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!
Hi Angela,
I know this is a bit late but it breaks my heart to hear that Sketchie has been diagnosed with lymphoma. It does sound, though, that you have a very good vet on your side and Sketchie is very fortunate to be a part of your family (and you are very fortunate to have Sketchie as a part of your family!). I have two cats of my own and I know how incredibly important Sketchie is to you and your family. I hope that he is doing well!
Hi! I had the same with my pet, she didn’t make it…
After doing some research I found out that ALLOT of health (and behavior) problems of our pets come from the food they eat, and I mean allot. The food they eat (even the big “fancy” brands) are stuffed with pesticides, waste from the waste from the waste of the meat industry,weird stuff and some more weird stuff. When eating this food day in day out, we are slowly killing our pets. Lots of stuff like cancer, tumors result from the food they eat. If I had known this, I would have given my cat better food. so NOTHING from the supermarket and not even the good brands from the pet store. Maybe if I had known this beforehand, she would still be alive. Wanted to share this, hopefully making someone aware that not only we, but also our pets benefit from GOOD, wholesome, organic food.
So sad to hear about your cat. I have 3 myself. I love them. I hope he is doing well. I’m curious, is your cat vegan/vegetarian?
How is Sketchy doing? I was so sad to hear your news. I lost my own little furry friend a few years ago and still haven’t got over it. Only people who are close to their pets will understand and think of them as friends rather than just animals or pets.
I wish I had advice for you on a treatment plan, but I really don’t know anything about that kind of thing. Sending lots of love for Sketchy.
Julia x
PS Thanks for all the recipes. You’re my vegan hero!
Doh! I obviously meant Sketchie rather than Sketchy.
:)
I don’t do much in the blogging world. I only come across them when I search for something specific- in this case kale chips. Having the tendency to get distracted, I went from kale chips to a photo of a beautiful cat, where this story popped up. I just wanted to add my two cents in case I can help any kitties out there. Cancer, putting this as generally as possible, takes over when it becomes stronger than the immune system. Feline leukemia, though a virus, is successful in the same way. There is a new treatment out for feline leukemia which actually bolsters the immune system. I have spoken with the developers of this treatment directly, and have been told that it has been quite successful with cancers. They cannot advertise as such because the treatment is only FDA approved for feline leukemia. They hope to get it approved one day for human use- treating AIDS, cancer, and other immune related illnesses.
My cat, Picasso, has been on this treatment for a little over a year now. We were very close to losing him when I discovered LTCI, which is the name of the treatment. It has gotten chillier after a hot start to September here in NY, and he just got a treatment shot yesterday. The combination has my 15 year old feline-leukemia positive cat running around bonkers with his housemates today. It is a wonderful, amazing, and all natural treatment, which has incredibly interesting science behind it for anyone who is interested in natural healing.
Hi! I just recently found your blog! I hope Sketchie is doing ok. I wanted to tell you that I had a cat with GI lymphoma. She lived with it for four years. I looked into alternative type treatments because I did not want to give her medication but from everything I read, there wasn’t anything that was effective on this type of lymphoma. We ended up using a combination of Luekeran and predisolone. It worked wonderfully for our Callie. She was a happy kitty for almost all of those four years. She ended up with some cognitive disfunction so she was not quite herself sometimes towards the end. She lived to be 18.5 yrs old. I will miss her every day. Thanks for letting me share. I hope Sketchie is doing well. I love your blog. It’s so inspiring. Thanks for being a light in the world. :)
I recently discovered your blog, so I didn’t even know you had such a cutie. I love animals, I’ve been surrounded by them since I was a little girl, and I understand how miserable one feels when they suffer and you don’t know what to do to help them.
My heart goes with you and Sketchie, I hope you will find something that will make him healthy and happy. I’m sure he’s being loved and cared for and that’s what matters.
Big hug and kiss to beautiful Sketchie.
