The first battle of the war

What if tomorrow the war could be over? Isn't that worth fighting for?
-The Matrix Reloaded

Wearing his Cone Trooper helmet, Kuro's lounging on the floor. Part of his fur on his right arm and shoulder and a wide swath across his belly is missing. He's been drugged, poked and prodded, lost blood and bone marrow and worst of all -- having to endure three hours in a car.

But he's taking it all in stride. Like an Absinthian blog headline, the first battle of the war is over. And the franchise cat can claim victory.

The ultrasound did not find any other evidence of the cancer in his body. So Kuro's starting out in much better shape than when Lance Armstrong's cancer was diagnosed and it had already spread throughout his body.

With the lymphoma hopefully localized, Kuro received chemotherapy designed to shrink the tumor and hopefully knock out any cancerous cells undetected in his body. If the tumor shrinks, university surgeons will remove it.

It's like going from a flush draw to flopping a pair and a flush draw. Suddenly the ol' man kitty is looking like a slight favorite. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.