Pollux: Loved Now More than Ever- March 29, 1999 - May 24, 2013

I know I'm a day late... I've been distracted.  It took me a while to come to grips with things and figure out what I was going to say.  I've borrowed some details from Castor's memorial because, they were twins.

Pollux was born as one of seven kittens to a mother owned by a couple other college kids in the town my university is located.  He and Castor were the only two Siamese looking kittens in the entire litter.  We wanted named that wold reflect their twin-like appearance and ran through several, rejecting the most obvious ones like "Cain and Abel," "Romulus and Remus," and "Heckle and Jeckle."  I came up with the idea of Castor and Pollux.

Like his mythological counterpart, Pollux did indeed outlive his younger brother.  His personality was different from Castor's in many ways.  First off he was more reserved, still friendly, but he would give people time to settle in before he'd invade their laps.  He also would take a turn around the room to visit with all of the people before settling down.  

Unlike Castor, I didn't pick Pollux.  I didn't want Pollux.  I wanted their white and gray brother who never got a name.  My then boyfriend picked Pollux as his kitten.  When we split up, he left Pollux with me.  I was saddled with a second set of vet bills for another cat with irritable bowel disease.  It was hard, but I made sure I could afford the food they had to eat so they would be sick less and medicines when they needed it.

Over time, his nickname became "Pollywog," which eventually shortened to "Woggs."  He began to become more of "my" cat than I wanted, but he was still my responsibility and Castor loved him.  I learned the hard way that he had a penchant for pasta in Parmesan sauce and peppermints.  Peppermint was his absolute favorite, but he wouldn't turn down the chance to steal pasta.

After Castor died, Pollux was my link to both Castor and Confetti.  We also became more watchful of his condition, in case he started developing any of the same symptoms.  For almost two years nothing changed.  He still loved to drink water from the bathtub after someone showered, still slept on his back with his front feet curled over his belly, and played with his toys.  Then he snagged a claw on something, pulling it out of his foot and the wound became infected.

Last Monday Pollux wasn't doing well at all.  He was still fighting with the flare up of irritable bowel disease that came with those antibiotics he had to take for his foot.  His balance was off, he seemed more distracted, and despite eating like a horse he was still loosing weight.

FH and I decided to see how he progressed during the week and to spend as much time with him as possible.  Artie and Pixel didn't seem to care about what was happening, but Artie did become more aggressive toward Pollux.  I think Pollux's smell was changing and that bothered Artie.

I spent a lot of time stitching in Pollux's company last week.  We'd listen to the birds outside the window and he'd sniff the air when the breeze came through.  Sometimes he would decide I needed to put down my work and have him in my lap.  That's when I'd watch a movie and pet him until he decided to go have a snack.  We also let him fill up on his favorite canned foods.  At night I slept with him in the guest room, shutting the young cats out.  That way he had me to himself.

Friday rolled around and he was no better, in fact he was worse.  When we listed off our observations about his attitude and symptoms, our vet told us that Pollux's liver was definitely failing and it was very possible that his pancreas was also failing and the irritable bowel disease may have turned into cancer.  That left us with only one option for his care and comfort.  Pollux didn't flinch and like Castor, he looked relieved.

Artie and Pixel spent some time looking for him after we came home with the empty carrier.  Gus did some investigating of his own and did his best to make me relax.  I've been trying to wind down from the stresses involved with palliative care and loosing a member of the family.  

Enjoy your rest, my Pollywog Kitten.  Remember me to Castor, Confetti, 'Bert, Tempie, and Meat Loaf.  I'll see you all again someday.

An Old Needlepoint UFO and Critters

This week's been filled with happy things!  The flash flood receded and FH was finally able to get back to work.  The office building wasn't damaged at all!

It appears Pixel and Pollux might be closer to accepting Gus into their lives.

Pollux is also beginning to feel better finally.  We did have to put him back on steroids, but as soon as his IBD calms down, we're going to start weaning him off them immediately.

I did manage to find where I'd put the violet tool case this week.  It was in a seldom-used work bag.  So it's back in the queue of things to finish.  Hopefully this coming week.

I'd been wanting to do something different this week, but I also wanted to work on a UFO.  Happily my needlepoint heart sampler rolled out from the depths of the workroom.

