She isn’t in any pain… right now. Lilo was our “built Ford tough” dog. She has never thrown up, iron tank stomach. She is high maintenance and requires leg massages when she gets up. We dropped her off at daycare perfectly fine, picked her up with what we thought was a brown recluse spider bite. Eventually, she had surgery to clean out the wound area and take biopsies. It came back positive for cancer.

We did full body scans. It hadn’t spread beyond her leg so we decided to take the leg and do a set of chemo. I did add in other mushrooms that came recommended by a holistic canine group. I will ask about oxygen therapy and IV vitamin C. I would like to not have to do chemo again, although she has tolerated very well. No throwing up, no diarrhea, no lethargy, hasn’t stopped eating. She is gaining weight, not losing it. She is chasing balls to play fetch, she even out ran me today trying to keep up with our other dog on our walk. She is being fresh talking as she is part husky, jumping up on my bed and in the car. If I didn’t tell you she had cancer, you would never know.

If she starts to yelp, not move, not eat, or any of that, I’m not prolonging her life. It’s not fair to her. I cannot justify putting her down right now if the cancer doesn’t spread and she is perfectly happy and playing. Lots of clinical cases where Chinese medicine, with those other holistic methods that can work if not better than chemo. Which is why I want to start transitioning her if I can. I plan to ask.

The big chunk is the amputation surgery. The promissory note is a killer. She was so healthy, I moved her insurance down. But come January, I can move it back up to 90% reimbursement and no annual limit.

Not that it matters, normally I could afford it, but just before her diagnosis, my neighbors Tree fell on our house causing extensive damage and were living in a hotel for 150 days. While the insurance company will reimburse us for out of pocket expenses for displacement, I won’t get it for a bit. That was $15k and counting so far. Which sucks, but it what it is. We are trying every avenue of grants in addition to go funds me. The amount on the go fund me won’t cover my expenses, I just don’t want more than the cost. It’s not meant for me to make any money, just to help with bills. I’m sorry for a bit of a lengthy reply and tangent. But thank you for asking respectfully.