what he'll really be like on the Keppra. Whoever invented compounding medication into seafood flavored treats deserves some kind of award. Here's what they look like. 

It has made our (and his) life so much better, and I can't wait until we are done with the phenobarb so we don't have to give him any pills at all. 

Oh, and that whole plan of an early morning dose and then lunchtime and evening worked for exactly 2 days. I can't tell you much about them, though, because I was so exhausted I didn't retain any information. We have switched to before and after work and right before bed. It's not exactly 8 hours between dosages, but it's the best we can do and I think it will be good enough. Compared to what I am reading on my forum, his condition seems to be relatively easy to control, at least for now. There are a lot of cats who still have regular seizures even on meds, so thank goodness we don't have to deal with that. Knock on wood. 

Phase Two

Since last week Banana has been more or less fine. Not normal, mind you, but not self-destructive and insane. He last had a crazy itching/grooming session last Tuesday night, three days after we started decreasing the phenobarbital. And three days after switching to the soy-free food. So convenient that both of those things occurred precisely at the same time, so we can't be sure what is having the positive effect. He's still on 15mg of phenobarb twice a day, which is the dose he was taking when he clawed his ear bloody - so either his body has gotten used to it to an extent, or that food did not agree with him. I (jokingly!) suggested doing an experiment wherein we give him the old food again to see what happens, but Ben nixed that idea. He should be eating the lower calorie food anyway.

Regardless, we press on. He is very wobbly and uncoordinated on the phenobarbital and it's hard on the liver so it's the right decision to get him off it. One happy surprise is that the compounded version of Keppra is only $59 a month - half the cost of the pills I got from the Target pharmacy. The 4th of July holiday pushed us back a couple of days - the compounded Keppra has to be Fed Exed from Arizona - but it has arrived so we're going to start that tonight.  Keppra only takes a couple of days to reach therapeutic dosage, so I'm going to decrease the phenobarb again starting on Friday. I really really want to get him off that crap.

He still has glimpses of wanting to be bad - attempting to jump onto the top closet shelf is a classic Banana maneuver - which makes it all the harder when he, for example, falls off the kitchen counter because he turns around too fast.

He is still pretty affectionate a lot of the time.

Possibly we keep the air conditioning turned down too low. They have been all over the warm stovetop lately.

So we'll see what happens with this Keppra. The worst part of this medication, which is (supposedly) free of side effects, is that it has to be given three times a day. I can't see a way around getting up at 6am every day given that we both have to be at work all day long. And one of us is going to have to come home every single day at lunch for the midday dose. SIGH. And let's not even get into whether or not we will ever be able to spend a night away from home again. 

I'm also finding myself forgetting about the seizure aspect entirely, writing it off as unlikely to ever happen again, which I know is dangerous thinking. It's been two months since this all started but lots of cats go months with no seizure activity and then it crops up again. We're just going to have to take it slowly and see how it goes. Most vets want to try weaning cats off medication if they haven't had a seizure in a year, and I'm having trouble not flashing forward to next summer, imagining how great it will be if I can just have my regular healthy cat back. Is it likely? I have no idea. But I hope so.

Changing it up

Well, naturally everything has gotten much much worse since that last post. I am mostly writing this as a record for myself (and others googling cat epilepsy?) so sorry, people who aren't interested. But here is a picture of Banana. 

Thursday night he fell apart again with the crazy overgrooming and scratching of  his feet and entire head. By Friday morning his right eye was half shut from scrabbling at his temple. 

It occurred to me that we started a new food less than 2 weeks before this all started with his seizures on May 5th. We had them on Royal Canin Urinary SO Moderate Calorie, and then I switched them to the regular because my vet didn't have the low cal. I did some research and discovered the primary symptom of food allergies in cats is itching, especially of the face and ears. And food allergies can also cause seizures. And soy is a common allergen, present in the regular version of that food but not in anything he had ever eaten prior. So THAT is all very interesting. The first thing I did Friday morning was call my vet, who said she would put in a call to the neurologist to see if he had other cats with this problem. Then I went and got the Moderate Calorie food and took away the other stuff. 

