Tuesday late afternoon, back in the box of sadness. They put me back in that small house on wheels and subjected me to the mean people again. I laid patiently while they took my huge bandage off, excited to finally get some air to the itchiest of places. They fooled me. The "Doctor" as they call her poked and prodded and cleaned my foot for far too long. If they would just let me do it, we could all save a lot of struggle. It took four people to hold me down after that. If you're going to call me a fighter, I will show you a fighter. No one puts Chester in a bandage. Corners are fine.
My foot is so small now! The toes that they so graciously left are looking fabulous, if I do say so myself. So do the incisions where my trouble toes used to be. My beloved middle pad is swollen and painful though. No one was too pleased with this. Don't worry, I'm Chester. I will come through in the end. Overall, I'd say the whole foot is better than it was on Thursday. We'll see again on Friday when I have to be subjected to all this bananas all over again.

Everyone knows me by name and by reputation. They say I'm some sort of "celebrity". I think that means that I am extra handsome, since that's all anyone can say when they see me. I do put most of my non-cuddling energy into keeping myself fresh and clean.
My foot itches like crazy and I hate this giant cast that makes me walk funny. I can put weight on my foot, but it's in such an awkward position that I prefer to whine and make everyone bring things to me. Serves them right, after all. 
When we got home, I ran under the bed. Mom and dad are such jerks sometimes. First they put me through all this "surgery" crap. Then they stick my foot in this terrible contraption. Now they won't even let me shred it to pieces. I'm sorry, but what is the use for it then? They put me in the cone of shame while they went out to get delicious food. Selfish jerks. 
Now that Mamma's computer is back, I can finally put all my practice on top of her keyboard to good use. But for now, I must regain my strength and nap. 

Chester went back into Cats Only today to have his bandage changed, and boy did he hate that. He is an amazingly gentle and docile cat, but he certainly did not shy away from voicing his displeasure as his original bandage was being removed. He whined pretty loudly and had to be restrained by two of us while the vet took off the gauze, but he didn't scratch or bite anyone because that's just not how he rolls. Once the bandage was off they washed his foot and took some pictures for their records and Chester calmed down tremendously. I got a look at his new and (sort of) improved foot, and while it didn't look pretty, it definitely didn't look too bad either. Once we were done we headed back home and Chester crashed on the couch. Generally, he's been a lot less distressed today than he was the first day and a half after surgery, so hopefully that is a sign that he is healing well. Even though his mobility is limited with his injured foot he still loves to play, except that he's restricted to swatting at dangling toys instead of chasing them around the apartment. He goes back in again next Tuesday for a check-up with the surgeon, so we will keep you posted. 

As Roya posted earlier, Chester is back at home now and not too happy about having a giant bandage on his foot. He tries to bite of the bandages whenever I'm not looking, and he growls incessantly with outrage if I make him wear his cone. He's also gotten pretty good at removing his cone, even when it's tied very tightly. In order to maintain the peace in the apartment I'm letting him not wear his cone, but this means having to constantly keep an eye on him. He tries to sneak into the other room or go around the corner to bite his bandage, and he gets pissed off because he knows I'm not letting him do it, so he glares at me whenever I catch him (see the picture on the right). He really doesn't like having to be a 3-legged cat when he walks around, so he mostly just lies around sulking right now. He calms down and purrs when I lie next to him on the couch and rub his tummy, so it looks like we're going to be spending the next couple of days watching movies. He'll be going back to the vet tomorrow to get his foot re-bandaged and to make sure everything is starting to heal, so that should be an adventure. 

This is second hand, but I know I'd be wondering if I were you. Chester is safe at home (I got to Skype with him!). Gyan says he's super angry and growling at him, but that's probably because he's coming out of a huge cocktail of medicines. He's back in his cone of shame until the foot heals also. I would be angry as hell if I were him, too.
He scarfed down some food and laid in the sun on my balcony. His foot is pretty obviously hurting him, but there will be lots of meds, homeopathic and conventional in his future. All looks good so far, so some TLC should hopefully get him back to fighting weight and condition. *Knocking on every surface I can find*
Thanks again everyone. You are all like family to us by this point.

