<\/em>She doesn\u2019t want to walk when we go out.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>She\u2019s not following the cats around and trying to sniff their butts.<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s not enough tail wagging going on around here.<\/em><\/p>\n But she still hurries to the kitchen at any sign of food preparation.\u00a0 So she must be okay. <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At the end of August Mike noticed a swollen lump under Pink\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 We knew it was bad, and called the vet immediately.\u00a0 Within an hour the vet had examined Pink and scraped a sample off of the lump.\u00a0 He looked at it under the microscope and told us he was fairly certain Pink had a mast cell tumor, a common kind of cancer in dogs.\u00a0 If the cancer hadn\u2019t spread, Pink\u2019s chances of survival were good.<\/p>\n A few days later Pink had an ultrasound and a lymph node biopsy.\u00a0 The results of both were good \u2013 no evidence of cancer.\u00a0 We scheduled surgery.\u00a0\u00a0 Prior to surgery we were instructed to give Pink large doses of prednisone in order to shrink the swelling around the tumor.\u00a0 It worked wonders, the tumor looked smaller after one day \u2013 after three days of prednisone, it just looked like a little bump.\u00a0 But\u2026 the side effects of the prednisone were extreme thirst and frequent urination.\u00a0 The vet had neglected to mention this might happen.<\/p>\n The sound of Pink drinking is not something you can ignore. \u00a0It’s like…[simile goes here when I think of it]. \u00a0We understood clearly that she was thirsty.\u00a0 But we didn\u2019t fully grasp the situation until the second day of her treatment, when we woke up to lakes of urine on our living room floor.\u00a0 My first thought: OMG,<\/em> the dog has diabetes, too?<\/em><\/p>\n A call to the vet clarified everything. \u00a0For several days we had no choice but to take Pink out to pee every hour or two.\u00a0 (Mike was in charge of the night runs.)\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t always make it downstairs, so I mopped up her accidents. \u00a0To my surprise, I found the cleaning moments were a good time to think and reflect. \u00a0No one could ask me to do anything else, meaning the kids understood they could not interrupt my cleaning, and that they needed to stay out of the way.<\/p>\n So then and there having some quality me-time while I wrung out a rag, I made the important life decision to stop eating dairy. \u00a0This didn’t come out of nowhere, I’ve been considering it for a long time.\u00a0 I\u2019m not lactose intolerant, but I have had a suspicion that dairy products cause my skin to breakout.\u00a0 Since I stopped nursing Adam 10 months ago, my breakouts have become worse. \u00a0And the most annoying part about them is \u2013 and this is totally true \u2013 when I am home writing for days at a time and no one sees me, I have lovely, clear skin.\u00a0\u00a0 Whenever I have a dermatologist\u2019s appointment, I also have clear skin.\u00a0 However, if I have an important event and want to feel good about the way I look, my skin will be terrible.\u00a0 The more I want to look nice, the more I breakout.\u00a0 I have been trying to explain this to my dermatologist, and when I hear myself speaking, I sound totally insane.\u00a0 (But it\u2019s true!)<\/p>\n I have all sorts of not-very-effective skin-clearing creams. \u00a0But the only thing out there that really gets rid of acne, as far as I know, is isotretinoin (Accutane). \u00a0Over the years I\u2019ve considered taking it several times.\u00a0 I\u2019ve just been too afraid of the side effects.\u00a0 Lately, though, I\u2019ve been thinking differently.\u00a0 I did all of my research again and decided I would take the drug. \u00a0Earlier this summer, with my mind firmly made up I went to the dermatologist and requested the prescription. \u201cNo,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYour skin isn\u2019t bad enough.” \u00a0(Dear Zits, Where were you when I needed you?)<\/p>\n A month later I went back to ask the dermatologist for the prescription again.\u00a0 This time, she gave it to me.\u00a0 I never filled it, though.\u00a0 Instead, I had that good talk with myself over a puddle of dog pee and this is what I resolved: I will not take a drug with potentially dangerous side effects unless I have tried all other options.\u00a0 I may be vain, but I\u2019m not lazy.\u00a0 And I do love the idea of being a vegan. \u00a0I have always wanted to be a vegan. \u00a0This would take me one step closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n I’ve now given up 95% of the dairy I consumed.\u00a0 (5% is the tiny bit of milk in my cups of coffee. \u00a0Not ready to stop that.)<\/p>\n (I wish I could say I did all this for ethical reasons, but I\u2019ve admitted here that \u00a0my idiotic vanity was the inspiration.\u00a0 I hope the fact that I\u2019m contributing less to animal suffering will help me stick with the diet.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Day one without dairy was hellish.\u00a0 I was starving and cranky, especially in the morning because my staple meal, yogurt with almond butter, was now out.\u00a0 It had been my\u00a0 perfect meal \u2013 7 grams of carb which barely budged my blood sugar. It kept me full for hours.\u00a0 And I sort of liked it, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Without dairy I needed to find another food group \u2013 the only one left for me was seeds.\u00a0 I started out with chia seed pudding, really not my favorite so I moved onto ground flax seeds.\u00a0 Each morning I cut one quarter of an apple into small pieces (yogurt replacement, 5-7 grams of carb), poured two spoonfuls of almond butter onto it, and then covered it all with a heavy layer of ground flax seeds (or sawdust, if you ask Mike).\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s really good,\u201d I declared on the first day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJust don\u2019t try to convince me that this is a recipe,\u201d Mike said.\u00a0 \u201cYou are not putting this up on ASweetLife.\u201d<\/p>\n After a few days of sawdust I changed my tone.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, maybe it\u2019s not really<\/em> good.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not horrible.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0******<\/p>\n Pink had surgery.\u00a0 The operation itself went well, and was easier than the vet anticipated, thanks to the prednisone having done its job. There were two rough days post-surgery, but after that, Pink seemed okay.\u00a0 In fact, she seemed better than she had before the surgery.\u00a0 She followed us around the apartment.\u00a0 She followed the cats. \u00a0There was a lot of excessive tail wagging going on.\u00a0 And butts\u2026 canine, feline, human\u2026 she rushed to sniff any one she could.\u00a0 There was just one thing that was worrying.\u00a0 When I went to prepare my breakfast each morning, Pink didn\u2019t come with me. This concerned me more than anything else had throughout the ordeal.\u00a0 Pink always<\/em> arrives when the refrigerator opens, when a bag rustles, when silverware clanks\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019m going to call the vet,\u201d I told Mike.\u00a0 \u201cPink\u2019s appetite isn\u2019t normal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s fine,\u201d Mike said.\u00a0 \u201cThe problem is that what you\u2019re eating doesn\u2019t smell like food.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":30481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[66],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Pink\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IMG_8001.jpg\" "\\"Pink\\"")
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