I took the afternoon off work and when I got home at 1:30 he was still a twitchy disaster. Finally I talked to the vet, who said the neurologist didn't think the phenobarb was causing the itching, but she disagreed and thinks we should taper off the phenobarb and switch to a new medication called Keppra. I agreed 100% with this plan. She called in Keppra to the pharmacy and I picked it up and it was $115 for a month's supply and the pills were enormous, far too big to give to a cat. SIGH. 

I drove to the vet's office to show her the pills and she agreed they were ridiculous and that I should return them. We talked about it and agreed to start decreasing his phenobarb immediately regardless as clearly he is not tolerating it well. Compounding pharmacies can turn Keppra into treat-like form, so she is going to call on Monday and see how much that costs. She's worried it will be expensive but at this point I do not care. We don't have kids; what else are we going to spend our money on? She gave me some sample treat flavors to see if he likes one more than the other and THANK GOD he loves them all. It's going to be much more awesome giving him a treat 3 times a day as opposed to shoving a pill down his throat. 

So after all that I went home and Banana was relaxed and affectionate all evening like nothing had even happened. ARGHGH. That makes me wonder about the food, though - maybe I really am onto something there. We are decreasing the phenobarb anyway because clearly it isn't doing a good job of controlling his symptoms regardless, and it also makes him pathetically clumsy and is hard on the liver long-term. 

This morning he purred and cuddled with me for hours. He did have a moderately compulsive grooming session this afternoon and sort of half-heartedly scratched in the direction of his head, but we were able to ward it off for the most part and it was nothing like the horribleness of the last few days. 

So we will see! This has been an incredible learning experience and I think it is far from over, which sometimes I am fine with and sometimes makes me want to cry. Once we get him stable I'm semi-seriously thinking of starting a feline epilepsy website because it is so difficult to find information about this stuff. Even my vet is learning a lot, I think. It's just a super rare condition. We sure are lucky. 

One Day at a Time

Ben said I have to make a new post because that picture of Banana makes him too sad to look at. So here he is a few days ago. 

He is doing better since increasing the phenobarb, but he's also just now starting to really come out of the sedation phase, so who knows what's going to happen when that wears off. I am starting to get over the idea that the meds are going to be a magic pill that returns him to the way he was before, and accept that he may always be a little off and have issues. It's sad! My buddy! But he still sleeps on my pillow and purrs and cuddles, so as long as we can keep him seizure-free and the compulsive stuff under control, I can live with that. 

Banana Update

I was pretty anxious about leaving Banana to go on that trip, as I'm sure you can imagine. We have a great pet sitter who has been taking care of them for years, though, and I trusted her to take good care of them. She did have some drama giving him his medicine a few times, but overall it went fine.

When we got back, we were surprised at how normal he was acting, much moreso than before we left. We had his phenobarbital levels checked and they were within the normal range, although on the low side of average. He was not having any symptoms at all so the plan was to recheck in 6 months to make sure everything was okay.

Then a few days later he started FREAKING OUT. The slightest out of the ordinary event will now send him into a tailspin of anxious overgrooming, biting at his feet, and scratching his right ear, causing it to swell up like so.

It sucks. Our vet consulted with the head of neurology at NC State and they thought he might be reacting to a different formulation of phenobarbital that was in the refill I picked up at Target pharmacy. So I went back to the vet school to get some of their version (which is made by the same manufacturer, so I had my suspicions this strategy would not work). It didn't work. He's been off the Target phenobarb since Saturday and last night he was worse than ever with the ear scratching. It's like a vicious cycle - he scratches because of anxiety to the point of irritating it, and then continues to scratch because it's irritated. ARGH.

Eventually he does get tired and fall asleep, which allows the ear to calm down and when he wakes up he is sometimes okay. Until the next stressful thing happens (this morning: having to take his medicine) and it starts all over again.

Fortunately, I have found an absolutely incredible online forum for owners of epileptic cats. I would be lost without those people - from them I have learned that this type of compulsive behavior goes hand in hand with feline epilepsy and that his urinary tract issues may very well be related, too. I can't believe that there is so little information out there about this disease that average cat owners are a better source of information than veterinarians - but it's true. My vet is fabulous but she clearly doesn't have a lot of experience with this because it's so rare.

Anyway, from the forum people I learned that this behavior is very typical and almost certainly means his phenobarb dose is too low. Given that my vet said his blood levels were below the median, I suspect this is the case and that we're going to have to increase his dose. I hope we can do that today because I am so tired of worrying about him. 

