Help Us Save Calliope After Her Stroke

I am writing this to humbly and earnestly ask our family and friends for something that is not easy to ask for: help. On Tuesday, 8/12, our girl Calliope (Callie) suffered a debilitating stroke. She was unable to walk or stand, and we rushed her to the same emergency vet where, just a week earlier, we had said goodbye to her sweet little sister, Layla, whom we unexpectedly lost to an aggressive form of lung cancer. Brendan and I had just seen a neurologist here in May after Callie suffered a series of seizures. We knew the possibility of a brain tumor was on the table, but with a shift in her medications at this appointment, Callie seemed back to her normal self this summer, and has spent most of it in the lake and on long walks. Until this.

Callie’s initial bloodwork and chest X-ray were clear. We were faced with a choice to either take her home and love her and hope she recovered from this episode, or pursue expensive testing to discover what these episodes were and what was causing them. We needed answers, so we took out a loan, loaded up the credit cards, and did the MRI and spinal fluid analysis they recommended.

The initial results of the MRI revealed either a tumor, or a stroke. We brought Callie home and waited for the call to tell us which it was. The spinal fluid analysis confirmed it was a stroke. What we thought were seizures she has been having for the past year were presumably small strokes along the way, and she is likely to have more. This was her 6th so far this year. The neurologist informed us that there is more testing to figure out what is causing the strokes, and to see if there is anything we can do to stop them.

Where do we go from here? It’s a decision that no pet owner wants to make. Do you do more testing? Subject your baby to more poking and prodding, just for the chance that there’s something you can do to buy you more time? Or do you take them home and just love them and make them comfortable?

I first brought Calliope home in 2016 at the darkest point in my life. I had just lost one of my best friends to suicide, and spent most of my days in bed. When I announced that I was getting a puppy as a junior in college, most people warned me it would be a huge mistake. But bringing Calliope home turned out to be the opposite; it was the best decision I ever made. Calliope gave me a reason to get out of bed for our walks every day and brought joy back into my life. She gave me a sense of purpose and the will to live, and because of that I got to graduate college, move her from a college apartment to a house on a lake, meet the love of my life, and marry him with her by my side. She never gave up on me, and now it’s my turn to do the same for her.

The next step is an ultrasound and more bloodwork to see if we can identify the cause of the strokes. We do not know if what they find will be treatable, but I owe it to the dog who saved my life to do everything in my power to see if I can save hers. It’s hard to ask for help, especially when it comes to money. We've gone back and forth on whether or not we should do this, but the fact is that pursuing the next set of tests won’t be possible without help. Whenever the day comes that Calliope does cross the Rainbow Bridge to join Layla, we want to be able to say that we did everything we could do to give her as much quality time on this side of the bridge as we could.

If you feel so inclined to donate, we would be so grateful. And if you took the time to read this, thank you. We kindly ask for no judgements or suggestions on care- this is a personal decision and we ask for any comments to be respectful.

Love,

Paige, Brendan, Calliope, and Penelope (her other sister!)