Help Fund Goose’s Life Saving Splenectomy

This is our soul dog Marvin Gaye Rivera. But, he is more affectionately known as Goose because for the last 12 years he has been such a silly goose. He has brought so much joy to our lives and to our friends and family and has most definitely never met a stranger. He loves everyone! Especially those who are willing to offer him attention and unending pets.

In February, Goose wasn’t acting like himself. He was drinking excessively, urinating excessively and seemingly overnight was losing the ability to use his back legs. We got him to the vet immediately and after an exam and bloodwork, Ryan and I were informed that his liver values were off the charts. In March, after a lot more testing, he was officially diagnosed with Cushing’s disease and while Cushing’s isn’t a walk in the park, is very expensive to treat and there is no cure, it is something that can be managed well for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, while in the process of getting to the Cushing’s diagnosis, he simultaniously got pancreatitis which led to a dangerously inflamed gall bladder, bladder and spleen. He was not able to void his bladder and the assumption was that there was a mass of some sort that was blocking his bladder and that we would need to let him go. We were in complete shock and totally heartbroken. We asked to have his bladder drained to buy us another day to come to terms with the fact that we would be losing our Goose.

Later that evening, through crying eyes, Ryan asked me if there was anything else we could do to save our baby boy. Our only option was to find a vet with a high tech ultrasound machine to either give us hope that we could save our Goose or confirm that there was nothing more that we could do for him. We knew that it would most likely be really expensive, but we decided together that we would go ahead with the ultrasound. By sheer luck and an angel named Stephen, we were able to find a local vet that could help us.

Enter the magnificent Dr. Ashley Dewey and her amazing staff Emmy, Josh and Haylee!

Over the course of the next 3 months, our baby boy sent us all on a wild goose chase (pun intended). I will spare everyone all of the confusing medical stuff. In a nutshell, Goose’s body would do something magical and then we would hit a roadblock. We would see every sign to be hopeful just to have our hopes dashed by something that seemingly came out of nowhere. But Goose never stopped fighting, so neither did we. We drained what savings we had, took loans from amazingly generous friends and family and after 4 months and roughly $18,000, Goose decided to give us one more miracle! Through many ultrasounds, tests and good old fashioned determination to get to the bottom of what was going on in Goose’s body, he finally led us to the answer! From the very beginning, all of the inflammation in his body caused his spleen to get very angry and turn on him. Luckily, his body can live without that horrific roommate of his so our next step will be to have it removed and Dr. Dewey believes that it will be curative! In the span of 4 months, we, along with our family and friends have gone through the turmoil of thinking we were going to have to say goodbye, to the unsettling thought that we may only have a few short months with him, to the unimaginable joy of now knowing that we will have our baby boy for many more years! What a roller coaster it has been.

With all that said, we are coming here to humbly ask for help with the last leg of this race. We have drained our savings and are still paying back loans that we have taken out for his care. To say that asking for this help makes Ryan and I unbelievably uncomfortable is a massive understatement. However, we decided at the very beginning of this journey that we were going to do anything and everything possible to save our baby boy as long as he was still up for the fight. Goose held up his end of the bargain and now it’s our turn to swallow our pride and ask for help to hold up our end and finish the last leg of the race.

We know that times are tough right now for everyone and we appreciate absolutely anything that you can spare for Goose. Even if all you can give is prayers and good vibes, it will be welcomed with open arms. We’re currently in the process of setting up his splenectomy surgery and all the things that need to happen before and after that. We will update everyone as more information comes in.

Thank you all for being there for us and for Goose! Our hearts are bursting wide open with all of the love that we have received!

If anyone has any questions about specific things related to the surgery, aftercare or is just curious about something that I may not have mentioned, please dont hesitate to message me and ask.

Thank you all again! We don’t know what we would do without you!!!

-Ryan, Nicole, Emmy, Otis and of course, Goose