I miss my cat. 

Trip Report! Newfoundland: The Last Day

Our flight was leaving at 4pm, so after a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes at The Spaniard's Room, we set off back toward St. John's. We initially took the scenic coastal route but it was way too annoying so after a while we transferred back over to the highway.

Naturally, since we were leaving, it was an absolutely gorgeous day (albeit still cold). We drove back up to Signal Hill and went to the Geo Center, which we had skipped the first time. It tells about the geological history of the area (summary: very very old) and we got to see a 5 billion year old rock, so that was pretty cool.

Then we went to the top for one last look at the ocean and St. John's. 

The last iceberg!

Newfoundland was awesome, and we only saw one tiny corner of it. Everyone thought it was a weird place to go but everyone was wrong! It is an incredible place to go! In addition to all the scenery and weird culture, it was also the cheapest vacation we have taken in years (which is good, you know, considering that my cat now has a neurologist). 

We definitely will be heading back to see the West Coast at some point - Gros Morne National Park is by all accounts absolutely stunning. Fjords! I think when we do go back it will be in September or early October, though - still outside the tourist season, but with better weather than May. Still, even with the cold and rain, I'm glad we went when we did because those icebergs were a once in a lifetime sight. 

Go to Newfoundland! 

Trip Report! Newfoundland: Day Six

I was really sad to be leaving the Fishers Loft Inn. It's a week later and I still wish I was there!

But we pressed onward, south in the general direction of St. John's. Here is a town we stopped in. Ben laughed about this constantly for three or four days prior.

The Dildo Area Interpretation Center was closed, thank goodness, because I would have felt like a real jerk going in there solely to see if they had some hilarious things to buy that said "Dildo" on them. You do have to wonder what they are thinking with that map of the harbor, though, right? I mean, come on.

Apparently there are ongoing discussions about changing the name but the old timers are resisting. I guess it probably does boost tourism for the area? 

We stayed our last night in Newfoundland at The Spaniard's Room Bed & Breakfast in Spanish Bay, about an hour north of St. John's. This B&B has absolutely spectacular reviews and looked great from the outside, a huge old historic house.

Inside, though, it definitely tended more toward homey than luxurious. There is a sign asking you to take your shoes off when you come indoors, they have a friendly little dog running around, and they didn't give us a key or anything. It was truly like being a guest in someone's home. 

We quickly figured out that The Spaniard's Room has an excellent reputation because its owners are absolutely fantastic hosts. They were both really friendly and offered suggestions about the area, and also asked if we'd like to have dinner there, as they had just gotten some Atlantic lobsters they'd be willing to cook for us. Well, that sounded pretty great! We went for it.

In the meantime, though, we headed over to the nearby small town of Brigus, and had lunch at The Country Corner, a little combination souvenir shop/restaurant/ice cream store. I got the cod chowder special, which was stellar. Perfectly on a cold windy day.

Ben got a turkey sandwich and split pea soup.

And then we both got one of these, which was probably excessive: blueberry crumble with blueberry ice cream and blueberry sauce. Yum.

After lunch we set out to explore Brigus a little bit. This is the town hall, which was across the street from the restaurant.

Here is a view of the harbor, which some nearby signs claimed was once the busiest in Newfoundland. You could supposedly walk from one side of the harbor to the other on top of the fishing boats.

It was a really cold day. Not just windy and rainy, as other days had been, but genuinely straight up cold. Here is Benjamin cowering in a tunnel that some rich guy made his minions blast out of the solid rock for him, so he could have a shortcut from his house to the harbor.

I made him keep walking around, though, to see the sights.

This is the main tourist attraction in town, polar explorer Bob Bartlett's house. It was not yet open for the season.

We drove a few miles over to Cupids to see what was going on there. Fortunately the archaeological site was open - Cupids was the first English settlement in Canada, and is second only to Jamestown as the oldest in North America. It was first settled in 1610 and the site is an active archaeological dig. Here is the little house that serves as the visitors center.

We didn't do the full tour because Ben was too cold to stay outside but we talked with one of the historical society people for a while and it was really interesting. In addition to telling us about the history of the site, she also had about the craziest accent we had heard yet, among other things pronouncing chimney like "chimley", which took us a minute or so to figure out. I googled it later and apparently it is a regional dialect thing primarily from some very small part of England. So I guess we know where that lady's ancestors are from!

