February 2020
Hi, my name is Baylee. This is my story, at least what I can remember.
Last summer my littermate and I found ourselves in a shelter in NY after our Mommy, who had been sick for a long time went to the hospital and didn’t come back home. We were both very sick and one morning my sister went to Heaven to be with Mommy; she was too weak to fight anymore. The shelter people found me laying close to her and crying when they came in to check on us during the morning rounds. We hadn’t been fed very well, or been to the vet for a long time because Mommy wasn’t well and didn’t have much money and there was no one to help us. After my sister left me, I was very scared and lonely at the place because I was alone and in a cage with no one to love me. A lady at the shelter decided that I needed more care than they could provide when she saw that I was getting weaker and sicker. The staff was only there a few hours a day and I was alone most of the time, so they contacted Westie Central and asked for help. The very next day a nice lady named Bonney came and got me out of the shelter. I stayed with her for a few hours and then a man and his daughter took me on a long trip to a new place where I met my foster Momma, Denise. She was very kind to me and held me and cried and promised to take very good care of me. She fed me some good food, and gave me a bath and the next morning we went to see the doctor who gave me an exam and some medications and special things for my baths. I got a lot of baths and went to see the doctor a lot, but I started to feel better except for my ears.
After I got to my new foster mom’s home in July, I had to have surgery on one of my ears, they called it a TECA. They cleaned everything and then sealed it closed so it wouldn’t make me sick anymore. I was supposed to have both ears done but my blood pressure got very low and the doctor got scared and woke me up as soon as she got the worst ear finished (it had a real angry growth on it that needed to be removed also). I still needed the other ear fixed up. A few months ago in November, Momma took me back to the doctor and she fixed my other ear. Now I don’t hurt anymore and I am much happier, but I still get a lot of baths and now I eat a special food to help with my skin and take some herbs and medicines to help me not go potty in the house and to make my skin better. I am feeling much better and don’t get ashamed because I hardly ever have an accident anymore and my skin is not so itchy and my ears don’t hurt anymore. I can’t hear anything, but my foster mom has had dogs like me before and she understands me and know how to communicate with me too!
Over the last few months, I’ve had to go for laser treatments on my knees every week, or two weeks where they use a warm light to help them feel better. That doctor said I probably needed my ACL’s fixed a long time ago but now because they weren’t addressed, I have lots of scar tissue and cartilage issues so I can’t run much and even walking can be tough sometimes because they hurt when I have trouble my mom carries me. The laser helps and for therapy, Momma and I walk to Auntie’s house every day, (it’s just two houses away), it’s just the right distance and Auntie always has a treat for me! Ok, two treats!
Mom says that’s not all, I have lots of other stuff going on still. Due to my skin issues, my body has an excess of keratin. This is causing calluses on my paw pads (one has what looks like a nail trying to grow out of my paw pad). Doctor says hopefully when the baths fix my skin, this will get better too! I also do a funny snorting noise when I breathe so she says the doctor needs to do a special scan to make sure there’s nothing blocking my nose. One day, mom gave me a big hug and found a funny squishy thing on my chest that wasn’t there before. I’m not sure what it is but it made my mom cry and hug me real tight! The doctor looked at it the next week when she checked to see how good my skin looks – it’s only a fatty growth of some sort! I’m not sure what all of these things mean, because I’m a really happy girl! I love to play with my toys (I have lots of toys!) and momma takes really good care of me. She takes me to work with her sometimes and I get lots of visits from people there. She gives me yummy, healthy food and special Chinese herbs that have started to help me not have accidents during the day or when I take naps (I had so many UTI’s for so many years that momma says my bladder is very weak). She never yells at me when I have an accident, she just hugs me and says it’s ok baby girl – then she puts new blankets on everything and gets the washer monster to clean everything real good!
Now I have some things growing on me. They itch and hurt and bleed and the ones on my paw and ear are really uncomfortable. The doctor is concerned because the one that I had removed on my ear last July came back again and she is worried that they could be something bad, but they need to go away anyhow to help keep me safe. They will look at them after they are removed and make sure that they do whatever they need to do if they are yucky.
I love my new home and my foster mommy but she needs help with my vet bills. She told me that you are Earth Angels and that you will help me get the help we need for me to get even better. Thank you everypawdy!
Love,
Baylee
Update March 18, 2020:
Baylee had her growths removed and a couple of punch biopsies done. Sadly, the test results came back positive for Epitheliotropic Lymphoma, skin cancer.
We decided to proceed with a middle of the road chemo treatment which could give her many more months, possibly years of quality time to be loved! She started her first round of chemo on 3/11/2020. So far she has not gotten sick from treatment and it seems to be having a great result so far! After three nights of not initiating her fun time after dinner (playing with her toys) (prior to treatment), the night after her first treatment “playtime” reconvened! Also, a few new masses that had started to show during her recovery from surgery also got smaller or went away after just a few days.
Baylee will have five treatments at intervals of approximately every 3 weeks and will need regular blood work to check her blood cell counts.
We are continuing our fundraising efforts to cover the costs of this treatment which we were told would run between $2650 – $3000.Thank you for helping with Baylee’s surgery.
Josie Myers-Smith
Founder & Executive Director
Westie Central, Inc.
Update February 11, 2021:
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, Baylee sadly transitioned to the Rainbow Bridge. Your help, however, did make her last weeks much more comfortable and we greatly appreciate your help
Again, our deepest gratiitude.
Sincerely,
Josie Myers-Smith
Founder & Executive Director
Westie Central, Inc.