We adopted our amazing dog Xena 5 years ago. She was the longest resident at our local shelter, having been there 3 years. We will still never understand how she spent so long there; she is the sweetest, most loving, happy dog we could have ever asked for.

Last week, she suddenly stopped eating and started throwing up, so we took her to the vet thinking it was something gastrointestinal. Turns out she tested positive for anaplasma disease, and they said it's likely something she has had since before we adopted her and has been dormant. Her liver and spleen were very inflamed, there was fluid in her abdominal cavity, and her kidneys were starting to shut down. She was hospitalized for a few days and put on an aggressive antibiotic treatment. She also had spots on her spleen that tested positive for lymphoma, which is currently responding fairly well to steroids. She has been transferred to home care for now and is starting to feel a bit better but still struggling to eat a normal amount and is nauseous from the medication she's on. She still has a long road of treatment ahead, but we are cautiously optimistic. The medical bills from the hospitalization and all the tests and medications are pretty overwhelming. We love her so much and want to do everything we can to get her healthy again. We hate ever asking for help, but we are hoping to lean on our community a bit during this super difficult time.