After Cupids we got some coffee at Tim Horton's and read the internet on our phones for a while (not pictured).

Then we went back to the B&B for dinner. Look at the lobsters!

We were pretty excited. The guy said he cooked them in sea water, not just tap water with salt added. I asked if he got the sea water when he bought the lobsters and he said, "oh, no, I just went across the street and collected it with a bucket." Okay, well, that's awesome.

He gave us a bunch of instructions and tips on how to eat the lobsters. Ben did most of the disassembly work.

We also got a salad and then apple crumble for dessert, and for all of that they charged us the outrageous price of $22 US per person. It was such a good deal I almost felt bad! The Spaniard's Room is definitely a keeper.

Trip Report! Newfoundland: Day Five

One of the things I most wanted to do while we were in the Trinity area was hike the Skerwink Trail, considered one of Canada's top hiking paths. It was conveniently located within walking distance of the Fishers Loft Inn.

As you can see, we woke up to not super great hiking weather, but decided to go for it anyway. It says a lot about Newfoundlanders, too, that we asked a couple people how to get to the trailhead and nobody commented on the fact that we were going out to hike 3 miles in cold wind and rain. So off we set, down the hill.

Our loft suite was the entire third floor of the yellow house. The dining room is right next door in the green one.

Found it! The internet describes this hike as moderate-difficult and a bunch of people on TripAdvisor commented that parts were slippery. This all turned out to be lies. I mean, it wasn't like walking along on a flat surface but it was not hard or scary at all.

Ben insisted it was fine for me to wear skinny corduroys with my hiking shoes but I did not feel confident about it. Fortunately we didn't see any other people at all, not until the very end when a few guys were hiking in with boards and shovels to do some trail work.

The trail lived up to the hype. Gorgeous ocean views at every turn.

You can see even from this height how clear and beautiful the water is.

We took time at every single point to inspect the views.

Senior picture.

The weather wasn't really bad at all. It was a little misty but didn't actually rain until the very end.

When Benjamin crawled out to this point I was pretty sure this was going to be my last glimpse of him ever. Steep cliffs! I think he gets a special joy from freaking me out.

We got a little lost trying to find our way back to the inn from the end of the trail, and it was pouring in earnest by that point, but eventually we made it and went inside to get dried off and relax for a while. Then we set out for Trinity proper, where there are a lot of historical sites to investigate.

I had read that most of Newfoundland has not really figured out tourism yet, but Trinity definitely has. We found that to be true - it was the most developed of the small towns we visited, and even though it was May they already had the tourist sites open for the season. Here is the heart of the village.

We visited all of these buildings, which are either original to the 1700s or were rebuilt to the exact specifications of the originals. Trinity was for centuries a cod fishing village, and we learned all about the industry and the family who ran the business for the entire town. We met some really interesting characters in the cooperage and blacksmith buildings in particular. The blacksmith guys didn't seem to want us to leave - they kept regaling us with stories of local people and their adventures and telling us about other tourists they'd met over the years, too, all while working on cranking out their ironworks projects. It was neat! And weird! Naturally we were the only tourists around.

We found one of the four restaurants and were grateful to see it was open.

This was the view from our table. The weather was very bad by this point. 

We both could not resist the fish & chips, and it was a good idea - I think this was the best fried fish of my life. I also got an iceberg beer, which is made in St. John's from the water of a 25,000 year old iceberg. It tasted just like regular beer, though.

We met some people at our B&B in St. John's and saw them again at dinner in Port Rexton. They told us they'd been up to see the icebergs at Cape Bonavista and that we should check it out if we had time. (Cape Bonavista is where John Cabot made landfall in 1497 as the first European to set foot in North America since the Vikings.) I felt like we had already seen some pretty good iceberg action but we didn't have anything else to do so we drove the 30 miles or so up to the end of the peninsula. I am so glad we did - the scene up there was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.

The pictures just cannot convey how extreme the conditions were - the freezing wind gusts, sleet pelting our faces, the ocean crashing into the cliffs and icebergs - it was something I will never forget.

I feel like we are so lucky to have gotten to see that; the icebergs this year are the best they've been in decades (a "bumper crop", per the blacksmith guys in Trinity) and we were there at precisely peak season. I never knew I wanted to see icebergs until I saw them!