My beloved dog, Stormy, just celebrated her 12th birthday. I've had her since she was 9 weeks old, and I myself was a teenager. We both grew up together, and she has been my rock and main emotional support all these years.

Recently, she has started hacking and breathing heavily, so I took her to get checked out. Some radiographs of her heart show that half of her heart and some of her pulmonary arteries have become enlarged. Extensive bloodwork has ruled out heartworms, but the reason why this is happening and how to help her remain a mystery.

Fortunately, everything up to now has been covered by her health plan. Unfortunately the next step is an echocardiogram at the cardiologist, which will not be covered. The total cost will be $839, for the imaging with interpretation, as well as the necessary sedation.

Other than this issue, her senior years have been very active and healthy so far. I truly believe that if we can figure out what's going on and treat it, she will have good happy years to come.