Lately we’ve started thinking of Dennis’s conditions as being in a race to see which one is going to get him first. There are five major ones: Anxiety, Heart Murmur, Hip Dysplasia, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and now, Osteosarcoma. Anxiety was the first out of the gate, but the others have long since left that one in the dust. We imagine them standing around talking to trash to each other. Well, I imagine it, anyway.

Anxiety: “I’ll make Dennis so scared and nervous, he won’t be able to enjoy his life at all. Mwah ha ha ha ha.”
Hip Dysplasia: “Pfft. I’ll make it so he can’t walk.”
Heart Murmur: “You’re both amateurs.”
Inflammatory Bowel Disease: “You think you’re so bad, Heart Murmur, but they have medication that works on you. There’s nothing that works on me. We’ll see how long Dennis lasts when he can’t digest his food.”
Osteosarcoma: “The big C is here. The rest of you can leave.”
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (to Anxiety, Hip Dysplasia and Heart Murmur): “Hold my beer.”

So, yeah. At this point we are several days into a severe flareup of Dennis’s IBD that we have not been able to get a handle on. At all. Dennis has just started on a course of Metronidazole to try to get this flare-up under control, but the really big gun―Prednisone―is largely ruled out because of his heart murmur. (Way to keep yourself in the game, Heart Murmur.) This flareup is hitting harder than the one from the summer; he has already lost a few pounds that he can’t afford to lose, and is now on the “Give Dennis anything he’s willing to eat” diet. Which he thinks is wonderful, at least until he decides after a few meals that this food, like whatever the previous food was, makes him sick. (This even happened when we got desperate and started giving him ground sirloin. Sirloin.)

Digestive issues aside, Dennis’s pain from the osteosarcoma seems to be much reduced; he has been getting around better and even putting some weight on the bad hip, and has been better able to get onto the furniture and into bed. He had his first radiation followup earlier this week. The oncologist was encouraged by Dennis’s progress, and said his hip should continue to feel better over the next couple of weeks. (Dennis goes back for another follow-up in three weeks.)

Dennis’s prognosis hasn’t changed; we just need to make some headway against the IBD, and soon, so that he can spend a few more comfortable months here with his family of humans, Hipster Kitties, and imaginary friends, and all of his nice reederz out on the Interwebs. So please, keep the power of the paw, the tail wags, the purrs, and the nose bumps coming Dennis’s way. He needs them.