"Your cat has cancer"

My darling lady Luna, just 5 years old. You wouldn't think such a young healthy animal would have any ailments. She certainly didn't act any differently. The only change was a small hard marble-sized bump to the right of her spine. You never would've thought...

I found out in June that my precious kitty had cancer, a soft-tissue sarcoma. And it has been SUCH a roller coaster.

I took her in for a fine needle aspirate and I was crushed to find out it was an aggressive form of sarcoma. It could travel to her lymph nodes and infect her lungs. She might not have that long to live. I broke down. 

My boyfriend insisted there was something we could do. We could get a CAT scan. We could do surgery. We could biopsy it. She's only 5! She could still live a long and happy life, if we beat the cancer! Bawling and clutching my darling Luna daughter, Jeff convinced me we owe it to her to find out where the cancer was, how far it had metastasized and if surgery was EVEN AN OPTION. I also called my brother's girlfriend, an aspiring veterinary surgeon undergoing her final year of education in Boston, who gave me so much hope that this could definitely extend her life.

So, we got the scan. They drugged my little lady and popped her in the cat-sized machine. She was all teary and bleary eyed when she came out. Then I saw what was really happening inside of her. See the mass on the right side? That's the tumor. Whoa. That thing wasn't messing around.

The vet said since there was still a plane between the tumor and her organs, it could be operated on! And the good news was, her lungs and lymph nodes were clean. And he was very confident it could be done successfully.

Time for the surgery. They chopped her up and took out a lot of tissue. That's because with a soft-tissue sarcoma there are microscopic tendrils that permeate the surrounding tissue. They are supposed to take a large chunk outside of the tumor to make sure they get it all. Owee! Poor baby! We still wouldn't know how fast this tumor was growing (what stage). They do the biopsy after they take it out, not before.

My heart broke for my Luna love. She was not happy. She tried to get to her sutures and being the clever girl she was, didn't like wearing a cone and could pull a magic escape trick. We put her in some 6-month-old onesies, cutting off the bottoms, to keep her back covered. That seemed to help keep her from bothering with her wound, but it limited her mobility and it was tough putting it on her. She eventually got used to it.

It was definitely a full time job taking care of the little baby. She had to take her liquid painkillers twice a day with a syringe squirt to her mouth. She wasn't too fond of that. We also had to make sure she didn't get out of her shirt or her cone. I slept with the light on and one eye open for days, so I could make sure she was still next to me or if I felt her move I could see where she was immediately. Jeff slept in the living room so to give her lots of space in the bed. I truly felt what it was to take care of and ache for a sick child -- she's the closest thing I have to one, at least.

Then we got the results of the biopsy. There were dirty borders. The vet didn't cut far enough. One of those microscopic tendrils went to the edge of the sample. So those damn cancer cells were still inside her. Not only that, but it was aggressive. Think stage III or IV in human cancer. It may only be a matter of time until it comes back.

Nearly 3 months later... and we're struggling with something else. Luna got another bump on the opposite side of her back. We've taken her in several times to get another sample taken. But both times, there's been a lot of fluid and the results have been inconclusive. The second time they drained it, there was evidence of an infection. The third time they lanced it and it drained bloody pus for days. We've had her on antibiotics a few weeks now. The bump has slimmed down some, but we still don't know for sure what it is. Inflammation from a reaction to the sutures under the skin? Or possibly the tumor reoccurring?

All I can do is hope and pray that my little Luna is a fighter and can hold it off as long as possible. I mean, my friends wouldn't call her "Lunatic" for nothing. She's a survivor.

$3,000 later, but so much richer for the time spent with my kitty, feeling her trust, her acceptance, and her reliance. I don't care if people gasp or roll their eyes about the number. Can you put a price on the love between an pet parent and her daughter? On a little one that is there for you and trusts you no matter what you say or do? And even if we have only two more years with her, that's only $4 a day. I can skip a cappuccino if it means another day with my baby girl.

P.S. Special thanks to my boyfriend for his support and his love (not only to me, but to Luna!) and also his financial contribution to her surgery. Thanks to my brother's girlfriend Jess Giannetto, who gave me lots of helpful advice and lended me her vast knowledge of veterinary medicine to help me in my decision-making. And thank you to my mom, who understood everything I was going through and was a virtual shoulder to cry on. It was she who imparted her love of animals onto me.