So today was the big day, and so far the news is positive. After staying overnight at the clinic and being hooked up with the IV, Chester went in for surgery today to remove his two outside toes on his hind leg. X-rays taken before his surgery showed that his organs are still in the right place from his first surgery, so that is good. There is a bit of scarring on his lungs, but that is not unexpected as part of his lung tissue was removed last time. X-rays on his foot also showed that his bones were not affected by the necrosis, so that is also good news. During today's surgery Chester's blood pressure was a little low but it stayed above 60, which is decent but not great. In his first surgery it had dropped to 30, which obviously had some serious consequences. The surgeon said she could have removed just one bone from each affected toe, but since there was not very much skin tissue left around the second bone in order for it to heal properly, she elected to remove the second bone from each affected toe as well. His two middle toes remain intact and his middle metatarsal pad was shaved a bit to remove the dead tissue and allow for new healthy tissue to grow back over the pad. They are continuing to monitor him at Cat's Only to ensure his blood pressure is stabilized and he will be released either tonight or tomorrow morning. We're not out of the woods yet, but he made it over this first hurdle. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible! More to come later. 

Chester has now been admitted to the Cats Only vet clinic and will be undergoing surgery tomorrow morning. They are keeping him overnight beforehand so they can hook him up to the IV and make sure that his body has plenty of fluids, hopefully preventing the dangerous drop in blood pressure that he experienced during his first surgery. In the days leading up to this he has been extremely playful and active and has been pretty whiney when someone's not playing with him. He is also sick of having to be put in his carrier and taken to the vet at this point, so he was sulking pretty hard when we dropped him off. But hopefully this is his last major hurdle and we won't have to go back to the vet for a long time, except for checkups. Good luck Chester!

Happy Friday the 13th! I hope all is well and no one has lost a tooth or something equally annoying.
Sorry for the couple days lapse. There hasn't been anything new to report.
Chester is limping more on his paw, so we're all really anxious to get the thing off before any big infections start. He is however fine otherwise. He is allowed to play again and is making up for lost time. He chased the laser around the apartment for a good 10 minutes. 7 minutes more than he was able to pre-surgery.
He was waiting basically on top of the door for us to get home tonight because he absolutely cannot stand to be alone for more than 6 hours. He will tolerate 2. He then cuddles your face off (almost literally) until he is fully satisfied. So his normal personality is pretty much back to how it was. Whining over food portions and all.
How can one expect to live on ONLY 1/4lb of pure meat a day? It's just unjust. Mamma always caves and gives him a bit more behind dad's back. He's recovering after all.
For the rest of the night, he plans on getting his belly rubbed (his favourite activity next to eating and face-rubbing) swatting at a toy if he can be bothered, and jumping on mom and dad's head at 4am. Only this time, I have to get up with him. He'll be so stoked, until he realizes that I'm leaving for 10 days. But that's ok. Dad's the fun one anyway.
Gyan will be taking over the blog until I get back. At least that's the plan. I have fully informed him to make sure there are pictures...even if I don't have any for you tonight. 
Just make sure to send lots of positive energy to Chester on Tuesday morning and Monday night while he's on IVs to combat the blood pressure issues. He has to spend the night all alone with no WSU students to fawn over him. Ok. I'm going to sign off and pack before I start freaking out again. He'll be fine. Lonely, but fine. The next time I see him he will be a two-toed sloth on the outside to match what he's always been inside. :)

