Klee is known online for her @simonsits social media pages where she documents life fostering pups, as well as being the author of popular book 'Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About'
Credit: Isabel Klee/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Isabel Klee is sharing an update on the health of her beloved dog Simon, whom her social media pages are named after
- In a May 21 video, the content creator and author of Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About, sat down to share that Simon, whom she has had for about seven years, had been diagnosed with cancer
- On her social media accounts, Klee documents content about her life fostering dogs
Isabel Klee is sharing a heartbreaking update on the health of her beloved, internet-famous dog Simon.
Klee, who is known online as @SimonSits online where she documents her life fostering dogs, sat down in a May 21 Instagram video to share the sad news that Simon, her jindo, miniature pinscher, Portuguese podengo mix, had been diagnosed with cancer.
"I was feeling so strong when I sat down and I immediately started crying," Klee said, sitting on her couch. The content creator, 32, then went on to reveal that the pup had been in the ICU for the last few days. She referenced an earlier update on his health, adding that Simon had been suffering seizures — experiencing four in the span of five hours early one morning.
Credit: Isabel Klee/Instagram
"These are considered cluster seizures and they can be a medical emergency," she said. "So we took him to AMC and got him admitted to the ICU. Sometimes when we bring Simon to AMC, they just pump him with seizure medications and send him home a couple of hours later. I think it was clear to the doctors that he was not neurologically bouncing back."
Back in November, Klee said, vets did an ultrasound on Simon, which showed he had a mass on his liver. Originally, the team thought it had been caused by Simon's phenobarbital medications for his seizures, so they spent the next few months weaning him off the medication. However, a more recent ultrasound showed that the tumor had gotten bigger, Klee revealed.
"The way that it is growing, it is clear that this tumor is cancer. And for this form of cancer, it's very common for it to spread to the brain," she said. Next, Klee said they ordered a CT scan of his liver and an MRI on his brain, which showed that the cancer had not yet spread to it or to his lungs.
"However, the tumor on his liver is obviously affecting the way that his body metabolizes his medications, which is why he's having these seizures so often and so violently. We won't get the in-depth scan results until Sunday. That will tell us more about his prognosis or how we can potentially even treat this.
Then, tearing up, Klee added. "But I think what is most important to me is his quality of life. The way that he has been recently is not at all who he really is. And I know that I would rather him have a really good couple of months where he is himself and an extra year or two where he is a zombie like he currently is."
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She added that the vets had made the decision to put him back on phenobarbital, as it was the only medication that was "truly controlling his seizures." Klee added that she had waited to share the update with her 863,000 followers until she had a better idea of Simon's prognosis.
"Simon is still in the ICU, hoping that we can pick him up today," she added. "So I hope I will have more information to share with you very soon. Thank you for loving him as much as I do."
Speaking with PEOPLE in April, Klee reflected on being a dog mom and how Simon and her many fosters have become part of her life.
"I've had Simon for seven years… he's had seizures with dogs, he's had seizures without dogs," she said at the time, touching on Simon's health. "There's no… it's just completely random."
That uncertainty hasn't stopped her from continuing to foster. "I continue living my life… and fulfilling what fulfills me," she says. "And honestly, I think it fulfills Simon, too. I think he loves fostering."
Her memoir Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About was released on April 28 and focuses on her experience rehabilitating rescue dogs to help them get adopted. It also touches on her life, navigating friendships, boyfriends and more. A description of the book calls Simon Klee's "first true love," after rescuing him from the meat trade.
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