Daisy May's Final Vet Expenses
Everyone who knows John and I knows our dog, Daisy. She is a major part of our family and even our friends who don't usually like dogs love our sweet girl. We treated her like a person and loved her as much as one. It's hard to show in a few photos what she was to us, her hashtag #LittleMissDaisyMay tells a much more complete story.
Daisy has always had a sensitive tummy, so when she threw up on December 9th, it wasn't out of the ordinary. We fed her turkey and rice, and she was back to normal the next day. Then on Friday, she began vomiting again and would not eat. When that continued into Saturday, we decided that for peace of mind, we should take her to the emergency vet. She didn't seem to be in pain or discomfort, and she wasn't dehydrated, but we figured it was best to be safe. If I had known that would be the last time our sweet, 6 year old girl left our house, I would have hugged her so much longer.
When Daisy arrived at VSEC in Conshohocken, she was on the border of shock. Great Pyrenees are stoic dogs, but we were good at reading our baby and we never would have even begun to guess that so much was wrong. An initial x-ray revealed a large mass or masses taking up more than a third of her abdomen. We were advised that we could choose to euthanize immediately (a less expensive route), or keep her in the ICU overnight until an ultrasound and further testing could be performed in the morning. We were told that the tumor or tumors would most likely be operable. They were able to calm her and make her comfortable, so we chose the second option regardless of the fact that we had no idea where the money would come from. We told them to do whatever was needed. We were ready to fight for our girl if we could. Daisy was an otherwise healthy, young dog with so much life left. Surely, something could be done.
The next morning's ultrasound revealed large cancerous tumors on Daisy's spleen, kidney, and stomach. The size and placement of the tumors made it clear to the veterinarian that nothing further could be done to save her. They told us that likely, the tumors developed within mere days and that they were continuing to progress. We were absolutely blindsided. In less than 24 hours, we went from a quick trip to the vet just in case to saying goodbye to our baby girl forever.
December 13
th was easily the worst day of our lives. Daisy was only 6 years old. She was our first major commitment together as a couple, before we even got engaged. We knew the second we saw her picture that she was our dog, it was just so clear. Her relaxed, sweet, goofy personality fit effortlessly into our family. It's easy to say in retrospect that you took someone for granted, but the thing is, I don't think that we did. We knew what we had with her was special. We cuddled her and told her how much we loved her every single day. We made up silly songs about her that even our friends knew. We took her with us everywhere. If you've ever been to our house, you've seen the multiple Daisy themed pieces of art we have hung up everywhere (all done by friends--all Christmas presents to John one year). The bond we had was truly something I have never experienced with another dog and I know that John feels the same way. After the arrival of our first (human) child in May, we always joked that we were so relaxed with him because Daisy was our first child so we did all of the first time parent stuff with her. We were so excited to watch Jamie grow up with her. She loved kids.
Our family is absolutely crushed. We know we will have other dogs, and love them. But Daisy was our heart. We knew we would never be ready to say goodbye to her, but having to say goodbye so suddenly and so soon was too much to handle. We never saw this coming. I still am in absolute disbelief that she's gone. We still look for her in all of her spots. I still expect to see her when I come home, her little ears peeking out of the bottom of the glass panel in our front door, tail wagging in treacherous circles and knocking things off the coffee table. A piece of our family is now missing and that hole will never be repaired. Knowing how much she suffered in her last days and that she spent her last day in a strange place full of people she didn't know is a constant grief. I know the way she went was not our fault, and that we did our best by her, but the guilt and sorrow that I feel about that is something I don't know if I'll ever be able to get past. Daisy gave us so much and she deserved so much better.
Now we turn to you, friends, family, and total strangers. We have an enormous vet bill hanging over our heads. We had to pay a large chunk of money up front for them to even perform some of the tests. We spent everything we could spare and even some that we couldn't, and even still we have an added monthly expense that we simply can't afford. Additionally, having this constant reminder that our sweet baby girl is gone is very emotionally distressing for both of us and makes healing and trying to move on very difficult. In the moment, doing anything we could regardless of cost wasn't even a question. Now, we need help. It's not easy to admit, but we do. I know it isn't as rewarding of a feeling to donate to a cause that is already lost, but please know that it means the world to our broken family.
Any funds raised beyond our veterinary expenses will be donated to Kindness for Homeless Paws, the wonderful rescue we adopted our darling pup from.