January 19, 2026
Hi Friends,
Mae West once said, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,” and I couldn’t agree more! If you know me well, then you know the only thing in life I love more than comedy… is dogs.
I don’t have grandchildren. (Apparently you have to have children first) 🤣 So please indulge me.
Just when I thought our little family was complete…
Look who came into our lives…
A little ray of Sunshine. Literally!
She’s about 7–8 months old, 14 pounds, and very leggy (think: tiny deer with zoomies)
At 4 months old, she was hit by a car and needed surgery for a broken leg. You can read her story here.
Her name was Sunshine, but that was too hard to say with Shiloh, so we changed it to Daisy… then to Mitzi… and we finally settled on Trixie, which means “bringer of joy” (or beloved). And she sure is.
She and Shiloh already love each other. 💕
All she wants to do is play… and she is wearing poor Shiloh OUT! And whenever I have to leave, they look at me with those sad puppy eyes.
I saw her photo posted on a Sacramento animal rescue page on November 10th and fell in love immediately. I filled out an application… and there were so many people who applied for her that I truly can’t believe we were chosen.
I had no idea she actually lived in Clovis (more than 3 hours away). Luckily, my friend Tim (who LOVES to drive… go figure 🤣) took us—and we got to stop at Chef Naomi’s amazing restaurant, Raw Fresno, for some tasty vegan eats and treats.
Dogs and dessert. No matter how much you have, you always want more! 😍🤣
And speaking of yummy food… I’m so happy to have found another local restaurant I can eat at. It’s called Sweetgreen. We had one in Los Angeles, but this one is completely automated: you order from a kiosk and the conveyor belt delivers it to you in 3–6 minutes. They make delicious bowls that are totally customizable.
On the health front…
After ten long months of severe abdominal pain and bloating, I made the difficult decision to finally take the porcine pancreatic enzymes… only to discover two things:
- They aren’t covered by my insurance and cost $1,000 a month. If my pancreas doesn’t bounce back and I have to take them the rest of my life… that’s prohibitivly expensive.
- All the pharmacies near me are out of stock.
On Wednesday, I had a CT scan with and without contrast to do the “staging” before my PEF ablation on January 22nd.
It’s been a while since I’ve had any imaging, so I’ll let you know the results as soon as I get them.
If I don’t chicken out, I’ll be flying to Palm Springs on Wednesday to have the PEF ablation with Dr. Thomas and Dr. Kessler the following day. They were kind enough to make me the first case at 7:00 AM, so my anxiety doesn’t have time to escalate while I’m waiting for my turn.
So far, I’m doing my best to stay calm—and my drug of choice is…
You guessed it: puppies.
I really can’t thank you enough for all the love and support you’ve given me throughout my cancer journey. I hear from so many of you who are also suffering with cancer and other chronic conditions… and I wish I knew exactly what to say or do to help.
My only words of wisdom are this: do your best to find moments of joy wherever you can, whenever you can. It’s over in the blink of an eye… so do what makes you happy—NOW.
And if I could ask for one more thing… if at 7:00 AM on Thursday you could think a good thought (or say a little prayer 🙏) for me, I’d really appreciate it. I’m really scared.
Love & Kale,
💜 Chef AJ