We Saved Frances!
Donation protected
WE DID IT!!!!
Frances has her stitches out and the Vet is super happy with her recovery... WE ARE OUT OF THE DANGER ZONE!!!
Frances was given a 50/50 chance, you helped us take the gamble - and she came up ACES!
We still crate her when necessary and she has gotten used to it now so that's not a struggle (phew). Our cheeky, funny, goofy little gal is doing great thanks to YOU!!
Our dear friends, family and even dog loving strangers helped to get us to this point and I can hardly put into words how grateful J.R and I are.
I tear up every time I think about how close we came to saying goodbye to her forever.
I know many of you can't imagine how we even got to a moment where that was an option, so I'd like to just walk through our journey in the hopes that it may help someone else with pet parenthood. BUT, for those that want to skip all the gory details, I need to get this out before it becomes TL;DR. We need to thank and acknowledge the place that came to our rescue at the 11th hour:
Thrive Affordable Vet Care Round Rock "providing affordable veterinary care"
http://www.thrivevet.com/locations/round-rock-texas/
We love them!!! (Gonna Yelp them up big time!) The place I work is filled with dog rescuing super heros and they are going to gift free treatments to Marcella - (the receptionist who didn't give up in this story....)
OK So:
On a Monday morning we noticed she hadn't been enthusiastically eating her food like she normally does. That afternoon she was eating grass and puked a couple of times (not that unusual). However, that evening she was puking yellow tinged frothy vomit and didn't touch her dinner.... Something was wrong. We took her to Emergency Animal Hospital, and typical Francis, she perked up and was bubbly and excited about meeting new people and presented like nothing was wrong. This can be the deceiving part about tough little dogs too - she didn't wince when they were poking around her tummy - just wagged tail and was loving the late night adventure. They quoted us $800 for an x-ray but thought she may have just eaten something funky and it may pass through by the morning. They said if money is tight (ummm yeh) we could take her home but if she's still not eating and puking in the morning then take her straight to a vet that can do surgery - Being a 24 emergency place they are much more expensive.
Next morning she didn't touch her food and wouldn't even eat the boiled chicken and broth I had made and was very lethargic. It was action stations. I had a vet picked out that had amazing reviews but unfortunately they had 6 surgeries that day and couldn't get us in. So I just googled the next closest and we ended up at Austin Vet Care on Metric. I thought hard about naming them, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's business - it might have just been a weird day for the Vet or something and the Vet Techs were caring. Lot's of people I have talked to have said I should share what happened there, so here it is...
It was an impressive facility so I felt like we were in great hands. They took x-rays and couldn't see anything conclusive. So they called in an ultrasound guy who apparently just hooks it up and reports verbally what he sees. There was a "vertical obstruction" with significant .... of the stomach and intestines. She had swallowed part of a rope toy, it was stuck in her duodenum, making her intestines "telescope" into themselves and every peristaltic wave it was making it worse. By this time she couldn't hide her pain and she was beginning to shake and go into shock. It was time to operate ASAP. Then came the quote part... It was already a $1000 so far, then it would be $3500 just to open her up and see what's going on. It would mostly like double ($7000) if "XYZ" is happening but it could just as likely triple ($10,500) if they have to cut away damaged stomach and intestine... Then chances of survival may still be slim because of "necrosis" (dead tissue).
So there we were, with her wincing with every breath, with THAT as our immediate option. We were begging and pleading for him to let us know if there was any options for a scholarships, charity options, somewhere that would be able to help us, anything? He kept suggesting Care Credit (as if it wasn't actual money that we would have to pay back). I don't want to go on about our financial sitch now, but suffice to say we are pretty maxed. The vet told us how much euthanasia would cost and left the room for us to make our decision.
Weeping and with shaking hand and I posted what was happening on FB. The Vet Techs were also crying - Franny had already stolen their heart when she licked their faces while they put the needle/stent in her arm. They told us they would stall so we could call around and see if somewhere could do it cheaper and suggested some places. I sat and called and called and called. No-one could get us in till the next day and not only was she in pain and in a bad way - she wouldn't have made it. I couldn't believe it. Like a bad dream we were deciding whether to bury or cremate her and signing the paper work. The said they would give us her paw print in a circle of clay as a keepsake. Then the Vet Tech said.... "I think your phone is ringing".
Marcella, the receptionist from Thrive said "Are you the lady who called about a puppy needing surgery?" "Yes" "I'm so glad I found you - I didn't take your name or number because we couldn't do it but our other Vet just arrived and he said to bring her in he'll do it right away for $1500... is... she still... with us?"
"YES YES YES WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!!!!!!!"
With her starting to lose consciousness we zoomed up to Round Rock and even though this Godsend Vet Dr. Ayas Taie, couched our expectations he wanted to give it a red hot go. I told him even if she died on the table, at least we gave her a fighting chance. The previous Vet had made sure we knew that this Thrive Vet was "Not Board Certified". What he DID have was a deeply empathetic bedside manner and the reassuring conviction of wanting to do everything he could to keep her ALIVE.
He was young and gung ho and just what we needed.
As we waited, at the urging of several people, I set up this Gofundme and the response was overwhelming.
The other Vet that works at Thrive told Dr. Taie
he was concerned about several parts of her intestine that looked likely to turn necrotic and while he would have cut it out, our guy chose to not keep her under for the 6+ more hours that it would take (too long for her age) and just hope her little body can heal itself. "She's a special little girl... most dogs are grumpy, disoriented and whine with pain when they wake up.... She just looked up at me and wagged her tail sweetly."
