One quiet Sunday night in January my beautiful Jaffa suddenly started having seizure. My neighbours found me crying in the road and helped me get Jaffa to emergency vets. That was the start of our journey. We were in and out of emergency for over a week and then told that Jaffa likely had insulinoma and that we needed to see an oncologist.
I chose SASH because of the amazing support they give Denise at Paws. We met Dr Nick and he was amazing so compassionate, as I flooded his office with tears. We chose to go with surgery. Jaffa is my child, my soul dog and no stone would be left unturned, but little did we know how rocky the road ahead was.
SASH was amazing, and Jaffa was so stoic and Tibbie tough. 11 days post op and we were so worried. The crew at internal med were so kind as we cried, laughed and cuddled Jaffa together.
Jaffa came home and continued to rally. I got to see her go zoomies, take mud baths in the bush and hang her head out the window and smile from the back seat of my car. Something I never thought would ever happen again as I held her through her seizures that Sunday. Dr Nick has been by our side the whole way and Jaffa takes her chemo like a champ. We put together a bucket list and in the last 9 months we travelled to see her family in SA, toured through Victoria and have plans for the beach in summer. We also welcomed a little sister in July (sugar) and they romp everyday, causing maximum mayhem and laughter. Jaffa is the most patient big sister and adores her. Sugar is going to be taking over as my MindDog service dog and Jaffa is busy showing her the ropes.
We treasure every day and I’m so thankful to SASH for giving us a second chance. We are also so grateful to everyone who has loved and supported Jaffa through this time, as well as the hardworking emergency vets in the blue mountains that helped us that fateful evening.
Hug your babies and treasure each moment is my new motto. No day is too cold or too wet for a walk because that’s her favourite part of the day apart from dinner!