It has now been a week and 15 hours since the site went up. We've already raised enough to get Chester the entire surgery! How is that even possible? I can't even fathom the amount of generosity coming from all over the world. He's had donations from 6 states, 2 provinces, 4 countries, and 2 continents. And even the people who couldn't donate said the nicest things and kept us fighting.
These past four months since we found out about Chester's accident have been gruelling. I cried for two days straight after that vet's appointment. 4 of those hours in the vets office tucked in a room devouring a box of kleenex. We've gone from "He has to be put down or get this surgery you can't afford." to "Maybe he can live with it, you just won't know when it will turn awful." to "We have to get this for him, I can't take the worry or his pain." to "He doesn't look good and we don't know how to save him." to "He can go home with you soon, just take care of that foot." back to "He has to be put down or get the surgery you can't afford." and finally now to "Get him the surgery and hope beyond hope that everything is fixed."
As we've been told about a million times in the last month, "we aren't out of the woods yet". But we'd never be this close to the edge if it weren't for all your guiding lights. There have been so many tears, so much worrying, so much "If Only"ing and so much hope. There's about to be a whole lot more of everything, but there wouldn't be hope if not for all of you.
I've spent so much time in vet's offices, on the phone with vet's offices and thinking about being in a vet's office and after the 8 hundred million questions, the only thing that has made me feel better is all of you supporting us. I don't know what I'll do if this surgery doesn't go well. Especially since I'll be on the other side of the continent, but I can't think about that. What's the point after all?
Gyan, Gyan's family, and I have worked and force fed and wrapped and soaked and loved and done everything possible for this little guy; you all have given everything you could as well. The vet's are doing their part. The only thing left is Chester's fight. He's a strong kitty and he's getting the best treatment we could give him, so it's all we can ask for. I guess I have to just leave it at that.
After all this, he has to make it. What kind of Cinderella story would it be if he didn't? What I'm trying to say is, thanks for being Chester's fairy god mother when we couldn't be. You got him to the surgery ball, let's just hope that this time at midnight everything goes back to normal for good. His two toed paw would be too small for a slipper anyway.

Just got back from the vets. Dr. Whitley, our doctor here wanted to make sure there were no miraculous foot regrowths before we scheduled the sugery. Sadly, there weren't. If anything, it's gotten worse. He is scheduled for next Tuesday, July 17th. We have to bring him in Monday afternoon and get a few x-rays and blood work to help specialize his anesthesia and give him the best chance at surviving this. They will also put him on IV fluids overnight to pre-emptive strike his blood pressure.
I cried the entire time through the consultation. Luckily, Chester gave up being scared to console me once that started. He sat on the table nicely and face-rubbed mine while I blubbered on. The doctor is worried too, but none of us have choices in this. I think she would rather us bring Chester back to WSU so she didn't have to worry so much. We would too. Not that Dr. Whitley isn't a great vet. I've never had to deal with her surgery skills and we haven't been a patient there very long, but she's always sure to tell us what she is and isn't comfortable doing. And she answers my 8 bazillion questions patiently. BUT nothing compares to the service we had at WSU. I think our main affection for them is how obviously they adored Chester. You always want to bring your baby to someone who cares about them as much as you do. You know they will fight their hardest for them. Dr. Might, our surgeon there calls us literally to this day to find out how the little brat is doing and give us medical advice for free. At one point during the recovery there when Gyan and I were sick of sleeping in the car/in a random park, he offered us his home and shower. Nicest. People. Ever.
I digress. Gyan is in Ottawa this week. I leave for a wedding on Saturday, and then Gyan leaves again at the beginning of August. We wouldn't have any time to go down there until mid-late August and his toes need to go now.
I will actually be in Michigan for the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends when Chester undergoes his surgery. I don't think that helped my waterworks. So I will leave Gyan in charge of updating you all when I leave. You can all blame Alyssa for having to schedule her wedding to the guy she's been with since diapers during Chester's crisis time. I know I do. (Just kidding Alyssa, I know you will already feel bad and it's clearly not your fault.)
Besides his foot, Chester is still looking good. He's gained another .1kg which brings him up to +.4kg since the last surgery. He's now a bonafide heavy-weight. Actually he's right on target with his weight, but most of the time we've had him he's been underweight so he feels huge to us. He's eating normal amounts. His personality is almost back to normal, and he walks and runs ok. Still a huge amount of limping, but he doesn't seem to avoid walking.
He's been on antibiotics for an entire month now and I hate it.
1. I hate giving it to him and having him sulk for an hour after. and
2. I straight hate that he's been on antibiotics for so long. I would never allow myself to take that many and I'm sure cats have just as many symbiotic bacteria that humans do. But the last thing we need is for a full blown infection to pop up right before surgery, so on it he stays. Are there prebiotics for cats? I know nothing. Plus, I feel like by now the infectious bacteria has got to be building up resistant strains. Thank god Chester is the only pet here or I'd have him in quarantine. I don't know if you all have picked up on this yet, but I'm increasingly neurotic when it comes to this little guy. Poor Gyan.
Since having his lungs fixed, Chester has picked up many new yoga moves to sleep in. Before he always without fail slept on his belly with his legs tucked under him. Now he sleeps curled in balls, with his hind foot behind his head, stretched out along the entire part of the couch I need, or some fancy unexplainable position. It makes my heart happy that he can sleep like a normal cat again. I'm sure it makes his heart happy to be in the place it's supposed to be again. (Before they couldn't even find it in x-rays.)
But, above all, his sleeping preference is on top of me, at the very least curled up in my armpit. But if he has any say, it will be on my neck or face.
Last night I had a dream that I was pregnant and it was really hard to move around or lay down not-awkwardly. I awoke to find that it was just a 4.7kg sleeping cat on my belly. I find it ironically appropriate since he causes the worry and work of a child these days. I also woke up later to my door to my apartment being wide open. I have no idea what happened there, but everything is still here and no one was around. Chester was nestled safely on my shoulder, so I doubt it was him. Good thing Vancouver has negative crime. The Michigander in me definitely got up and locked it, however. 
Anyway. That's all the Chester news I have. I should probably get off this before he sits on the keyboard and tells you everything he's feeling in code anyway. Maybe one day when you're all ready. But I don't think that is today.

