Support Dyson's Road to Recovery

Hey, everybody.

As some of you may know, we had quite a scary week. We were walking Dyson on Wednesday down at Berkley Riverfront when all of a sudden he stopped walking and lost his balance, almost falling over. We were half a mile away from the car, and the whole way back I could just tell something was wrong. He was struggling to walk and kept looking up at me like he was asking for help.

We drove straight to Mission Veterinary Emergency & Specialty, where the doctor informed us that an ultrasound showed that Dyson’s abdomen was filling with blood from a ruptured mass. The surgical resident, Dr. Barillo, was willing to come in and perform the emergency surgery to remove his spleen and stop the bleeding.

We were prepped for the worst news before surgery, but got to visit baby boy in the ICU. He wagged his tail and gave us his best grunts and laid his head in my hand. After surgery, we were told he wasn’t stable and had lost a lot of blood, having to have two blood transfusions, a plasma transfusions and blood pressure medication so that he could clot and heal. I didn’t sleep a second that night, just lying there awake waiting for my phone to ring with the news that he’d passed. I was afraid that I had seen him for the last time.

No bad news came, and we received a call from the surgeon the next morning, saying he couldn’t really believe how well Dyson seemed to be doing. He told us that he was so amped to go outside that 4 hours after surgery he was pulling the nurse down the hallway on his leash. He stood up and wagged his tail at us when we walked in to visit and I felt such a sense of relief.

We were able to bring him home Friday and he has been slowly but surely returning to his natural Dyson self.

We were told that the mass that had ruptured was likely cancerous, and likely aggressive. We’ll know for sure in the next few days. Please keep him in your thoughts. My boy is only 8, and I’m so grateful that he made it through surgery, but I want as much time with him as I can get.

The financial cost of this is pretty overwhelming, but I would make the same decision I made a million times over if it meant saving my bubba. The final amount for the surgery and hospitalization was over $11,000. If you can help at all financially that would be amazing, but if all you can spare is a prayer or encouraging words then we are grateful for that as well.

Thanks to everyone who has reached out and been supportive this week. I know Dyson has had a lasting effect on a lot of you, and we love you all.