Maggie Mae by Karissa Dahlke

Dedicated to Maggie Mae, you will never be forgotten and I am forever changed because of you.

Maggie came into my life in 2001 at 5 months old. She was an energetic and curious puppy, I thought she was perfect and looked beyond chewed up furniture. She loved to swim, play ball, and sit on the couch and just relax. She even learned that tapping a food container with her nose would get her a sample of that item (don't worry, nothing but carrots, apples, and crackers) spoiled was indeed an understatement. She was there when my husband proposed and I considered her my first child.

Her multitude of vet visits started with a diagnosis of hypothyroidism in 2004, after years of battling weight issues and chronic skin issues, we had a diagnosis and treatment. In 2008, Two torn ACLs and replacements didn't slow her down. But in 2009, something started to change Maggie. Now she got tired easily and started walking very slow. We had her checked and all seemed fine, except for the transitional epithelial cells in her urine. We were given a diagnosis of arthritis. Over the next couple months she started having problems urinating. Her vet referred us to a specialist. Their diagnosis was a urinary sphincter that was improperly functioning. They catheterized her and performed cold laser treatments. For the next 4 weeks we tried many treatments, finally ending up with steroids, which seemed to help. But 4 days later Maggie started panting constantly and was very lethargic. Back to the vet we went and she was given pain meds, by that night she couldn't walk. We rushed her to the emergency vet were she deteriorated. After a blood transfusion for bleeding from her nose and low RBC count, she appeared to be improving. She died 4 hours later, after a necropsy, we learned that Maggie had a rare type of cancer, the vet called it clear cell cancer. It killed me inside that i had not known she had cancer, I thought we did everything right. We found out the cancer started in her spleen, then metastasized to her lungs, heart, and kidneys. It breaks my heart that neither vet noticed the changed in her organs from the ultrasounds and x-rays. On September 18th, 2009, we learned that cancer is a horrible enemy that must be stopped. We support the animal foundation and hope that one day, no pet parent will lose their trans species children to cancer. With better diagnostic tests and treatments, this will be possible.

Maggie Mae 11/15/99-9/18/09