Anita – Thank you so much. I don’t know that this has ever been strictly a “food blog,” and definitely not a “recipe blog” (oh, categories). As you say, the link between our emotional lives and our dinner plates is inescapable – this has always been as much about cataloguing what is going on in our lives as it is what we’ve been eating. xo

Jan – Thank you. You know, I think I was too busy paying attention to what a sweetheart your Joya was – I didn’t even notice her lump! But that’s encouraging to hear.

Dale – Thank you, and having gone through my own lump scares, I will be thinking of you and sending my very best thoughts your way. Please do keep us informed of what’s going on. Hugs to you.

As for Kali, I realize this is Honeycrisps and clementines, but Joya has had a fatty tumor (which you no doubt saw, it has its own gravitational field) for about three years now. It grows and grows, but she seems pretty unaffected. So benign bumps, while not optimal, definitely exist.

Hope to see you both soon! Take care, kitty.
Best,
jfd

Hugs to you, Mike, and the kits.

Laurie – I am very, very sorry for what your niece and your family are going through. I can’t imagine what it must be like to see a child that you love going through such a horrible thing, but I do think that it’s entirely acceptable and appropriate for me to talk about what’s going on in my life on my own blog. Obviously, there are many, many things that are greater and more horrible in this world than what is going on in my little family – and this post is in no way trying to make those things seem greater than what they are. I talk mostly about food here, but it’s very much in the context of what is going on in our lives. Right now, our financial difficulties, our beloved kitty’s health, my own health struggles, and us having lots of balls in the air is what’s going on, so while I talk about our meals, that all ties in. I’m truly sorry if you find that offensive.

Again, my very best to your niece and your family.

Since I’ve been hauling Kali to the vet and communicating with her, I’ll give y’all a bit more 311. The lab they use said the results of the cell testing were inconclusive. However, the doc told me that when a sample is definitely cancerous, the lab can say so pretty definitively.

Since there’s no certainty of cancer in this case, the vet wants to concentrate on the anemia, while keeping an eye on the lump. The anemia’s really the bigger problem at this point. We won’t ignore the lump. Jen and I will monitor the lump and let the vet know if anything changes–especially if it grows or changes shape. When we/I take Kali in for another recheck in early January, the vet will feel the lump to see whether it’s changed in any way that concerns her.

As long as it stays as is, we can only wait to see what happens. Kali’s numbers are improving well, as far as her red blood cell levels. At the worst of her anemia, her red blood cell count was at 6% (as a baseline, the doc would like it at 35%). Kali was at 16% on her previous visit, and as of this week, she was at 21%.

So one way to think of this is to say, she’s already recovered from 6% to 21%, a gain of 15%. She only has 14% more to go to reach 35%. So the worst is behind her, I think.