Dear Angela and Eric,
So sorry to hear about little Sketchie….my thoughts are certainly with you! I am a veterinarian and my sweet boy Parker also had intestinal lymphoma several years ago…unfortunately, it is common in kitties :(
If I could offer any advice, I’d say to focus on one day at a time..live “like a cat”…one minute at a time, one day at a time. The thing about animals with cancer…they don’t wake up every morning knowing they have cancer. They are troopers and face each day with tremendous courage.
Sketchie is a lucky boy to have such an amazing family! Keep up the wonderful care with him. —Leigh W.
Sadly, my baby girl died from feline gastrolymphoma this past December. She had survived breast cancer twice and we didn’t find her lymphoma until it was too late (we thought it was a dental infection). If it is caught early, steroids and chemo can be done and from what we saw that does buy some significant time. I hope Sketchie has many more years ahead!
Angela and Eric,
I ran across your blog because I love to cook and I am always looking to see what other people are doing for inspiration and ideas.
I am so sorry this happened to your precious kitty. I have an 8 year young tortoushell female that has been the joy of my life. I have never had a more affectionate, loving pet. She came down with breast cancer last spring. I felt the same as you. Not my Cookie!. I’ve had a cat that lived to 23 that I was growing up. After two awful surgeries that made her and us miserable I had to think of her quality of life in the time she has left. It breaks my heart and I have seen so much pet cancer in my life. It is disturbing and I suspect quality of food, pesticides ? Hope he is doing well.
What a heartwarming story. I was not so lucky. . . Molly developed bad potty habits and the vet advised that once this starts, it is nearly impossible to reverse it. Sooooo, I did the kind thing and ended Molly’s life. She is buried in my backyard where she can watch the birds.
I had a question about brown rice syrup…I purchased it to make your Present Glo Bars, then I googled it and it says it has a high glycemic level….should I use another sugar substitute?
~Tracy
I hope Sketchie is still doing well. Went to out local farmers market and got some organic kale and looked up recipes for chips and found yours. Saw the picture of your cat and had to read the story. Just today I took my sweet Ishtar who is 13 to the vets because of what I figured was her cancer flaring up again. I was right and she won’t have long now. Just sending good energy and love to your sweet cat. We do love our animals…..and getting all the ingredients to try your wonderful recipe. Thank you.
Sooooo sorryyyyy :( I just read about this Angela. Is Archie a survivor ? Please tell me the good news because I am an animal lover .
I haven’t read any comments on what your sweet kitty is eating for food. Do you feed her raw by chance? I have been feeding my three cats raw food for many years now and many holistic vets recommend this to give them adequate nutrition and enzymes. Its the most natural way for them to eat and gives them the best chance at fighting disease.
Lymphoma in felines is caused by one thing: diet. The billion dollar pet food industry has been lying for years about the quality of their products and funding veterinary studies for decades that are flawed and have led the vastly inaccurate conventional knowledge with regards to feline nutrition. I have studied nutrition for 14 years now and can tell you the best diet for a cat is whole prey. It’s what they are designed to eat. It is extremely difficult to replace the whole prey model in pet food, but to do so required bone, marrow, intestines, pelt, as well as fat and meat. Most “primal” pet foods put too high a fat content in to their pet foods to compensate for the cost of using high quality ingredients. I will tell you one thing all human should know about, especially when caring for sick humans and especially animals. bone broth. A single chicken carcass properly slow cooked produces 2 gallons of it.
Roast the bones in the oven until deep brown and crispy, and throw it into an instant pot with about a gallon of water or less, on low heat for 42 hours, or until until the bones have started turn to meal. If you have a pressure cooker setting, turn this on for the rice setting to do a final extraction of marrow. You can strain off and SAVE the bones leftover in your pet food, and you can save this concentratred broth for a variety of dishes, especially in french cuisine. Most importantly, you can freeze this into ice cube trays and thaw it for your pets. With a little fat added, it’s actually idea nutrition for a sick cat who can no longer eat solid food, and makes an excellent treat for cats and dogs alike. Just be sure to not add salt, celery, or other spices to the pet’s broth. This yeilds over 100 grams of protein from the chicken, and furthermore it honors the chicken’s life and wastes none of it.