Chippin in for Charlie

 Hello,
As many may know already Charlie has become ill over the weekend. We took a trip to the beach and as his usual playful self, he tried to dig his way to China unfortunately ingesting sand as well. Starting on the Friday evening (later that day, 15th) he began to vomit, and a lot of that sand he ingested came up. It was a relief to know that he was getting it out of his system, but the vomiting didn't stop. I walked in with chicken in hand and he didn't even budge, starting to cry. So we rushed to the ER vet in town as most are closed for the weekend, all of his vital signs were pretty normal aside from the violent puking and obvious discomfort, after an X-ray was done, it was clear that something was stuck inside of him. The size of it startled me knowing that instantly surgery was going to be the next option. He has had a similar surgery done a couple years ago so the thought of opening an old wound and knowing there is always a risk factor with surgery, scared the crap out of me. Aside from jumping right into surgery it was suggested to see if he would maybe start to pass it naturally, and was given an injection for pain relief. We got back home that afternoon and even with the pain needle he was starting to show even more visible signs of discomfort and becoming a lot more vocal with me. We tried to go for a walk as suggested but he just did not want to move much, which was understandable. We came back in and by the grace of god he finally pooped! It was a small amount which was just mostly sand, he looked embarrassed that he couldn't control it, but I made sure to praise him and welcome as much more poop with open wide arms as possible. He was starting to want to drink water finally but would regurgitate it all after about a minute. We returned to the vet for about 10pm that evening to get another X-ray done as suggested. The X-ray showed that a tiny portion did work its way out but the majority of it wasn't going anywhere. The puking was becoming more violent and its like I could see with my own eyes this foreign object moving around in his weiner like body. It was just stomach bile at this point now. The surgery factor was becoming more real, but still not from the thought of the cost of it, just the thought that maybe it might cause more problems then intended and my tough guy will just have some sandpaper poops for a couple days. He was administered some medications for the pain, and to stop the vomiting since the sand was too digested into his system at this point, as well as bodily fluids to keep him hydrated. Charlie the Hunchback of Brantford he looked like as I brought him home, the swelling would go down as his body would slowly intake all of the fluids. We got in late last night and he was just zonked out, unresponsive and medicated to say the least. We made a bed out and I stayed up with him for the night, he had a bit of a discharge around 6am but it wasn't much. He was still in a zombie like state at this point and back to the vet we went for another X-ray and obvious planning needed to be done for our next step. The X-ray which is shown above shows that for the majority it is still there. From my point of view it looks like an Oktoberfest sausage, and to imagine its just hard packed up gritty sand sitting there, crazy. Now the surgery factor became very very real, knowing there is risks in it and no guarantee. At this point its been decided to keep him there hospitalized for the next 24 hours where they can administer more X-rays, IV fluids, and laxatives. But if no signs of improvement arise in the next little while, surgery is the next step. I apologize for the lengthy report but I'd figure you'd want to know as much as I do knowing you are contributing your hard earned money to help out a good friend in need.

So with all that being said, we are already about 1200$ into it which has been paid for, and are looking at close to 4000$ for surgery. Now, to me personally, money is not an issue or topic in concern with Charlie, but obviously theres the reality that I don't have it. Im trying to sell whatever items I have of value, from my car to my couches, to make sure that I can get him the help he needs. It was suggested by a friend to start one of these but I was a bit hesitant to be honest on the fact that hey I know he's getting older now, I know everyones time will come one day, but for him, its not right now. Anyone that knows or sees him always thinks he's maybe four years old at the max, full of energy, character, spunk, love, healthy to the bone. This is simply just an accident, and more so poor judgment skills on my behalf, I feel like I could keep writing but should try my best to keep it as short (long) as possible. Im willing to do whatever it takes, because at the end of the day, its just materials. We can find another couch to sleep on, or another roof over our heads. We can't find each other in someone/something else. I set the bar high not in the expectation of receiving it all, but thats what he deserves, I don't fully know how this all works, and haven't slept or ate since Friday so I'm probably not making sense, but anything you can pitch to a groovy dude, the plaza protector, the weiner of the century, we would gladly be humbled to accept ANY offerings. With that said, whatever bills come up I will take pictures of to show? If the amount here outweighs the costs I don't know if I can return it but if I can't I will GLADLY donate the extra moneys to a local SPCA. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this novel because that means just as much to me as the person that donates a dollar.  Here's to good vibrations.