Jerseygirl's Veterinary Fees

Family, friends, acquantances... My husband (Dane Overturf) and myself (Gina Overturf aka "Hocapontas Mango") are writing to pour our hearts out to you and beg for your assistance. Our dog, Jerseygirl, is our one and only baby and has been my best sidekick since she was gloriously brought into this world as a rescue and the runt of the litter, 10 years ago this spring. She is our everything and our ride or die little girl on every trip my husband and I go on. She is also my registered ESA dog (Emotional Support Animal) for severe anxiety. We would go to the end of the world for her. She does also have her own spot with us in our bed and we are missing her warmth and love terribly at this time. For the last month my husband, Dane, has been away for military training as he often is with the Army. On Thursday June 30th, he returned from a month long training over-seas and we were excited to record our Jerseygirl's reaction to him coming home. I warned him that she didn't seem to be feeling the best earlier that day, but I'm sure she would still be excited. I came into our apartment first and started to record her, and told her "I had a surprise for her." She immediately went towards the door, anxious to see her daddy... especially when she heard his voice. She didn't seem nearly as excited as she is even when he comes home from a normal day at work. She soon retreated from saying her "hello's" walked into the living room, froze for a moment, and then collapsed sideways and continued with what seemed like a seizure. We rushed her to our regular vet who was gracious enough to stay open an hour past closing to see her and try to treat her. He did some tests that came back with no abnormalities, so wasn't exactly sure what was wrong. He told us to continue monitoring her and they would call us the next day to check on her. Meantime her legs and hind end became increasingly weak and unstable. We brought her home and tried to hand feed her dinner, treat with homeopathy and bentonite clay in case there was a toxin involved, and feed her electrolytes with a medicine dropper. Friday July 1st, the very next morning, we took her for our usual walk at about 6:45 am, and mid way through she was showing some odd signs in her gait again, was lethargic and slow on the walk. By the time we got back to our apartment from the less than 10 minute walk, and up the stairs, she collapsed again and this time didn't get up for the entire day. We again rushed her to the vet and he ran more test, did xrays of her chest and abdomen... and even kept her for a few hours to monitor. Nothing was showing up in the tests. He recommended that the next step is we take her to NC State Veterinary Emergency Department at the college to be seen by the neurologists. Friday night I stayed up with her all night to make sure that her breathing and heart were sounding okay, continuing with homeopathy, bentonite clay, feeding electrolytes, and trying to coax her to eat food... every hour on the hour giving her ice cubes and just hoping she would get better. No such luck. By Saturday morning she seemed worse so I called NC State, we ran by our regular vet to pick up copies of the diagnostic tests ($400 in costs already) and headed out to NC State Veterinary ER. Once at NC State we were fast tracked to be seen and met with some amazing 4th year vet students and clinicians. They all agreed Jerseygirl's symptoms seem neurological in nature but were also concerned with the extreme weakness and fatigue. They all also complimented her on how sweet she is... even when sick =] We had to sign off on $2,000 of diagnostic testing and care off the bat. They kept her overnight and put her in ICU with IV fluids. We were waiting to have neurology come for a consult Sunday morning when they decided to transfer her to Internal Medicine ICU because she began to have a fever, elevated liver enzyme, and still didn't seem to be doing any better. They are now testing for Bebesia which they think is the culprit of her terrifying symptoms, but the consult with neurology isn't off the table yet. They also want to keep her for at least another 2 days in ICU and will go from there... and are doing an ultrasound of her internal organs as well as other diagnostic tests. We were asked to sign off on an additional $2,000, putting us out $4,400 that we don't have. For my baby, I would do ANYTHING, but we are and have been struggling financially already as it is. $4,000 is "the low end" of the estimate with NC State vet hospital and since we already spent $400 at her regular vet, AND they are considering an MRI (an additional $3,000 on top of the $4,400) we are at a loss of what to do. The vets are saying this is the low estimate and I do not know what else we will have to come up with... and that doesn't include the driving back and forth an hour and a half to Raleigh, NC from where we live and any special adjustments or at home medical care we may need to make. I know most people wouldn't spend this much on their furbabies, but we have so much hope that she will make a full recovery and we hope to spend a few more wonderful years with our baby. Jerseygirl is our first and only baby and we treat animals as true parts of the family, seeing them as no less than a human soul. I literally don't know what I would do without her in my life and even when her time comes, I NEED to know that we have ALWAYS done absolutely everything we can, to give her the best possible life her sweet self deserves on this planet. Dogs already don't live long enough in my opinion =] If ANY of you could please, I am begging you with my whole heart, please help us in saving our baby. My husband or myself would be happy to volunteer to power wash your house, clean your house, cut your lawn, baby sit your kids or furbabies... whatever it takes to warrant your assistance in helping us make ends meet so we can save our babygirl. It would mean the absolute WORLD to both of us, and we would be forever grateful... For those of you who can and do donate, I thank you from the depths of my heart and soul<3 Please share this and our story... ANY amount counts. Thank you so much. You guys are our and Jerseygirl's angels<3