Category Archives: home

my birthday! wtf I’m 69?

07 Wednesday Jan 2026

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It was a fun day, though of course I tend to do Birthday Week. In fact, I started off Birthday Eve yesterday with a lovely bottle of cava at home and my two final birthday lunches have been booked for January 20th and 21st, so that’ll make it two weeks long this year. 

Since my friend Fourat opened her fabulous Beirutina around the corner from my house I’ve been able to revive the Birthday Baclava Breakfast tradition, which began years ago on a birthday trip to Granada. I’m not actually a fan of sweet things, or even breakfast, but these crispy nut-and-honey-filled pastries are somehow perfection with a cup of hot coffee. Once a year.

Lunch was at Jaylu, a more recent birthday tradition. It’s spendy AF but Peter treats me to lunch to make up for being a Christman grinch and this is how I exact my revenge 😇.  My favourite spot there is sitting at the bar having amazing (and amazingly expensive) tapas, rather than do the full-on meal in the dining room. I get to chat to the staff and even other people at the bar. Always fun. Lunch pics mañana… 

luna update

30 Tuesday Dec 2025

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Hopefully the last vet visit for a good while. Today we went to get Luna’s stitches taken out and she really was good as gold. Both incisions had 10-12 stitches each, so it was a slow and delicate procedure, but I held her while the vets worked and, although she winced a couple of times, she was very calm and patient. Now back at home and, unfortunately, she still has to wear the Dread Cone until Friday, while everything heals over completely. But that should be it. What a long, stressful (and expensive) two weeks it’s been.

caturday december 27th 2025

27 Saturday Dec 2025

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Well I didn’t think even the Power of the Duvet could manage this! Morcilla has not only stopped being all hissy-spitty at Luna (which she had been doing ever since the operation) but she has also gone back to accepting Luna lying next to her on the bed. Phew! And now just three more sleeps until the stitches – and the Dread Cone – are removed. It’s been a long, stressful time for everyone. 🐾🤍

luna’s biopsy report

23 Tuesday Dec 2025

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This just in… Sonia has sent me the results from Luna’s biopsy. The two tumours were malignant but Stage 1, and as they were completely resected there is a low risk of metastasis. No further treatment required. I was going to take her in to get her bandage changed this morning but it was bucketing down. Also during the night the bandage mostly came off so I found these stick-on gauze ones in the cupboard which seem to be doing the trick, and Luna is more comfortable not having a full-torso wrap-around one. The two wounds were dry and clean, and she is still taking antibiotics, so Sonia and I decided to just leave her until next Tuesday when she will have the stitches removed. Unfortunately she still needs to wear the dread cone but she seems to be taking it in stride. So, not a bad Christmas gift for my old girl. 

HISTOPATHOLOGY: In the two mastectomy specimens submitted, two nodular neoplastic proliferations of the mammary gland of simple/complex nature were observed. The neoplastic epithelial cells in these nodules are arranged in acinotubular structures with sometimes irregular lumens, lined by two to four layers of cuboidal or columnar cells, with rounded, hyperchromatic nuclei and occasionally showing one or two prominent nucleoli. The degree of cellular atypia and mitotic count are low (4-5 mitoses/10 high-power fields). In one of the nodules, associated with the epithelial component, a proliferation of myoepithelial cells in solid nests with typical characteristics is observed. Both tumours show expansive growth and have been completely resected. No evidence of vascular tumor embolization is seen in the histological sections of the submitted specimens.

DIAGNOSIS: Simple/complex tubular adenocarcinomas of the breast, grade I (x2).

PROGNOSIS: Less serious.

COMMENTS: These are two breast tumours of simple/complex nature with histological characteristics that generally confer a low grade of malignancy (grade I). The absence of tumour vascular emboli in the submitted specimens indicates a low probability of distant metastasis from these tumours (regional lymph node biopsy is always recommended to confirm this assessment). Both tumours were completely resected. Finally, because mammary tumours in cats can occur in multiples, periodic monitoring of the animal is recommended for the possibility of new mammary tumours appearing.