I am knocking at your doors and I am writing this with a heavy heart that my furbaby Mona, a 7 yrs old Boxer has been diagnosed with a Brain Tumor ( after her MRI scan ) which most likely appears to be a "Miningioma" and have been given a prognosis of 3 to 6 months to live without treatment. There were 3 options that was provided to us which are SURGERY, RADIATION THERAPY and PALLIATIVE CARE.

SURGERY is not an option as she can die on the table or immediately post op due to the location of the tumor which is below her brain at the beginning of spinal cord up to the 2nd vertebrae of her neck ( C1 - C2 ).

PALLIATIVE CARE is giving her steroids to stop inflammation and will eventually stop working after awhile ( prognosis 3 to 6 mos ).

RADIATION THERAPY, will extend her life 1.5 to 2 years and will provide her good quality of life.

Hearing all of these from the Neurologist shattered my heart..Mona is my baby and my life and I want to give her a chance to be treated with Radiation Therapy. 

There are only around 80 Vet Radiation Oncologist in the USA. Im glad we have one in Texas. Radiation Therapy is very expensive :(. We were given 2 options for radiation therapy, SRT ( Stereotactic Radiation Therapy) and IMRT ( Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy ). SRT is 5 treatments for 5 days cost is $14k and MRT is 20 treatments cost is $17k. The Radiation Oncologist is recommending IMRT because it will provide a higher dose of radiation to the tumor slowly for 20 days..But as you know each treatment requires anesthesia, I dont want Mona to be anesthesized 20 times for 20 days consecutively. 

We want to go with the SRT treatment plan and unfortunately we dont have the money :(....

SRT =$14k and will require additional CT Scan = $4221...We just spent $5430 on MRI, $300 for the Neurologist consultation fee and another $300 for Radiation Oncologist consultation fee.

It is so devastating to hear and accept that my fur baby has a tumor/cancer and what hurts the most is choosing between her life and our financial status :(..It hurts...We do not have a pet insurance , what we have is just the Banfield wellness plan which covers only vaccination, wellness etc. A lesson learned for sure. We must all have a PET INSURANCE for situation like this and its crazy how expensive these treatments are.

I was in my darkest moment for the first fews days after her MRI scan that was taken on December 7th. But being in the state of emotional stress wont help me nor my furbaby. I need to be strong knowing that theres a lot of you who are animal lovers that will understand this decision and will give us strength and support of any kind.

I also want you all to know that I have joined a lot of pet cancer support group/communities.I bought a book and read hundreds of pages regarding pet cancer survival, read about unconventional, full spectrum and holistic approach..I have weighed in the gains and the risks. And fortunately the gains outweighs the risks of Radiation Treatment.The goal right now is to stop the disease and tumor growth..After the radiation, I will follow nutraceutical/holistic and alternative medicine.for cancer care.

You may also think that I am doing this only for myself because I am not ready for her to go..Yes, I am not ready for her to go that is true.BUT, Mona is still able to walk, plays, see, hear, run and she is still very happy.

Due to the tumor, she has a head tilt , crunching on neck, knuckling on both front legs and wobbliness. She's asking us to give her that chance....

Thank you very very much for listening/reading Mona's story, diagnosis and treatment plan.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!