08/17/2026
Hello beautiful people,
I sure can relate to this image below. My short-term memory loss from the 5 months of chemotherapy twice a week that miraculously kept me from dying of Triple Negative Breast Cancer is quite profound. Last week, I went nearly 2 full days without eating anything at all (yes, really) because I just forgot to eat and didn't notice I was hungry. I often also forget to take important medication even though I have an alarm set on my phone to do so and keep my medication in a "pill box" labeled with each day of the week. Within minutes of my "medication alarm" going off though, I've already forgotten to take the pills. Another example - countless places I drive to regularly, and have done so since 2010 when I moved from California to New Mexico, I now get lost trying to find. I could go on and on with examples of my decline. Chemotherapy saved my life, but has robbed me of ME. Knowing that chemo would do this to me, would I still have gone through it? Yes surely, so I probably don't have the right to complain since I am still alive. I'm still trying to figure out how what is left of me fits into the world, but one thing I know is that I'm no longer capable of adequately running an animal rescue; therefore, Tiny Toes Rat Rescue of New Mexico is officially closed to intakes, but will continue caring for the animals now with us. God help the poor animals I can no longer help. I can't begin to describe how torn up my heart is over this. I've cried until I can cry no more. Some people who knew this may happen soon have offered to take over Tiny Toes for me, but in checking out these people, I learned they are nothing more than rat breeders looking to make money off of the tiny lives I so love by selling them as snake food. NO. I will not turn my rescue over to anyone. The approximately 45 rats we still have will live their lives out with me and I will continue to pay for the majority of their food and vet care bills out of my Social Security checks because donations have been so rare. To date, we have taken in nearly NINETEEN HUNDRED animals and I'm so thankful to God for putting them into our care. I also thank YOU precious loving people for your wonderful encouragement, prayers, and kindness since 2010 when we started Tiny Toes. I simply must give a special thanks with my love, hugs, and tears to our donors who kept us afloat when paying for veterinary care, endless rat block foods, mountains of fresh raw kale (a rat favorite as you know), etc. etc. etc. and supplied funds when money always ran out. God bless you! As our elderly rats are passing away, we are disassembling their Critter Nation cages, hose cleaning them in our backyard, and then storing them in our garage. If you are in the Albuquerque area and would like to buy used cages it will help provide funds so we can continue feeding and providing veterinary care for the rats we still have. I would never sell to you a cage that does not function properly, so please don't worry about that. Cages that we are unable to sell have already been promised to a sister rat rescue I have followed for years and believe in. You know who you are. I want to thank every single one of you for following us over the years. It was such a blessing when we were able to contribute to teaching you about proper rat care. I love every single one of you. Because this page is still in a state of having been hacked by some mean person and may disappear at any time, it is best for you to contact me at [email protected] if you need to reach me.
