Sigh. Emmett has a lump on his back. We are nearing the homestretch, coming in on one year of him being cancer free. And now this lump. It’s small; the vet says it’s probably nothing, that if it were on any other dog she’d “wait and see,” but because of his history she wants to play it safe. So today he goes in for another surgery. Once again, I’m reduced to a helpless, anxious, neurotic mess.

I believe in the power of positive thinking, so please send happy thoughts Emmett’s way today!

For those of you who are new to this blog, a quick little background note: My darling Emmett was diagnosed with a nerve-sheath tumor last July. It’s a soft-tissue cancer that is, thankfully, low-grade malignancy. After vets, oncologists, surgeons, and a specialist/angel/hero, Emmett had the tumor removed. We’ve been doing regular follow-ups — monthly with our vet and quarterly with the oncologist. I linked to the whole saga HERE if you’re interested in reading more.

Lucas protected Emmett after his surgery

Last week, I drove Emmett up to Indianapolis for his nine-month checkup. The tech got Emmett from our little waiting room to go do the x-rays. After 20 minutes she came back and said that Emmett was such a good boy. She said she had forgotten that Emmett actually jumps up onto the x-ray table and waits for his tests – the only dog they have who does that! I’m always so proud of my little guy…

Anyway, the GREAT news is that everything came back clear!! His legs, his lungs, his lymph nodes are all good. In fact, we don’t need to go back for the next round for six more months! All great, wonderful, exciting news!

This whole thing has been so difficult, so challenging, so exhausting. Every time he has an appointment, we get nervous, all the “what if’s” start swirling. But, man. We have been so incredibly lucky.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about dealing with canine cancer, and I’ve had the chance to chat with a woman locally who went through a lot of what we’re going through. So just throwing this out there, but if you are facing the same thing, please don’t hesitate to email me to ask any questions, gripe, vent, cry, anything. It’s tough, and we’ve been so incredibly lucky to have an amazing support system in place. And Emmett is so lucky to have so many kind, caring, supportive friends and family.

As soon as the appointment was over, we flew to Maryland for our darling nephew’s baptism and got back late last night, so I’m a little behind. But there are some great things coming: another giveaway, some fun springtime activities, a little link love later in the week, and guest posts!

I feel like I might be the last dog lover to read this book because I’ve seen it mentioned all over the interwebs, but I finally got around to combing through Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats.

Over the past six months or so, ever since Emmett’s cancer diagnosis, I’ve been sort of obsessed with researching dog food, nutrition, health care, alternatives, everything. I spent a lot of time perusing the dog shelf at my local library, and ultimately ended up checking out Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats.

Well, after accruing a $0.75 late fee (I’m hanging my head in shame), I ended up purchasing it for myself!

This isn’t the type of book that you would want to sit down and read cover to cover. Although I read several of the chapters all the way through, I think the real value in this book is to be familiar with what it contains and have it on your shelf as a reference when you have a specific question. For instance, even though I was primarily focused on the food and cancer sections, I recently pulled it off the shelf to see what he said about dry, itchy skin when I noticed Emmett had some dandruff.

I firmly believe that being a pet parent means choosing what is going to work best for you and for your pet. This book presents a number of alternative or natural options. Whether you choose to follow, to ignore, or to customize the suggestions, there’s great value in having extra information at your fingertips. We’re not going to start feeding his suggested diet to the boys for a number of reasons, but we are incorporating some of his supplement suggestions.

The condition-specific sections are useful for the same reason: When you’re facing a disease, it’s best to have all the information and options you can gather to make sure you make the best decision for you.

Overall, Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats is a really great resource that any dog lover should have on the shelf. While it’s not something you probably want to curl up with at night, it’s a great resource, chock full of condition-specific information and tips for your pet to live a happier, healthier life.

Have you read this book? I’d love to hear what other dog lovers have incorporated from this book. How’s it working?

Note: The links above go to my Amazon Associates page. Check out my brand new tab (Disclaimer & Guest Posts) for more details.

I had a post all ready to go about a very humorous clicker training incident, but I have to set that aside, maybe save it for tomorrow. Because… Emmett is officially into his sixth CANCER FREE month!! We got the call from his oncologist that the biopsy of the tiny bump came back as benign (some type of cyst), though the pathology report indicated it was fully excised anyway. His lung x-ray still showed the little nodes we were worried about before, but they haven’t changed in shape or size indicating that it’s NOT cancer! NOT CANCER!!!!!!

New to the blog? Interested in reading the full saga?

First, we discovered the lump.
Then he had surgery.
We got the first cancerous result.
We thought we’d need to amputate.
We prepared ourselves, but at the appointment, we were hooked up with a specialist who could save his leg.
Emmett’s surgical results were wonderful, better than we could’ve hoped.
Then his 3-month follow-up results were fantastic!!!

And then we had his six-month check up, and he’s still cancer free! There really aren’t words to describe how happy and grateful I am. Truly, no words.

Now if you’ll excuse me… I need to go weep for joy then take a little nap. It has been one stressful, sleepless week around here.