I honestly don't remember when I started it, or even why I bought the kit.  I do remember having fun with the two green sections and being irritated when I figured out the two-tone pink section didn't look like the sample picture.  The lighter pink lines are supposed to be thicker.

Then I was frustrated by the cream sections of continental stitch until I figured out I needed to mount the canvas on stretcher bars.  Then I needed to rip out the cream wool (for the second time) and redo stitch those sections.  Then I figured out I didn't have enough cream wool left from the kit.  That's when it got shoved in a bag and forgotten.

When the heart rolled out, it was right before I was headed to a guild meeting in the next city over... the one where the needlepoint shop is located.  So I started frogging the cream wool.  When that was done, I did the solid pink section (reverse scotch stitch), just to have something else to do.

Well I got new cream wool on Wednesday and got going on the upper cream section.  The tension is still off, but that's due to a lack of experience/practice this time.  I briefly considered frogging it again, but the canvas was started to show signs of wear.  Samplers were meant to be teaching tools and proof of practice anyway, so I left it in.

The background was fun to stitch.  It's pearl cotton done in a reverse continental stitch.

I still need to get the embellishments done and fill in around the background with something.  That way plain canvas won't show along the edges when it's framed or turned into a pillow.  Unless I turn it into an ornament or something.  But then all the neat texture from the pearl cotton would be lost.

But since Wednesday I finished four sections of this canvas, so I'm pleased!

That's all this time.  Depending on how fast I get the embellishing done, I should have more than one project to show off next Sunday.  But we'll see when next week rolls around.

Busy Week

We've had some flash flooding in our neck of the woods this past week.  FH's office building is still inaccessible, but the building itself is intact.  Needless to say things have been really busy this past week.

 Between helping him make sure the business could still function (the power was out and their network was down) and taking care of Pollux, I haven't had much time for anything fun.

Pollux is starting to feel better.  He will finish the course of antibiotics on Monday.  Hopefully this means we're done with them.  The toe still looks icky though, so I'm wondering if a second course will be necessary.

Gus is settling in really well.  We've been going to the dog park every day, except when we had about 36 hours of rain in a row.  Hence the flash flooding in the area.

 I have been working on a design project for the guild.  The quilting group wants to make some blocks for an exchange, but they all need to be the same finished size.  I was elected to draw up the instructions to handout.  I was hoping to do a test run of the block yesterday, but ran out of time with everything else that was going on.  Hopefully this week.

I've also managed to misplace the violet tool case pieces.  I wanted to work on fixing the issues with it last week, but can't find it.  I guess it's time to clean the work room or something.  Perish the thought.

I'm going to leave you with a cute picture of Pixel.  She was doing her best to keep me sitting in the chair yesterday.  I think she wanted us to stay home instead of taking Gus to the park.

No Pictures Today

There are no pictures today for a very bad reason.  Pollux had a stroke on Thursday.  He's doing fine and the vet is confident that he will recover most, if not all, of his balance once the "seasickness" feeling goes away.  We've got him on pills and are watching him carefully.  FH and I are also giving him sub-q fluids here at home.  Pollux is eating well, but his drinking is so-so... hence the fluids.  He's also getting lots of love and quiet time.  He's really enjoying the "love" bit... not so much the quiet time though.

So, no time = no pictures.

I did managed to get most of my tool bag done on Tuesday at the meeting.

* The pieces are all quilted.
* The pocket section is all sewn together and I'd basted piping around the edge.
* I added hand embroidered details to two pocket edges.

Then I realized two very important things:

1) I'd rather have button loops and buttons than velcro.  This meant I needed to go home and make button loops from matching fabric before I could sew the final seams.

and

2) Somehow I'd forgotten that I'd cut the grey outer fabric wider than the pocket sections.  I did it on purpose, to give myself wiggle room in case the applique stitching pulled the fabric too much.  The happened on the table runner center block, so I decided better safe than irritated.

This means I have to remove the basted-on piping and trim the appliqued section to fit the pocket section.  The lining too, since I'd used the grey as a guide piece. 

