Spot advice

I took my dog in for a limp (shoulder pain) about a month after my insurance went into effect, and i ended up at three different vets with nothing to do immediately as the shoulder seemed okay after a day and it would only be necessary to do a surgery if it ever happened again or got worse

I’m an idiot x1000 and for a million and one reasons, accidentally let the time frame lapse for how long I had to submit. I called and made sure there was no use in my filing a claim, and she said if my window was closed they would deny it

Any advice on if I should do it anyway? I’ve never had pet insurance before so I’m not sure how it works, but say - in five years - it becomes an issue - I don’t want them giving me issues covering this problem in the future because I never submitted a claim for the first time this was an issue (even though I was insured). When it reality it was just my dumbass missing my huge window.