As promised, I want to be open about Izzy and also maintain as much privacy as is appropriate under the circumstances. Not an easy line in this new kind of community where boundaries are constantly changing, growing, evolving. The news is not good, as seemed evident from watching Izzy struggle. It appears that Izzy has a very aggressive and rapidly spreading cancer. We can see and feel the tumors, and he is struggling to eat, move and be comfortable. There are a number of options for us to consider, and we will consider them. Maria and I will talk with one another, and with our very good and compassionate vets at the Cambridge Valley Veterinary Service and decide where to go from here. Maria and I are as one, and we will move forward hand in hand.

I am very grateful for all the many messages of warmth, love, support and understanding and I will struggle to be tolerant of the amateur vets, remote diagnosticians, compulsive advice givers and the people who call themselves animal advocates who are already accusing me of various crimes against nature. I can learn from all of them, and the divine lives in the broken heads and broken hearts of all of us.

I think the next part needs to be private as Maria and I talk things through, and confer with our vet, Suzanne Fariello. I will be open, as I always try to be, about the decisions we make. Thanks so very much for your great love and generosity and appreciation of Izzy’s great  spirit. Connie Brooks of Battenkill books tell me she is already swamped with people wanting copies of “Izzy & Lenore,” my book about our hospice work together, and I will sign and personalize each of them. You can call her at 518 677-2515 or e-mail her at [email protected] and I will see that any royalties due to me on these sales go to Hospice. It is nice that whatever happens, some additional good will come of it.

Izzy is a great dog, a spirit dog, and we will do well by him, as he has done for us and so many others.