Lily’s Spleen Removal Surgery
Our sweet, loving Jack Russell/Beagle mutt, Lily, needs some help!
A recent ultrasound revealed that Lily has a dangerously large mass on her spleen. The bad news is that it was able to grow quite large quite rapidly because she showed no symptoms of any kind. The good news, however, is that she also has no idea and is not in any pain. There is a risk of the spleen rupturing and causing rapid internal bleeding which would be fatal. The best action we can take is to remove the entire spleen and test the mass to understand what kind of growth we are dealing with. Dogs (and people!) can live without spleens! The surgery needs to be done as soon as possible to prevent it from rupturing or spreading to other organs. The urgency is overwhelming, but thankfully it seems we caught it in time! We are scheduled to proceed with the surgery this Friday.
Lily has been a constant ray of love for the *10 years* we’ve been together! She is an incredibly loyal and clever girl and she’s always been there for me. I adopted her from a shelter in NH in 2009 because she was the only dog that wasn’t barking and she hopped in my lap and plopped her head right on my heart and closed her eyes. She’s lived in five apartments with me, hiked several mountains, done everything she could to avoid contact with bodies of water, ruined four couches, gone on adventures on buses and trains, barked at every single dog we’ve seen, kissed the calves of several roommates, allowed me to dress her in costumes, trusted me to layer her up in snowstorms, chewed through countless hedgehog toys (because she only has eyes for ONE model of this hedgehog toy), laid on my chest while I cried, smushed her butt up against me while I watched a movie and let me know when the volume was too loud, tolerated me leaving her alone to go to work, joyfully accepted when I returned.
I love this girl so much and I’m not ready to lose her and I want to do everything I can to help her. Unfortunately, this surgery is a huge unplanned cost, so we’re asking for any amount of help, big or small, to help bring Lily back to her normal, energetic, loving self.
