January 11, 2002

Finally scanned that roll of film full of Finnegan pictures, taken through out his radiation ordeal. Without further ado, I give you Finnegan's Journey.

The weekend before he was to go to the University Of Guelph to start his radiation treatment, we had Finnegan and Megan outside behind our apartment building. Lisa brought out the bubble mix, and Finnegan flounced across the grass chasing the silly things.

We were able to bring him home on the weekends during the 3 1/2 weeks of treatment. He had a jugular catheter placed in his neck, which the doctors would use as an easy way to anesthetise him. He wore a bandage around his neck to protect the catheter, which you can see in the picture. Notice how his legs are shaved where the doctors first took blood and gave him needles.

Another view of Finnegan flopping on furniture. In this once, you can see where his belly was shaved. The doctors had to biopsy his liver and kidneys to make sure the lymphoma hadn't spread there before they started radiation. Next to him, in his typical Buddha-boy pose, is Sam.

The doctors gave us a E-collar (elizabethan) for Finnegan, in case he started picking at the bandage around his neck. They didn't want him pulling his catheter out accidentially. He wore it for all of 15 minutes the one day we forced it upon him. Apart from lying on the floor looking pathetic, every time he went to negotiate table legs or jump up on things he'd end up on his backside after thwacking into the furniture with his e-collar. We finally had pity on him enough to remove the damn thing. This picture provides a better view of the shaved belly mentioned above.

Megan's reaction to her brother: "What the fuck is up with your neck, dude!?!?"

Once his radiation treatment was finished, the side effects kicked in. His whiskers and the fur on his face all fell out. Here you can see his shaved neck, now that the bandage has been removed. If you look closely, you'll see that is his bare skin and not grey fur on his face.

A better view of just how ravaged his face was from the treatment. Not only did the fur fall out, but he lost a good 15% of his body weight.

All good things come to those who wait. As you've seen in a previous post, his fur has grown back silver and he has begun to put his beef back on. Here he plays Daddy's Little Helper in getting the Christmas tree and decorations out of their storage boxes.

The game is so much fun that all four of the monsters get in the action. That's Sam atop the box closest. His sides are shaved because his fur had matted there so badly that we could not brush it out. We had our family vet get the clippers out when Sam was in for his annual check-up. "Shave 'im!" we exclaimed.

Getting into trouble can be exhausting. Megan in a typical pose atop the kitty condo. She will lie up there on her back, every limb splayed out over the edges. Chicken Leg, we call her when she's in such a pose.

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