Late last night we had to rush Lilo to the emergency vet.

After what had been a normal day—her usual daytime sunbathing and napping, perking up in the evening and following me around the house until we went on our sunset walk, snooping around the kitchen in hopes we had dropped something tasty, and barking and running around the backyard to chase all the nighttime critters—suddenly turned into her vomiting and being unable to walk on her own.

The midnight staff at the emergency pet hospital quickly determined that she was suffering from internal bleeding caused by a large tumor on her spleen.

She was panting hard, her eyes were glazed over, and she could barely hold her head up as they began giving her blood transfusions. The transfusions quickly stabilized her heart rate and her blood pressure, and brought some life back into her eyes. They prepped her for surgery and eventually took her back to the OR. After multiple hours, they were able to successfully remove the entire tumor, as well as her entire spleen.

At this point, this was the ideal scenario, the tumor had not spread to other organs, and the spleen is something she can learn to live without.

The doctor who performed her operation did express concern for the mesentery around her stomach. She had to trim very close to it to remove the entire tumor, and if this affected the amount of blood flowing to the tissue of her stomach, it could potentially lead to organ necrosis, at which point there is not anything that can be done.

Lilo quickly woke up from surgery. Very disoriented and in a lot of pain, but she woke up.

At this point it was past 4am. Carlo and I headed home to try and get some rest while the anesthesia wore off.

I headed back around 10am and spent the day sitting next to her while she continued to recover. Throughout the day, she responded well to plasma transfusions and responded REALLY well to a cocktail of pain killers being slowly administered. She was able to go on a mini walk and pee on her own, and another mini walk to poop all on her own. (A pleasant surprise to the clinic staff.)

She eventually was able to settle into a comfortable position, and was asleep and loudly snoring when I finally allowed myself to leave.

We are hoping that another 24 hours of constant care will be enough for her to come home and we can facilitate the rest of her recovery in her own environment. If we can make it to day five without signs of necrosis in her stomach, we will likely be in the clear for that specific concern.

Her tumor was biopsied and sent off to be tested for cancer, and we will have to wait a week or so for those results. The odds of it being benign are dishearteningly low. The vet said she has seen it come back clear of cancer before, so it can happen, but the statistics are not in our favor.

I have created this GoFundMe because we want to be able to make whatever decision is in Lilo’s best interest, without having to fret over the financial implications they may have. The costs have already racked up in less than 24 hours, and we are not in the clear yet.

We want her to be able to recover enough to come home and get to be comfortable in her own environment for whatever has to happen next. We hope and pray that the lining of her stomach holds up, and that her tumor results come back free of cancer.

These are things we do not have control of, but we can do our best to make sure Lilo isn’t scared or in significant pain as we determine the best path forward.

I am still in shock that so much can change in such a small amount of time.

Lilo has been my companion since September 2020. She has been with me through multiple jobs, apartments, houses, and various stages of life. She has celebrated life’s highs with me, and been the reason I get out of bed in the morning in my lowest of lows. There has not been a single day since she came into my life when I haven’t smiled because of her.

Please consider donating to her fight. She still has a lot left in her.