Selfie Sunday and an Update - 6/25/23

Hello, and Happy Friday! Wow, Lexy and I can't believe we haven't had a blog post since February 20th! I don't think we've gone this long without posting since we started our blog. We've given some updates on our lives since moving, which you can read here, here, and here.  I'm going to let Mommy take over from here. Go ahead, Mommy. 

Thank you, Lola, and hello to all of you! I wanted to give you a brief update to let you know how we're doing. Two and half weeks ago we celebrated one year in our new apartment. Time seems to have flown and crawled at the same time. I finally have all of my furniture, and all of my artwork hung up. I did a final declutter, and everything is now organized. It's a good feeling! 

The girls are very happy here. It was a tough transition, but they finally settled. They love the views, the breeze off the water, the ducks, boats, and everything else. They have a comfortable routine and enjoy having more room to run around. 

I still go on the counter, even though I'm not allowed to.

One of the most challenging tasks has been finding a vet. We're now on our third veterinary hospital since moving, which has been difficult because both Lola and Lexy have been to the vet several times. 

In December Lola injured her eye playing with a feather toy. She had an abrasion on her cornea which took a few weeks of eye ointment, and a few trips to the vet, to heal. The vet found a lump on her belly at this time, but luckily it turned out to be just a lipoma. In the meantime, we had to address her high calcium levels. One of the vets we saw, who was very good but unfortunately left the practice, did a lot of research and recommended a change in her diet. I always approach these recommendations with trepidation because the girls can be extremely picky and the last time we did a food change they both lost a lot of weight. We gave it a try with a very slow transition. 

The new food is Hill's Metabolic, and I'm happy to say both girls are loving it. The best news is that Lola's calcium levels were normal with the last ionized calcium blood test! The vets were worried about the possibility of cancer, but with these last results, her diagnosis is now idiopathic hypercalcemia. Her upper respiratory issues are stable, and she still cycles throughout certain times of the year when she's more sneezy and snotty than usual. She did have two rounds of antibiotics because the stress of moving triggered a URI, but she's doing fabulous now. 

Lexy, who has always been the more stable one healthwise despite her kidney disease, has had some issues lately. I noticed she was losing weight, and I also noticed a change in her coat. Her skin was more dry and her coat always looked unkempt, no matter how much I tried to brush her. At her six month checkup, the good news was that her kidney levels were fairly stable, but her white blood cell count was extremely high. Our new vet decided to try antibiotics for two weeks and recheck the bloodwork just in case she had some type of infection. 

The follow up blood draw showed only a very slight decrease in the white blood cell count, so the vet is concerned about lymphoma or possibly leukemia. (We could also be looking at IBD as well.) We went ahead with an ultrasound (which she had to be sedated for because she was very stressed out.) The results were very concerning. Lexy has significant inflammation in the intestinal tract, slightly enlarged lymph nodes, cysts on her liver, and something going with the spleen. And of course, we already knew her kidneys were compromised. Lexy is now 15, and I didn't want to put her through the stress of an endoscopy and possible chemotherapy. (She's also extremely difficult to pill, so getting any chemo meds in her orally would be almost impossible.) 

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item after clicking an affiliate link, we will earn a small commission to buy the girls some treats. You will not pay a higher price.

After a long conversation with our vet, I decided to start her on prednisone. Luckily, she's been taking this very easily. It's a small tablet that I break in half, cover with this pill masker from Tomlyn, and give it to her as a treat. 

This pill masker has been a life saver, and so far so good! She has only been on the prednisone for a couple of weeks, and we go back in about 4 weeks for a recheck. 

Our new vet is absolutely wonderful! I found a feline only practice run by a husband and wife, who are both fantastic. Fingers and paws crossed we'll be seeing them for a while. Now that Lola and Lexy are seniors, I like them to be followed by a consistent vet. 
As for me, I've been enjoying life in the suburbs on the Long Island Sound. Whenever possible I go to one of the parks by the water and enjoy walking around or just sitting by sea.

I am truly blessed to live near so much beauty. It is a vast difference from NYC, that's for sure. I enjoyed 24 years in the big city, but I'm very happy to be back in the suburbs. 

Last year during the move I injured my sacroiliac joint, which I'm still struggling with. I have good days and not so good days, and I haven't been able to return to massaging yet. I'm going to start seeing a new doctor, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to normal soon. 

I know I've said this before, but I'm hoping to start blogging again semi-regularly. Work has been horrific and leaves me little time for anything. I miss interacting with all of our friends and keeping up to date on what's going on with all of you. I have a long list of post ideas, and I have a few reviews and giveaways in the works. I already have two of the products, so I better get to work on those! (If you haven't entered to win a gift pack from Catit, hop on over here and check it out.) 
And because today is Selfie Sunday, here are two selfies of a couple of friends I made on my sojourns. 

You can't see me, lady. I'm camouflaged! 

Thanks to everyone who stayed through the end of this post. You'll see us on your blogs soon!  

Dawn

We're joining our friends at The Cat On My Head for their selfie Sunday blog hop. Hop on over to see more selfies! 

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