All that is really simple to do, but for obvious reasons, I haven't taken the time to finish the complete piece.  I was still irritated with the project (and myself) on Wednesday, so I worked on a large cross stitch instead of fixing the issues.

Between today and this coming Wednesday I'll be cleaning, decorating, and baking.  The guild's embroidery group is meeting here Wednesday morning.  I'll have pictures of three new recipes and hopefully get a chance to finish up the tool bag for next the next post.  If things go right in the world, I might even have a finished cross stitch.  It is rather difficult to stitch with an extremely loving Siamese cat pulling your hands towards his head so you can scratch him in just the right places.

Oh, and before I forget, Pollux turns 14 on the 29th of this month.  It's hard to believe how time flies.

See you all next week!

Table Runner Progress

I've been working on the table runner pieces all week long.  In fact, I'm cautiously optimistic about getting the quilting started sometime this coming week.

First of is the biggest challenge I had to getting any work done this week.  This is her preferred spot to sleep.

 Now for the revised runner design.  I finally figured out how I wanted the sashing to look.

 

 

And of course Artie got disgusted with me whilst I was working on the  revisions, so he pulled my coat off the chair and made a nest.

Then I made the bow tie and broken dishes blocks.  I cut more pieces than I need for the runner, but that's a different project done the line. 

 

When I started working on the bunny blocks, Pollux decided they needed to be snooper-vised.

 

 

He approves of the progress.

 

 He has been demanding more attention of late, which means I'm not surprised that I forgot to get pictures of the blocks when I finished the applique.

Next I fixed the center on the large rose.  If you recall, it was off center when I posted it's picture before.  Now it's fixed.

And the block has been embellished.

I started working the embroidered bits on the bunny blocks next, not realizing how late it was... almost midnight!  I was tired, so I parked the needle for the night.  I still need to finish the eyes, work the rest of the face, and add some fur details.  Long-time blog friends can probably guess who is sitting under the flowers.

 I'll be finishing the embroidery later today (I hope) and moving on to putting the whole top together later this week.  See you next time!

Ugh

Pollux and I are both sick.  I'll get caught back on blogging when one of us is well again.

Size Comparison

Something I realized whilst looking through last year's photos. 

We've gone from this:

To this:

In eight months.

Sheesh.

Stitcher's Lament

This applies to miniatures as well.  Every once in a while an event comes up where you have to put aside what you've been working on, or wanting to work on, and stitch something because it would be the perfect gift.  Perfect and sometimes the only affordable gift for the event and/or persons.  One can only hope that the project be interesting, fun, and comes together quickly.  I count myself lucky if I get two out of three.

I've got one of these currently (on top of everything else I'm trying to get done), so I'm working on it in fits and starts whenever a block of time is freed up.  I'll start posting pictures tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy these handsome guys.

Moar Kitteh Toys

On Christmas Eve FH and I headed to the western half of Missouri.  His grandmother lived in a little town about 100 miles south of Kansas City.  We figured driving 100 miles on Christmas morning would be preferable to 350 miles at an even earlier hour, so we planned to stay with a friend.  There was homemade fried chicken, cookies, good scotch, sulfite-free wine, and leather carving in the kitchen.  It was a fantastic evening.

Anyways, whilst FH was driving I made Artan and Pollux a new toy.  Actually I made two toys, but I believe the other will be given away.

This is actually the one I stashed.  Artan already got a hold of his.  You can see it on the right in the picture below.

This is the same pattern I used for his first crocheted toy.  It was much easier to work up in the car with him still at his grandma's house.

PS: I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year's!

Wow I Can Sign In Again!

Alright so apparently I can log back into the blog.  This is good.

I've been wanting to get on here and say I haven't done a single bit of stitching or worked on any minis since I mailed Kim her package of goodies.

Castor is slowing down more rapidly than before.  His mobility has decreased quite a bit.  He still eats, drinks, uses his box, and asks to go out into the sunshine though.  And it seems he's quite taken with Artan.

 

The vet decided at this point it won't hurt Castor to be around him even though we can't test Artie for FIV and leukemia yet.  In fact it seems to be helping, so he gets unrestricted access.

As for the rest of my time... 

 

Artie is now quite mobile whenever he's not asleep.  We have cordoned off rooms of the house, both upstairs and down, so he can have safe areas to run around in.  Keeping him out of trouble has just become a full-time job!

