Heading down to London

I had a decision to make. Was Spirit well enough to come to London with me or should he stay in the flat in Manchester? It was the difference between me getting the train down for 3 days or driving down and staying a couple of weeks. Katie upstairs could look after him and Sable but I'd hate myself if I got back on Wednesday night and he'd died or got really ill.
I decided to drive down. I packed up the car with clothes, food and all sorts. I got Spirit and Sable into their carriers and left the flat at about 3pm. It was actually a really easy drive down and Spirit hardly moaned on the way down in his usual manner.
The UK top 40 was on and I had a nice time singing along to the songs that were on. I got to London for about 7pm and unpacked the car. Spirit looked VERY excited to be home. He ran around the flat smelling everything and ran up and down the stairs from the roof garden to the car park and along all the other landings for an hour or so.
I was a bit worried about him being outside with his stitches but there wasn't really much I could do. I went over the road and got some food and a couple of bottles of wine in. The flat really needs a good clean and I want to sort everything out but that can wait for later in the week.
I watched telly, ate some food, drank some wine and then decided to go and see Sandra at The Black Cap. Sandra wasn't on but I saw Titti La Camp and Little John. It was only when I got home I realised I was quite drunk and fell into bed.

Spirit gets cancer

After recovering from the New Year madness I was watching TV with my cat Spirit on my lap.

I found a lump on his neck. It was about the size of a 10p coin. I checked the rest of him out and found 5 other small lumps on his back. He didn't seem bothered by them but I knew immediately what it was.

I knew it was cancer.

I let Spirit sleep on my bed for the first time in years that night. I couldn't bring myself to think about it too much.

The next morning I called the vets and they made an appointment for me on Friday morning. At least if nothing else I was going to get to see the handsome vet called Matt that I saw the last time I took spirit in.

Everyone else had gone into work today and I was getting messages on Facebook from everyone in the office asking me questions about where to find things and all that kind of stuff.
I spoke to Nicola about Spirit - she was lovely and put me at ease a bit. She told me that there's no point in thinking the worst until we'd been to the vets and got it all confirmed.

Spirit slept on my bed again that night. He seemed happy there and I wanted to make sure he was as happy as possible.

I got up early the next day. I got myself ready and got Spirit into the carrier. I got him him in the car and turned the key. It wouldn't start. The bloody battery had died because I'd left it over Christmas.

I called a cab and sat by the wall with Spirit looking at me through the bars of his carrier.

I got to the vets and waited in reception. I was nervous. Spirit was still looking at me.

We went in. Dr. Matt was as handsome as I remembered. He has such a good mannerism too and made everything seem better. He told me that it could be an allergy to my Christmas tree or something else less scary than cancer. He told me that I'd be better off leaving Spirit with him so they could run some tests and take some samples.

I walked out of the vets without my cat and walked home.

When I got home I emailed Jess at work and Nicola as well. I arranged to meet Jessica and Klare for lunch at Walkabout. I needed to get out of the flat and not think about what was going on at the vets.

Just as I was leaving the flat, I got a call from Dr. Matt. I was meant to call him after 2.30pm so why was he calling me?

"Hi Matthew," he said. "It's Matt from the vets."
"Hello," I replied. This can't be good news.
"Are you free to talk?"
"Yes."
"We got the results back from the lab. They've found something that is of concern. The results showed up some cancerous cells and it seems that Spirit has one of two types of very rare cancers and they have to do a biopsy to find out which of the two it is. Is that OK? We can do it today before you come to get him and then can get the results back next week and take it from there."

Spirit has cancer. I couldn't believe it. He's been with me through thick and thin and I never thought I could be so close to an animal. It sounds childish but he really is my best friend. Now he has cancer.

"Of course you can do a biopsy," I said. "But can I ask. Is it treatable?"
"To a point," Matt said.

That means no, doesn't it?

I asked when I could come and pick him up and then got off the phone to handsome Dr. Matt.

I went out and met Jess and Klare for lunch. We had a lovely chat and I tried to put the whole cancer thing to the back of my mind. I had a Kangaroo burger and a big glass of wine. I told them about the job at CNN and found out all the gossip from Jeremy Kyle.

I left them after lunch and wandered around The Arndale Centre and King's Street. Halfway down King's Street it started to hit me. I could feel myself welling up. I got back to the car and got home. Then I started to cry. Spirit was at the vets on his own after being operated on and he could be dying.

I called Steven and told him. He was amazing. So reassuring and helpful. He had been through the same thing with Tweaky when he got cancer and knew what I was going through. I cried so much down the phone to him and he let me. If Spirit goes then that will be the last link between us gone. He bought Spirit for me for my birthday and it took him months to find him. Spirit grew up thinking that Steven's dog Tweaky was his mummy - even though Tweaky was a labrador/terrier cross and a boy. In the end - he had to go and I got off the phone. I still wish we were together, even though I ended up leaving him and there were lots of bad times as well as good times.

Eventually the time came for me to go and get Spirit. I had got the AA to fix the car at last and so I drove over to get him.

When I sat in that waiting room I just started to blub. I couldn't hold it in. There were people around me with gerbils and dog's waiting to go in and I didn't want to cry in front of them. I just had water falling out of my eyes. I kept reading the labels on dog food and stuff. I even studied the coving on the ceiling. It didn't work. I couldn't stop crying but I was trying my hardest not to. I felt like a chav who'd just found out his pit bull was about to croak. I texted Nicola and asked her if she could come to the vets and be with me. She got straight back to me and said that of course she would. She said she'd get in a cab.

I finally got called in and this nurse who didn't know me from Adam just gave me Spirit back and the bill. I tried to ask her questions but she didn't know anything and said that I'd get a call when they got the results back.

I got out of there and just wanted to go home and hold Spirit. I texted Nicola and she told me to come over afterwards for dinner. I got Spirit home and got him out of the box. I was shocked. He had a massive cut down his back and all the fur shaved off from his back. There were stitches everywhere. It was horrible.

I made sure that he was OK and he managed to eat the Tesco finest cat food I got for him so I went over to Nicola's.

She cooked me a lovely meal and we had a really nice chat. Sam came home and we chatted about his work and stuff. They both looked after me fantastically and then I headed home.

I don't think I've ever hugged Spirit so much. He didn't just get to sleep on the bed that night. He got his own pillow and purred the whole night long.