What's in a name?

A few people have asked about Knox and Madison's names. Knox is the county where Steve spent his formative years, ages 10-18 or so, and the place he considers home (Knox County, Tennessee). Madison is the county where I grew up (Madison County, New York) and where my father still lives in the house I lived in from age 5-18 or so. We thought the names were very cat-like and meaningful to us, and hence it was an easy decision.

My mother has been with us since Friday and plans to stay through Wednesday. She loves Knox and takes an opportunity she can to see Graeme. It has been very helpful to have her here. She and Graeme adore each other, and Steve and I have been able to spend lots of time with Knox.

Knox had a good day today. He has a great appetite and we've been feeding him about a tablespoon of food every two hours (round the clock). Feeding him makes me nervous because it has always led to vomiting, but he has kept all his food down and seems very hungry. We take this as a good sign that he is feeling better. He spent most of the day in our basement with Steve, resting, but he showed some signs of love - purring, rubbing his head on your hand, and looking at us when we walked by. Our dear neighbor, Rita, did some Reiki on him for about 30 minutes this afternoon. She thought his eyes looked good and breathing seemed normal. He had some "tingly" energy around his hindquarters, but he responded well to her touch. We are so grateful for her love.

We've come to believe that Madison has long known about Knox's tumor. About a year ago she started acting startled around him. He would walk around the corner and she would jump, and sometimes go so far as to raise her paw at him. We always joked about it - Maddie this is your brother, he's the only cat you've ever known. Steve wondered about her eyesight. After talking with many of you we believe that she knew he was sick and was responding instinctively to "isolate" or "stay away from" the weak. While this breaks my heart because our nature is to comfort the weak, I am amazed at the powers animals possess and believe we can learn much from studying them. In the last few days Maddie has showed increasing concern for Knox and wanted to be in the same room with him during the Reiki session. We are trying to shower her with as much attention as possible; it breaks our heart for her to think that she misses Knox's company.

We have arranged our schedules to be with Knox this week. We anxiously watch him each moment for signs that he's comfortable. While we are pretty sure our time is short with him, we feel a bit of happiness that he had a comfortable day.

I can't tell you how much your calls and emails mean to us. We thank you all for your love and support.

(Above is a picture of the cats playing with a Christmas toy in 2004. Knox is on the table observing Maddie.)