Greetings, fellow Newman adorers,

Angela here, pinch-hitting for your faithful correspondent Donna. First and foremost, let me put your mind at ease: our Newman is alive and well. I apologize for the inevitable scare of a “special update.” But, as Newman’s dearest allies, we wanted you to be the first to know some significant Newman news.

As you know, our sweet black-and-white boy – or, rather, his liver – mystified us this month. Newman’s seemed, for all the world, to be as healthy and robust as ever…except for that stubbornly-high bile acids test. So we scheduled an abdominal ultrasound to have a look-see at the mysterious liver of Newman.

That’s when things got…well, unremarkable. When the specialists looked at Newman’s liver yesterday, they saw absolutely nada of note – no problems, no worries, no bile-acid-raising issues. It’s at that point that the specialist made a Big Scary Suggestion.

Exploratory surgery.

We all took a deep breath when we heard that one. It’s always a big deal to open somebody up – and all the more so when it’s someone you cherish, like our Newman.

Still, the fear of something lurking in his liver, ticking like a time bomb, was enough to make us go forward with the exploration. The prime suspect at this point was a liver shunt: a weird and dangerous phenomenon where the body’s blood skips the liver, therefore missing out on the liver’s cleansing action. If we found it, we could treat it (either with surgery or, as in the case of Ike, medication). As a young and healthy boy, Newman had every advantage of sailing through the exploration. And, hopefully, it would shed light on his liver issues.

First, the excellent news: Newman did, indeed, fly right through the surgery without a whisker of a problem. He’s waking up now and doing just great. Thank You, God!

Now, the annoying – but kind of good – part: the surgery revealed…nothing.

Nothing.

No liver shunt. No cancer (thank You, God!). No green gremlins from Mars. Nothing remotely remarkable. In fact, the specialist’s exact term for the appearance of Newman’s liver was grossly normal.

If there’s one shadow of a hint in all this, it’s that Newman did have some enlarged lymph nodes. The surgeon diligently biopsied these, and the liver itself. It will be a few days before we have results, but there doesn’t appear to be anything sinister going on.

Just a mystery.

Dear ones, thank you for your generosity to Newman, and your continued prayers and support as we figure out (a) what’s going on and (b) how we can best care for Newman. Your support is making it possible for us to give him absolutely everything he needs – especially love. Fortunately, Newman continues to feel in fine fettle, with no idea that his bile acids are being batty.

We will most definitely keep you posted…and give Newman lots of extra snuggles for you. Stay tuned.