Some News + Updates

Well, this is a post I thought I would never write. To say that my heart broke after receiving this news is an understatement. We were so excited to bring Sketchie home from the vet last week. As you may recall, he had exploratory surgery in an effort to determine his health issues (see this post for more info). I was convinced that he had IBD. To be honest, I was second-guessing our decision to proceed with the surgery. Would it even help him? Was it worth it to put him through all of this? I felt so unsure and conflicted.

Eric picked him up from the vet last week and I stayed back to finish up some work. He was gone a really long time which I thought was unusual. When I heard the door open I yelled, “Sketchieeee!!” like I always do in a high-pitched voice whenever I see him after being out. I ran down the stairs to greet them both and stopped in my tracks when I saw the look on Eric’s face. I knew something was terribly wrong.

After seeing Eric fight back tears I could only get out “what’s wrong?” in a choked up voice.

“Sketchie has lymphoma.”

I just collapsed into Eric’s arms. Completely lost it. The whole day was like one long nightmare. I wasn’t prepared for any of this. Even though the vet mentioned lymphoma might be a possibility, I thought “not Sketchie”. Eric explained that it’s small cell lymphoma (in his intestines) which apparently has a decent chance of responding to the treatment. I kept reading things online that treatment could help them live a few years (a few years?, I’d wail) and then I had to just stop reading about it. It was too much to process.

To make matters worse, Sketchie was still in a fair amount of pain, totally not himself and unsettled. Seeing the 15 staples in his shaved belly was hard. It was a really difficult few days, but we gave him so much love and attention to try to help him feel better. His eyes looked so sad, obviously not knowing what the heck happened to his body. I’m so grateful though that the surgery went well without any complications.

So here we are a week and a half later still grappling with the news and trying to figure out what course of treatment we’re going to take. If anything, I’m so grateful that we were able to get the exploratory surgery to determine the root cause of his digestive issues and low B12. And that we caught it early. Knowledge is power!

I just want to thank you for thinking of Sketchie over the past couple weeks. Many of you left lovely comments and tweets and it really means a lot to me. I’d love to hear from those of you who might have had a similar experience with your pet and what treatment options you used. Right now, we’re open to exploring our options while keeping in mind his quality of life, above all.

The good news is that Sketchie is recovering well from his surgery! He’s a trooper! After 4-5 days, he seemed much more like himself. His appetite is back which is reassuring because he lost a lot of weight over the past 6 months. The spark in his eyes is back. Today he gets his staples out which I’m nervous about, so I hope it goes well and he’s not too traumatized by going back there so soon.

He’s still a young cat (7 years), so I’m hoping he will respond well to treatment. I know this one is not going down without a fight.

Now go on and hug your pets for me, will you?

Updates:

In lighter news, I wanted to thank you for your incredible comments on my Cookbook Launch & Sneak Peek Post this week. I was on cloud nine all week seeing your tweets, Facebook messages, and comments come in. It really helped cheer me up and take my mind off things.

Newsletter:

I sent out the second cookbook newsletter yesterday, so be sure to check your spam box because they have a tendency to end up there. If you still haven’t received any newsletters yet, please add “[email protected]” to your email contact list to ensure that you get future newsletters. That should do the trick! If you’d like to read the 2nd newsletter in the meantime, you can do so on my book page (it’s linked near the bottom of the page).

New OSG Virtual Cookbook Blog Tour Reviews:

Check out these new reviews and don’t forget to enter the giveaways!

Dreena @ Plant Powered Kitchen (review, recipe, giveaway)

Kate @ Cookie Kate (review, recipe)

Kaila @ Healthy Helper Blog (review, recipe, giveaway)

Kiersten @ Oh My Veggies! (review, recipe, giveaway)

Kathy @ Healthy Happy Life (review, recipe)

Cadry @ Cadry’s Kitchen (review, recipe, giveaway)

Abby @ The Frosted Vegan (review, recipe, giveaway)

Nicole @ A Dash of Compassion (review, recipe, giveaway)

Livvy @ 86 Lemons (review, recipe, giveaway)

Ashley @ {Never} home maker (review, recipe, giveaway)

Emily @ Daily Garnish (review, recipe, giveaway)

Sarah @ The Sweet Life (review, recipe, giveaway)

Jess @ Get Sconed (review, interview)

Canada AM:

Lastly, I had two fun TV appearances this week. The first one was Tuesday morning on Canada AM. I somehow managed to get through LIVE TV without passing out. hah. You can find the link to watch the video at the bottom of my book page. Thanks to my friend Karly for the screenshot above!

Steven and Chris:

The second appearance was a taping for the Steven and Chris show. It was also a total blast! We made my Empowered Noodle Bowl with Orange-Maple Miso Dressing. I don’t have an official air date yet, but I will let you know as soon as I find out. It should be within the next week or two. I hear that it’s syndicated on the Live Well Network in the US, so hopefully those of you in the US can watch it online as well.

(a couple behind the scenes photos from Steven and Chris. Thanks to Ange for the bottom photo!)

Thank you again for making this week one I won’t soon forget. Have a great weekend!