Pollux is lamenting Artan's recent discovery of pouncing.  FH laughing at him doesn't help matters.

Speaking of FH his grades were finally posted.  He passed with A's in both classes, which means he officially has his master's degree in computer science.  Life is more normal than it was before, even with Artie's addition to the household.

I'm going to try and get more mini time in as Artie gets weaned, but I may not have time for blogging.  So here's hoping whenever I get back I'll have more pictures from both the Panda Nursery and (hopefully) Rose Cuttings!

Almost Forgot!

Happy 12th Birthday, Castor and Pollux!

They've partied so hard they're exhausted.  I think I'll join them after my day of driving.

Oh and Tempie did just fine.  One molar needed trimming so they took care of it and sent us on our way.

Time for Another Lazy Weekend

At least for the kitties... and FH.

Bad News for Castor

I didn't mention this last week because FH's brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law were visiting, but Castor went back to the vet last Thursday.  It has been determined that he has some kind of lesion in his brain, specifically on the left side.  This is what is causing the seizures and all the strange behaviors that he's been exhibiting.  We don't know what kind of lesion it is but it's most likely either metastasized cancer or a blood clot.  I know there are other options, but based on his medical history these are the best guess.

We will not be putting him through the stress of driving 1.5 hours to the closest MRI facility nor the anesthesia required to give a cat an MRI.  Even the short drive to our vets' offices (less than 10 minutes) causes him a horrifying amount of stress and pushes him to the brink of having a seizure.  Also once we're at the vets' he is terrified and shaking, when he used to explore the room, look the windows, and flirt with all the people in the room.  Therefore we will not know exactly what is putting pressure on his brain until he's gone.

FH and I are monitoring his behavioral changes daily.  The odd neurological "ticks" he was having over the summer had come back again right before Christmas despite the anti-seizure medications.  So far Castor's balance is really the only thing affected.  He did a somersault off the coffee table on Saturday while trying to hurry down after a piece of cheese that landed on the floor.  I don't know who was more surprised, us or him.  Also he has issues sitting upright for too long, but once he's laying down he's comfortable. 

Castor is eating, drinking, and eliminating fine as well.  He's also being spoiled rotten and loved and petted for a good portion of everyday.  The vets assure us that he's in no pain and that he can continue to be happy and comfortable for weeks to months.  However we've no idea how fast the lesion is growing and that is really what dictates how much time he has left.

 

FH, the vets, and I have agreed on what we'll consider the last straw.  We've also agreed that because Pollux also has irritable bowel disease (which can turn into cancer like it did for his brother) we're going to learn as much as we can from Castor in the hopes that if this happens to Pollux we can be better prepared.  

I'm going to try and refrain from posting anything more on Castor's illness.  I want this blog to help be an escape from the stress.  However adorable pictures and funny stories about the animals will continue as always.  Also the amount of care and attention he needs is much different than what Confetti needed or the rabbits need when they're sick, so I should still have time to not only work on projects but to post about them as well.  At least for a while.  For now Castor just wants to sleep near us or in a lap and be included in what we're doing.  In fact he's in my lap as I type this.  ;-)

Christmas Day 2010

Here's the second post for today. 

FH and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast for two yesterday morning.

We opened our stockings through breakfast and then moved onto the boxes under the tree.

Castor was worn out after all the excitement.  Pollux was just waiting to see what would happen next.

 

Then we packed up some yummy things and put jeans on over our pajamas and made the drive over to the apartment to spend the rest of the day with our friend and her previously naughty children.  Pajamas were the dress of the day/evening over there, hence our choice of wardrobe.

Dinner consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, broccoli casserole, cranberry-apple stuffing, humus and flat bread, and a fresh vegetable tray.  Here's the lovely bird coming out of the oven.

For Christmas FH and I got Little D a beginner's leather tool set so he can 1)have his own tools and 2) can work on leather at home instead of always at our house, giving him more freedom to practice.  Hummingbird was given lots of findings, beads, and tools that fit her hands so she can make jewelry at home with her mom.  Their mother was given a night out at her favorite restaurant.

