Daisy's Heart is Broken. Anything Helps.

Over the last couple of days, Daisy was being treated with antibiotics for what was presumed by the vet to be kennel cough. She spends lots of time at the dog park and is big on giving kisses, so it didn't seem unreasonable. This afternoon she started breathing funny and I rushed her back to the vet assuming the cough may have turned into a respiratory infection. Within an hour of arriving I learned that she was experiencing full-blown congestive heart failure due to something called Dilated Cardiomyopathy, and that her heart was so enlarged it couldn't contract and that soon, most likely, it would stop beating.

For those of you that have met Daisy, you understand the cruel cosmic joke of this diagnosis.

Her heart.

It's quite literally, too big.

I can't briefly summarize what this pup means to me, what she's taught me, how much she gives back to me, and everyone she meets. She's opened up my life, connected me to others, brought joy to everyone she's met. She's the most approachable part of me. The warmest part. I'm not ready to say goodbye to her.

I don't ask for help.

I've injured myself moving an entire apartment alone. I could be homeless and hungry and you wouldn't see me starting a fundraiser. For Daisy though, I have to. She's stable at the moment, but the amount of money accrued in medical bills just in the last 24 hours is far more than I can cover, which is humiliating to post publicly. After this (assuming she remains stable) she'll need to immediately see a cardiologist for an exam and EKG just to figure out what's next. Bringing your dog to a specialist (or any vet generally) requires up front payment. There's a chance some of this could be reimbursed by her insurance, but any reimbursement will likely go into further care. There's also a chance they treat it as a pre-existing condition, and do what insurance companies often do, suck.

So I'm here, sitting on a cold hospital floor, watching my dogs belly go up and down, watching the waves of her heart monitor, asking for any help you can give. Even if the help is just sharing this.

❤️

-Sam & Daisy