Hello! This is Jaenelle Angelline!She is our five-year-old tri-pawd. We got her when she was just 8 weeks old and had such a zest for life. She loved everything and everyone! About a year and a half after she'd joined our family, in the middle of the chaos of a few years ago, she got a large lump on her leg. We thought it was a sprain or strain. We took her to the vet to have it taken care of and had our own legs swept out from under us. She was diagnosed with cancer. We made the difficult decision to remove her leg and Jaenelle was cancer free! She adapted well and was trying to run the day after coming home from the aputation! Her zest and love of life hadn't been dampened in the slightest.
Since then, we've had three active, wonderful years. She's a little hesitant of others after having to be inside for so long during the COVID lockdowns, but she loves her family and is a goofy, loving member of our family!
About two weeks ago, we noticed her neck had swollen up overnight so we removed her collar to see if that would help. The next day, most of the swelling had gone down but left behind several large lumps in her neck that were concerning. So last week I took her to the doctor.
It was during that visit that my world changed once again. Our vet told us she had lymphoma. I knew nothing of lymphoma in dogs, but was hopeful after being told there were treatments available. I had no clue how horrible the diagnosis truly was.
Without treatment, she had maybe four weeks of life left. Depending on treatment and the type of lymphoma it was, she could live a year to year and a half. I was crushed. I felt as if my world had come to a stuttering stop. She was my baby and has given me such love and joy in her five years of life.
I had to come to terms with the fact that our baby will never live to see her tenth birthday. But even a year of quality life for a furbaby is equal to 7 human years. A year and a half would be the same as ten human years. Would we ever not try everything we could for any other member of our family to give them a wonderful life?
Jaenelle doesn't even know she's sick! She's started prednisone and the lumps and lymph nodes have already started responding. She'll start chemotherapy next week. I always thought I'd never put an animal through that, but the vet reassured me that it isn't the same for animals as it is for humans. They want to give the puppy the best QUALITY of life they can. Not just eradicate the cancer and extend it. Even while going through treatment, she makes sure the pup is happy and living their best life!
If Jaenelle doesn't even know she's sick and is ready to fight this invader, I think we need to give her that chance! Were she ever to give any indication that it's time, then I will listen to her. This is her battle, I'm just here to support and facilitate her in living her best life!
The only problem is, the treatment itself is prohibitively expensive! If we went through anywhere else, we'd be looking at over ten grand for all of this. We've found the best, most loving vet on the planet! Her name is Dr. Fowler and she's here for Jaenelle and helping her. However, even coming up with a fourth to a third of the total, we're far short of being able to pay for the entire nineteen week course of treatment. Every little bit will help and will go straight to the vet to help our baby live her best life!
