As some of you may know, my dog Punkin has cancer. About a week ago I had left for the later half of the day to do an an art market and came home to her swollen, feverish, and laying on the floor shaking. When I left she had been her normal self and had suddenly talked while I was gone. I had to take her to the er where they said she had a fever of 104°, had also lost too much weight too fast, and had some kind of infection. The most concerning possibility being that the tumor on her neck, now the size of my fist, may be necrotic. They gave her a ton of antibiotics and that's about all they could do. 

I had a conversation with her vet a day later (shout out to Dr. Riehl!), at this point she hadn't eaten for a couple days, where I was told to start making end of life plans for her. She might bounce back but the only option then would be surgery with a specialist because her tumor had grown so much and may have spread. 

She had surgery this past April with the same vet to remove a couple mast cell tumors from her skin, and they ended up removing 11!

She recovered so well and quickly from her surgery and things were really looking good for her, but then 2 of them came back right at the previous surgical sites. She also has a small 3rd one in a new location. 

 Punkin has been with me for 7 of her 10 years in this life. I never even wanted a dog, but she chose me and now I wouldn't have it any other way. I got her while living in Hawaii on the Island of Maui and plan on giving back to the island no matter the outcome. I'm very grateful to be her Kahu 💕 She's been with me through divorce, a couple bad breakups, several moves- including from Hawaii to the east coast, and made so many friends of her own along the way. I even have her ID number from the humane society tattooed in the same ear she has it. 

Ideally I would love if she could get to a point where surgery would be a safe and healthy choice for her. This is what the published monetary goal is based on. The funds ultimately will be used for whatever care she needs including special food to help her gain weight, medications, vet visits, etc. If she decides she's too tired to fight through anymore, the funds will be used for her end of life plans. 

In either case, any excess funds raised will be donated to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation to help her original community recover from the 2023 wildfires.