Knox's Massage Chair

Knox LOVES to get massages in the special chair he adopted for just this very purpose. It's a canvas folding chair that I've had since college. He jumps into the chair and squeaks/begs for us to rub the underside of the chair while he writhes around....thoroughly enjoying himself. It's quite a sight, and needless to say we indulge him whenever he asks. Sometimes he'll run down to the chair as soon as we get home and cry until we give him a massage. A sign that he's feeling well is his recent requests for massages.

Knox also went poking around for mice yesterday. Another sign that he's feeling better. He hasn't played with his mice in months (much of this due to us being distracted by the 19 month old in the house). Last night he started reaching underneath the bookshelves looking for mice he might have shoved under there eons ago. I quickly ran to get some mice to toss for him - he's not consistent about retrieval so I grabbed a handful. It is so nice to see him feeling good.

We met with Knox's internist on Tuesday to discuss more treatment options. It wasn't a very satisfying conversation, probably in part due to the limitations we face. The doctor was seemed to be "selling" chemo, which irritated me, but he was also up-front about what I consider to be a dismal prognosis even with a successful chemo treatment. I spoke to another vet (a friend's father) who flat-out said that he wouldn't do chemo on Knox given the short life expectancy even if the treatment is successful.

We are torn. We want to give Knox the best possible chance for long-term survival, but we want to do so in a way that gives him the greatest quality of life. I'm afraid that weekly chemo treatments will adversely affect his quality of life. We talked and cried and discussed tonight and have decided to call our very kind primary care vet tomorrow to see if he can lend any additional insights. My friend Jena pointed out the differences in some of the sub-specialities and we are considering seeking out a real oncologist (our specialist is an internist who can administer chemo, as opposed to someone who specializes in the treatment of cancer). I'm not sure the answers will be much different, but at least we will know that we've covered all of our bases.

It is certainly an awesome responsibility to have another living creature's life in your hands like this. For some reason this feels weightier than even caring for Graeme.

(The top picture is the pile of mice we found under an overstuffed chair when we moved it. Knox and Maddie had shoved them all around to the point where they couldn't reach them anymore. The bottom picture shows Knox mid-massage.)