Vaccine Booster and Fundraising Updates!

Being silly while taking a break from hanging
posters in our neighborhood.

It has been quite a while since I posted anything and I apologize for that to those who have been following our journey. I have been fundraising like a mad person, trying to get the money together for surgery. I'll get to all of those updates in a moment but first, we got a reminder notice from her old vet about vaccinations. I will be talking to the surgeon, but several people in the veterinary world have suggested I wait at least 2 weeks after her surgery to do the vaccines. She needs all of her immune system to heal post-op, a vaccine could theoretically lower her immunity for a short time. She WILL be getting her shots though.

Wednesday is our ultrasound, to say we are getting anxious is putting it mildly. As long as the cancer hasn't spread we go forward with surgery as planned. It is starting to actually feel like a reality now too. The reality of there being no tail anymore is kind of hitting me. I wrote this about it the other day on my Facebook:

"Now that we are getting so close to our surgery goal for Pheona we have been starting to think about the reality of her tail being amputated.  It is sad, in a way. I am more than happy for it to be amputated to save her life, I obviously love HER more than her tail. *Butt*... I am going to miss the fun it had! Miss Pheona's tail is as expressive as her eyes and I will miss it knocking on the wall or beating my leg when she is happy. I will miss seeing it wag so hard her whole body bends in half when she sees me after even the shortest of absences. I'm going to miss seeing it stand straight up in joyous domination of young pupper-snappers she meets on the street and the slight curling under of uncertainty when she is nervous. I'm going to miss it, how she looks with it and will have to get used to her new look. 
We are thinking of trying to do something special to say good-bye to her tail within a few days of her surgery. A "Good-bye Tail" party or something, especially since so many of our private donations have come from people in the local area. I plan to make a video with lots of footage of the tail in all its different moods but I would like to do more to memorialize the fuzzy baseball bat (that thing is hard and powerful when it gets going and suddenly stops against your leg! LoL). I am open to other creative ideas on how we can say good-bye and make something to memorialize the tail after it is gone. What do her friends think? What do the creative people in our life think?

(Yes, I am aware saying good-bye to the tail is more about me in reality since she has no clue what is coming. She will get the attention though, and she LOVES human attention. A party might give donors a chance to meet her in person as well. So, yeah I am slightly motivated by my own need to deal with this loss but it is all for my girl in the end.)"

The reason we are feeling so close to surgery being a reality is because our fundraising efforts have really been paying off! We have gotten so many donations lately it has made my head spin! I'm confident at this point we are going to achieve our goal, one way or another, and this surgery is going to happen. For the past week, instead of doing the bake sale in the park we have been hanging posters in our neighborhood. Boy oh boy, does that make a difference!

The last few weeks Pheona seems to have
a lot more energy again!

My fellow San Franciscans (and other Bay Area neighbors) have been absolutely AMAZING! I was worried about spending any money on posters so I paid for the first 100. When we started getting donations almost immediately I knew it was worth the expense. We have been buying 100 posters @ $10 every other day and have been getting at least $100 back in donations every 2 days! The response has truly been awe inspiring. I knew that I lived in an incredibly progressive city but it sure is a generous one too. I can't thank our donors enough, including the ones who have donated to the charities that are helping us. (The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund, The Onyx and Breezy Foundation, Paws 4 a Cure, Dylan's Heart, Aid-A-Pet, Canine Cancer Awareness, and the Mosby Foundation have all donated to Pheona's surgery. Their combined donations are $5,000!!!)

Ignoring another dog in favor of her toy
at the new dog park under the freeway on Duboce.

We just heard today from the final charity that we were waiting to hear from, the Reidel and Cody Fund. Their board just met and they had a lot of applications to choose from. They weren't able to offer us a donation, I am assuming since we are already so close they felt someone else could probably use it more than we can. I am sure that someone who really needed it was able to help their pet with the money. I am so grateful for these agencies, even if they can't help me specifically. We wouldn't even be half way to our surgery goal without these amazing organizations.

Things are looking very good for us at this point. With Pheona feeling so healthy, and even energetic at times, I have great hope that her ultrasound is going to show good news in 2 days. I have great hope that when it does, Dr. Kidd is going to donate and we will be ready to schedule surgery! The only thing left to do after that is to make our plans for saying good-bye to that beautiful tail.

I wonder how she is going to adjust, especially when she
is swimming. She really uses her tail then, as part
rudder/part propeller. 

Huge thank yous and virtual hugs to everyone who has donated, shared our story or just cheered for us with you heart. None of this would be possible without help from all of you. We love you all!

A quick look at the tumor over time. Not much difference
except healing the raw skin at the start.