How My Yorkie Saved My Life

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Just like you, I love my dogs dearly but I now have a special bond with my little Ziggy, my Yorkshire Terrier. I credit him with helping to save my life. I will always be grateful to this little muppet.

About Ziggy

Ziggy has always been a special dog. Everyone who meets him wants to keep him. He’s a total sweetie. My other 3 dogs all love him too. He’s a little quirky and has some weirdly cute mannerisms but they just make him more special. He loves everyone he meets.

My Love for Yorkies

I fell in love with Yorkies as a child when I found a painting of one at Woolworths and thought that it was the most beautiful dog I had ever seen. I bought that painting with my allowance money, hung it in my bedroom, and stared at it for years.

I grew up with poodles but as soon as I turned 18 and had saved up enough money, I bought my first Yorkie. I went on to breed them and show them. Though I still loved Yorkies at the time Ziggy came into my life, it had been a few years since I had owned one.

How I Got Ziggy

Ziggy came to me when he was just a 4-month-old puppy back in 2018. I was visiting my sister who lives up in the mountains of Virginia. I live 5 hours away on the southeastern coast of Virginia. Anyway, I got a text from a friend that said her neighbor’s granddaughter who lived with her had brought a Yorkie puppy home. The grandmother insisted she get rid of it because they were renting their house and it had a no-pet policy. The girl was just going to put the puppy on Craigslist but my friend Linda told her to wait because she thought she had a friend who might want him.

I wasn’t looking to get another dog at that point but when I heard the girl was going to list him on Craigslist, I knew I couldn’t let that happen. Besides I obviously have a real soft spot for Yorkies.

The thought that this little guy could be given to any stranger who may or may not take care of him properly, or worse could use him as a bait dog or something, well I couldn’t let that happen. So I told Linda I would come get him as soon as I got home from my sister’s. And the rest is history.

How Ziggy Discovered My Cancer

It was the last Saturday evening in July of 2022 and I was sitting in my home office trying to work at my desktop computer. I say trying because Ziggy was being particularly needy that night. Actually, for the last month or so all he wanted me to do was hold him. I got used to holding him while typing one-handed.

But this night he was even weirder than usual. For the past few weeks, he would constantly rub his face on my chest and he would burrow his head into the left side. He would even try to go up under my shirt to get to my skin and burrow his head. It was just strange. I would turn him to the right side but each time, he would turn back to the left side.

This particular night, Ziggy pushed so hard against my breast, that I finally felt a lump. But I wasn’t sure if I was feeling a lump on him or me. So I checked him over and didn’t feel anything lumpy on him. I then checked myself. I felt a large lump in my left breast. It felt so big, I wondered why I couldn’t see it or why I didn’t feel it. A lump that big should have been painful or I should have at least been able to feel it in there.

My Denial

I was a little concerned but really didn’t think it was anything serious. After all, if I had breast cancer, wouldn’t that lump be painful? And wouldn’t I be feeling sick? I felt great. I had been on Weight Watchers and had lost 80 pounds. I was exercising most days and I ate healthy and had lots of energy for someone in their 60s. I felt better than I had in years, so surely I couldn’t have cancer. My parents and grandparents never had it. And I had a mammogram just a few months earlier and nothing showed up then.

My Diagnosis

But even though I was sure it was nothing, I knew it needed to be checked out so I sent a message to my doctor through MyChart and told her what I found. I was surprised when she sent a message back a few hours later (I guess she checked her messages on the weekend and at night) and said she wanted me in her office Monday morning.

I did go in to see her that Monday and after checking me over, she sent me on that day to get an ultra-sound that led to a biopsy that led to appointments with an oncologist and surgeon. It all happened so quickly. I had lots of other appointments and tests, CAT scans, bone scans, MRI’s, surgery to put a port in my chest, and more things over the next few weeks and then I started chemo.

I had a very aggressive form of cancer called HER2 positive and it’s the type of cancer that kills quickly and likes to return after being treated so they got me into treatment quickly. I was Stage 3, Grade 3 with lymph node involvement. I was on a cocktail of 4 different cancer drugs and I was lucky. If I had this same cancer 10 years ago or so, I would have had a very low chance of survival. But one of the drugs called Perjecta that had been used with this type of cancer for about 10 years brought my chances of surviving up to 85-90%.

I went through 6 rounds of chemo every 3 weeks (though I had to continue one of those drugs every 3 weeks for a year), a double mastectomy, and 32 rounds of radiation.

My 4 dogs were instrumental in helping me get through it all. The treatments, though hard, were really not as bad as I expected them to be but I did have a lot of fear about dying. Through it all my 4 wonderful dogs were there for me to hold onto and cry into their soft fur when I was scared or feeling sick. I felt like I could talk to them and tell them my fears when I had to be strong around my family and friends.

The Positive Things

I had a wonderful support system. My 2 daughters were there for me and came with me to my initial doctor appointments. They taped the visits because they knew I would be overwhelmed with all the information being thrown at me. My oldest daughter even typed up a summary of what the doctors said which was immensely helpful. She also insisted on taking to me all the testing appointments and to all my chemos too even though after the first one, I was perfectly capable of driving myself to them.

After surgery, my younger daughter or granddaughter stayed with me overnight for a few days and brought food. My sweet sister came down a few days later and took care of the cooking, the house, and the pets while I healed. I had friends during this time who would send me little gifts and cards to keep my spirits up and I had a wonderful group of readers from my Chihuahua site and newsletter that prayed for me and were always so positive and loving in their emails and comments. I credit all their prayers in making my ordeal as easy as it possibly could be and for the wonderful outcome I had.

My medical team was wonderful too and I had a great experience with all but one person; a receptionist at the radiologist’s office who was nasty to me for no reason. I went there every weekday for over 6 weeks and she was mean to me on all of those visits even though I made a point to be sweet to her. I think I know why she didn’t like me but I won’t go into it here.

Everyone else was wonderful and I’m so grateful for that because I have heard horror stories of how bad it could be.

The Present

At the time of this writing, it’s just been a little over 2 years from when Ziggy found that lump on me. I have been done with all cancer treatments for a year now. I am healthy again, my hair has grown back though it’s still shorter than I’d like. I no longer have the neuropathy and most of the other side effects that chemo causes though my lack of balance that the chemo caused is still pretty bad.

I’m back to eating healthy and trying to lose more weight and I’m exercising most days. I did lose another 20 pounds while going through chemo but unfortunately, I gained that back. So I’m back on my health journey and trying to do what I can so the cancer never returns.

I look at my little Ziggy every day and thank God for this little ball of fur that he persisted in trying to let me know there was something wrong. If I had waited until I finally had some symptoms, well I probably wouldn’t be here to write this now. That’s how fast and aggressive that cancer was.

Cancer sucks and I grieve for all the people it has taken from this world too soon and for those who are currently dealing with it.

Cancer changes you. Not just physically but mentally too. Some changes are bad, but some are good. I never take anything for granted. I live in the moment and I’m so grateful for everything that I have and for everything that is good in my life.

I am also very grateful for the wonderful people in my life, who love me and took care of me when I needed them. I heard in the breast cancer support groups from women whose kids just didn’t want to deal with it and left their mothers to handle cancer by themselves, whose husbands left them after their diagnosis and whose friends ghosted them, and also who had horrible experiences with their medical teams.

I was so blessed to have a wonderful experience considering the horror I was living through and I will never forget those who were there for me.