Hello everyone. I figured a blog would be a good way to keep people updated without assaulting everyone's inboxes. So not only does Chester eat better than I do and make 4 times what I do, he also now has his own blog. I figured you could catch up on Chester at your own leisure because I know I hate when I get a million emails, even if it's something I care about. If anyone prefers another method, please let me know by comment, email, carrier pigeon, what have you.
Chester is doing well lately. He's walking more on his paw then he did at first, but the peeling pads are pretty tender so he doesn't like it. He can jump much more effectively though, so I think he's getting used to it. After we brought him home from WSU, watching him jump was too pathetic to handle. He would fall over on his side or run into the wall. Now he can at least make it onto the couch without a tiny ladder.
Gyan is at a conference in Ottawa until Tuesday so it's just me and the Cheese Baby. He's always so much more affectionate when only one other person is around. Probably because with two of us here, one is always fawning over him so he doesn't have to vie for our attention.  He's spent 18 hours in my arms, only allowing me to walk away when I showered.
He's becoming increasingly jealous of my computer as I've been on it so much more this week. Every time I open it, he climbs into my lap, then climbs on top of the keyboard and bathes with no intention of moving. So many of my emails have been sent unfinished with a million zzzs at the end. 

Chester has a vet appointment tomorrow to figure out about his surgery and hopefully schedule it. I'm terrified of having him go under again. It'll have been a month since his first surgery on July 13th, and I just hope he's strong enough to undergo anesthesia again. If letting his toes stay wouldn't kill him, I would do it in a heartbeat.
I talked to the lady at The Cat and Dog Shop (http://www.catanddogshop.com) while buying food today and she had me print up some flyers so she could have people donate there. It's a pretty small, but well run shop if you ever get the chance to go there. The people there are super friendly and knowledgeable. Anyway, you can now donate there too. It's amazing how far this has spread. I'm still so blown away.
Chester needs to have his foot soaked in warm soapy water to clean it once a day, and especially now because he's constantly licking and biting at it. Let me tell you how much fun that is with one person.
Gyan's mom came by yesterday to give me some comphry root to make into a paste and wrap around his foot with gauze or a comphry leaf. Probably one of the funniest things I've ever done was wrap a cat in leaves and expect him to not kill me in my sleep. He delt with it for a moment, but once I turned my head, he was shredding it. I'll try to get a picture for everyone next time. Maybe when there are four hands to handle everything.
Does anyone have experience with comphry? It's supposed to help skin and necrosis, but I have no idea what I'm doing.
Well, that's pretty much it. Life is pretty boring over here for now. I just cannot wait until everything is over and we can stop bringing him to the vet every week and giving him meds every six hours. He's so untrusting of us now it makes me sad. I can't wait until all I have to do is love him and feed him again. And then maybe get some time in to work on my thesis again. But baby steps...