Surgery for Yoko

Last month I took my best friend to the vet to see about a teeth cleaning. During the exam, the vet felt a lump in her back thigh/hip region.

"It feels like a fatty lump," the vet said as she hugged Yoko. "You're getting your little mature lady lumps!"

I wasn't worried.

Yoko was to be under anaesthesia during the cleaning and the vet asked if she should go ahead and remove the lump so they could send it to a lab to be safe. I said yes and brought Yoko home with a little gap toothed smile and a bald patch that looked like they took a carpet sample from her. The staff said she was their favourite patient of the day.

I wasn't worried.

Less than a week later the vet calls while I'm at work to tell me about the results. It's not a benign fatty lump, it's a tumour (soft tissue sarcoma) in her nerves that will grow back. She described it like it was a hydra and said my options were going to either be amputation, radiation/chemo (warning that this would cost me thousands), or medicine that will merely slow its growth so I could deal with it later.
She makes calls like these frequently so her tone was measured; calm. The tone didn't match what she was saying. I was so unprepared and confused that when she finished I had to ask her to repeat herself, "because it sounds like you said amputation /nervous laugh/ or chemo and I really don't think I heard that right."

...Except I did.

After spending the week emotionally preparing myself and imagining Yoko careening around in a wheelchair, we got to see a specialist who told me Yoko fortunately gets to keep her leg. The unfortunate part is radiation isn't the only option in the thousands. All of them are.
How are you supposed to sit there and know that this unwaveringly loyal little dog, has options and possibilities, but the cost amount is so big you have to think about it in terms of rent payments so it seems a little less daunting?
7 months rent is better than $7000 if you say it enough times in your head.
Suddenly, the dog I was trying so hard to comfort was comforting her crying owner.

I worried.

A few friends suggested I consider creating a Go Fund Me for Yoko. I've never asked people for money, but when it comes to Yoko getting treatment, I want to try. If any of my friends could donate even the dime they found on the street, I would be eternally grateful. The amount is tentative as I'm waiting to hear the exact cost of her surgery, but this was the ballpark figure and will be adjusted once I know for certain.

Thank you so much for reading this, for the kind words and messages, and most of all for being there. I love you guys.