Dollie left the world today after a long battle with a massive lump that grew and grew and ruptured twice. What is interesting about this giant lump is the abundance of theories without sound evidence. I had taken Dollie to at least 7 vets in Arizona and one in Ventura. The thinking was cancerous lipoma. One doctor wanted to amputate the leg. Others would not tackle it. Someone in Wickenburg recommended Dr. Liam Allen in Surprise, so I took the chance. His work was excellent. ALL of the mass was removed. And it was easy he said. After opening up the mass, he used his hands to pull out everything. No cutting. There were a few blood vessels to be cut and tied so she lost blood.
She stayed at the hospital until 5 pm on Thursday, March 9. Dollie was carried by gurney into the car. As luck would have it, my car would not start. The vet tech, Jericho, had jumper cables in his KIA, so we got my car going and we made it back to Wickenburg, where I called the Wick FD to help lift her from the car. She was walking haltingly and I had high hopes she would pull out of the surgery. But she was not eating. I had to feed her a liquid of milk, water and beet power to keep up her strength and give her medicine.
We returned for her post-op follow up on 3/12/2023. Dr. Allen said her pulse was weak, her gums white and her eyes unfocused. He put her on life support injections of steroids, antibiotics and fluid. He performed blood tests. I left to take a walk around the huge center in Surprise. He called and said the blood tests were bad. The BUN (kidney measurement) was off the charts, essentially indicating her kidneys had shut down. I walked back thinking about the next course of action. Dollie experienced a Grand Mal seizure where her systems just shut down, so they took her off life support. She was clinically dead when I arrived.
She is in heaven now where all dogs go, as I am told. She died about six months before her ten-year adoption anniversary. The vet in Lompoc said she was 6 or 7 when she was surrendered in 2013, which made her 16 or 17 when she died.
Sheryl Hamlin
Dollie on Adoption Day – July 2013