For dessert we dug into a red velvet cake and watched the kids play with their treasures.  It was a fantastic day.

Copy Cat

With one small difference...

A different number to correspond with Pollux's larger frame and ability to dominate in skirmishes.

I actually started this one last week but was distracted by going to fetch the rest of my furniture from down south.  I'll post more on that later, hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

Again the original pattern can be found here.

Update on Critters

Anna from Random Thoughts of a Stay at Home Mom popped by and asked how Castor is doing. She read about him a while back when I made him his sweater. I'd given a link to the sweater post to the original designer's blog and Anna has just made a sweater for her kitty, Flake. If you've got the time check out the sweater on it's adorable model.

It occurred to me that I've been not only neglecting the blog, but in my sporadic posts I've only hinted at how the animals are doing. So since I find myself with some time today, I'm going to remedy the situation. Here we go:

First a look at Pollux. As you can see he's completely relaxed. Besides that his last checkup labeled him with fantastic dental health and great body condition. There have been no flare ups of either his irritable bowel disease or the sterile bladder infections that have plagued him in the past.

He has slowed down a bit, but he's 11 and we've had odd weather for a few weeks. If I'm starting to creak around he's got to be creaking around too. His favorite place to sleep is the cat condo next to the door to the deck. Sunlight streams in those windows all day.

The mice did not cooperate with a recent picture. Ada is starting to look like an old mouse, but she is still doing well. Alana keeps her warm and makes sure she eats, so life is good for two ladies who were in danger of becoming snake food.

Tempie and 'Bert are doing much better now.'Bert has recovered beautifully from the sudden episode of gut stasis/skin infection last week. He's back to eating normally and running around the family room, kicking up his heels. His round of antibiotics fir the skin infection will be done next Tuesday.

Tempie's mouth has healed from her dental-work. She's giving us more ammunition in thinking she's a carnivore in bunny clothes by wolfing down her food every night. Since she can't get to the cats' food anymore, she makes due with obliterating hers... and 'Bert's if she can reach it.

Finally Castor has put some weight back on thanks to a combination of steroids and probiotics. However he started having seizures about a month ago. He's on medication for them and it appears to be working. Other than having no memory of his favorite game/toy, fetch with a paper ball (which was his favorite for eleven years), the two seizures we can verify did not do any major damage.

We think the seizures may be related to some developmental issues he showed as a kitten due to complications during birth. [I adopted him from friends of a friend who owned his parents. When his mother was giving birth he was stuck in the birth canal for a bit. It took about a month after I brought him home for him to walk normally and he's always been both a klutz and a little dumb.]

The vet suggested an MRI, which I'd really like to get, but FH and I had to weigh the options and costs. For the price of the MRI we can get him all the medicines he needs for at least five years. That includes the steroids, the probiotics (which aren't cheap), and the cans of tuna and wet food we mix the probiotics in. Given the news in the next paragraph, you'll know why we decided to skip the MRI.

The steroids did in fact stop helping his guts behave normally (or rather as normal as they ever got), and therefore the vets and I are fairly certain he is developing bowel cancer. But the drugs make him hungry, so we're keeping him on them for the time being. If this was just a bad flare up of his irritable bowel disease the steroids would have worked and kept working. FH, the vets, and I agree that we do not want to put an 11 year old cat through a biopsy of his intestines so we're just going to ride things out. It may be a year, maybe two. More if we're lucky, less if we're not.

Recent blood tests (within the last month) show his numbers look good, so I'm hoping that we're in the extremely early stages. We also know that his teeth are still in fantastic shape (which will help with his overall health) and he's developed arthritis in his hips. These last few mornings have been stiff ones for him, but he solves that problem by sleeping in sunbeams on the window seat in my sewing room.

Castor is still extremely vocal with his demands to go out onto the sun porch and to get my attention while I'm working on something. At night he comes and cuddles with us on the couch and tries to nose his way into our dinner dishes. So other than a mess (understatement) around the litter boxes and him forgetting what paper balls are for, he's the same spoiled, lovable, sweet kitty that looks like he's been helping with one too many projects involving white paint and glue.

Speaking of projects, I've got a in the works currently, and one if them is of the miniature variety (finally!) and I hope to start posting again with more regularity.