Grown-up pizza party

I love cooking, and I love taking care of my boyfriend. So it's a little selfish of me to tell him I'm going to make him any meal he wants -- because it turns out pretty damn good for me. I asked Jeff earlier this week what he wanted for dinner Saturday, and pizza is what he told me. And so Operation Grown-Up Pizza Party commenced. 

I established a menu featuring 1) mushroom, artichoke, ricotta, and white garlic sauce pizza 2) tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil pizza 3) buffalo "chicken," red onion, and bleu cheese pizza. I chose the buffalo combo as the wild card pizza, cuz my baby loves buffalo sauce. (I had also considered pesto and barbeque chicken pizza as well.)

There were a lot of moving parts so I had to consider time management. Some of the first things I did was chop basil, prep and saute mushrooms and onions, and toast fennel, and set aside. I also cooked up the "chicken" (I'm vegetarian, so this was Quorn) and let sit in buffalo sauce.

Then Jeff and I started on the dough. We used about half and half white and wheat flour. (I wouldn't recommend any more wheat than that. Otherwise you get a very wheaty flavor that overpowers the pizza taste.) 

I taught Jeff how to properly measure flour. Guess he missed Home Ec class! Then I made the garlic sauce on the stove for the first pizza, the mushroom, and set aside to thicken. We made a no-yeast crust, very simple, made of flour, baking soda, oil, and water. We mixed the toasted fennel seeds into the dough. Jeff did all the flattening and stretching!

Boy do I love ricotta cheese on pizza. It's important too to fold over the crust. The sauce was really juicy, so it would've just spilled over otherwise. This one baked up reaaaaaaal nice!! 

Then onto the next pizza. Buffalo chicken. The cilantro is a nice little touch.





Meanwhile, Jeff made some more crusts. Onto the margherita pizza -- a classic! I had to use real mozzarella here. The log kind. 

Large beefsteak tomatoes, sliced thin, with the wet seedy parts pulled out, were put on the pizza with abandon. Nobody likes soggy pizza! For the sauce, plain tomato worked just fine. The kind that costs like 79 cents. No need for pricey "pizza sauce" -- tomato sauce pretty much has all the same ingredients. The extra fennel seeds went on this as well.

Add a healthy dose of shredded basil and dusting of parmesan... Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees. 18 minutes was about perfect (separately, not together, in the oven).

I mean, look at that mozzarella (right). How brown and toasty it got. Seriously, they kicked ass!! We ate happily! Grown up pizza night was a huge success. And if I had to choose, the mushroom was the best... but the margherita was a close close second. The buffalo was for my baby -- so I didn't mind that one wasn't fabulous. Although, buffalo sauce lovers would say it was -- fabulous. :)

What will we come up with next pizza night? There is plenty of mozzarella left....

The easiest way to lose weight without trying

Losing weight by eating cookies and chocolate and decadent holiday meals? Sound impossible? No. Just sign up for a half marathon. 

I took on my 4th half marathon this winter. Having done this before, I was determined to really train this year. No half-assing it. Last year I felt miserable after those 13.1 miles, and actually did 20 seconds worse than the year before. If I was doing this again, I was doing this for real. 

About about 8 weeks before the race, I buckled down. I started a program where I was running about 5 days a week, of varying distances, including speedwork. At minimum I was doing sets of sprints or 3 mile slow runs. And every weekend I would have a long run (that got progressively longer). I saw my pace creeping faster and faster. And I'm telling you, this is the only way to keep your weight under control during the holidays (I started training in mid-November).

Of course, I missed a few workouts. Like on Christmas... and New Year's... and when it was raining out... but I would estimate I completed about 85-90% of the runs that were required of my regimen. I even got super sick a few times -- apparently your digestion shuts down while running long distances because all the oxygen in your blood is going to your muscles -- anyway, not a fun thing to experience. 

And somehow through it all, I started and kept losing... bonus side effect of all the miles I was putting on my body. Looking back, I have lost about 8 pounds since I began training.

The PF Changs Rock 'n' Roll Marathon race day came Sunday, just a few days ago. Weather was perfect, and my trusty and loyal sidekick Jeff was there before the crack of dawn having VIP breakfast with me. But unfortunately he's not trusty and loyal enough to run it... just cheer me on. Oh well! Thanks for being at the start, the 6-mile mark, and the finish line for me babe.

Fast forward 2 hours, 24 minutes and 5 seconds later, I crossed that finish line. 2:24:05 -- a scratch under an 11 minute mile. And I felt great. And all the pain and soreness and training was worth it. 

AND...... the scale hasn't been this low since senior year of high school --> almost a better achievement than crossing that finish line. Almost.