Thrive can't do aftercare and she would never have made it if we just took her home. Thanks to YOUR HELP we could pay Thrive and afford aftercare at the Emergency Animal Hospital who were so great. Of course, she wooed those Vet Techs too during her days there and now every time we bring her back for a check up they all yell "FRANNY!!!".
So here we are, it's 19 days later and she's got a big scar and sooo much life radiating from her. JR and I just constantly stare at her and have to pinch ourselves. Instead of picking out a spot in the yard to bury her we are picking up her poops again.
What have JR and I learned?
- If you can afford pet insurance, get it.
- Don't let your animal suffer but do your best to exhaust all avenues, don't let a Vet who seems a bit "over it" sit there with crossed arms and not much hope decide their fate. Go with your gut.
- To that end, we were happily getting cheap early life care at Emancipet (a charity) but from now on we will establish a trusted, researched and reviewed local vet to have both our dogs "on the books" and have established on-going care.
- Fear, Grief, Shock can make you FREEZE UP and not be able to think straight. If that ever happens to you please reach out to others. There is NO WAY things would have gone this well if we didn't have advice, prayers and support rolling in from all over the country... nay, globe! JR and I had a beautiful matrix of love that materialized as a net beneath us and it was truly moving to witness.
- Something I'm learning lately is that helping others is more symbiotic than I realized. So please let others help you if you need it... It's hard. Feels weird. Almost shameful to admit you are stuck. I hate failure. I hate feeling embarrassed and exposed - some of you will find that hard to believe ;) ...But that's how I felt about this Gofundme.
- This is what I thought you would think/say: "Dont have pets if you can't afford them!" "I can't believe you almost put her down!! I would never have even thought of it!!" "So if we don't donate they are gonna just kill her??" "Wow, they just bought a damn house... now they are asking for handouts" "Lucky it's just dog and not a kid!!!" "Ugh this is just gross emotional crap... Dogs die all the time" "There are people with REAL problems".
....What actually happened was very different.
-Be like Dr. Ayas Taie at Thrive... Do your best, have optimism, give it a shot. Great things may happen.
J.R, Mavis, Frances and I love you very much.
May your blessings return a hundred fold!!
~Sally oxoxoxoxoxox
Frances has her stitches out and the Vet is super happy with her recovery... WE ARE OUT OF THE DANGER ZONE!!!
Frances was given a 50/50 chance, you helped us take the gamble - and she came up ACES!
We still crate her when necessary and she has gotten used to it now so that's not a struggle (phew). Our cheeky, funny, goofy little gal is doing great thanks to YOU!!
Our dear friends, family and even dog loving strangers helped to get us to this point and I can hardly put into words how grateful J.R and I are.
I tear up every time I think about how close we came to saying goodbye to her forever.
I know many of you can't imagine how we even got to a moment where that was an option, so I'd like to just walk through our journey in the hopes that it may help someone else with pet parenthood. BUT, for those that want to skip all the gory details, I need to get this out before it becomes TL;DR. We need to thank and acknowledge the place that came to our rescue at the 11th hour:
Thrive Affordable Vet Care Round Rock "providing affordable veterinary care"
http://www.thrivevet.com/locations/round-rock-texas/
We love them!!! (Gonna Yelp them up big time!) The place I work is filled with dog rescuing super heros and they are going to gift free treatments to Marcella - (the receptionist who didn't give up in this story....)
OK So:
On a Monday morning we noticed she hadn't been enthusiastically eating her food like she normally does. That afternoon she was eating grass and puked a couple of times (not that unusual). However, that evening she was puking yellow tinged frothy vomit and didn't touch her dinner.... Something was wrong. We took her to Emergency Animal Hospital, and typical Francis, she perked up and was bubbly and excited about meeting new people and presented like nothing was wrong. This can be the deceiving part about tough little dogs too - she didn't wince when they were poking around her tummy - just wagged tail and was loving the late night adventure. They quoted us $800 for an x-ray but thought she may have just eaten something funky and it may pass through by the morning. They said if money is tight (ummm yeh) we could take her home but if she's still not eating and puking in the morning then take her straight to a vet that can do surgery - Being a 24 emergency place they are much more expensive.
Next morning she didn't touch her food and wouldn't even eat the boiled chicken and broth I had made and was very lethargic. It was action stations. I had a vet picked out that had amazing reviews but unfortunately they had 6 surgeries that day and couldn't get us in. So I just googled the next closest and we ended up at Austin Vet Care on Metric. I thought hard about naming them, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's business - it might have just been a weird day for the Vet or something and the Vet Techs were caring. Lot's of people I have talked to have said I should share what happened there, so here it is...
It was an impressive facility so I felt like we were in great hands. They took x-rays and couldn't see anything conclusive. So they called in an ultrasound guy who apparently just hooks it up and reports verbally what he sees. There was a "vertical obstruction" with significant .... of the stomach and intestines. She had swallowed part of a rope toy, it was stuck in her duodenum, making her intestines "telescope" into themselves and every peristaltic wave it was making it worse. By this time she couldn't hide her pain and she was beginning to shake and go into shock. It was time to operate ASAP. Then came the quote part... It was already a $1000 so far, then it would be $3500 just to open her up and see what's going on. It would mostly like double ($7000) if "XYZ" is happening but it could just as likely triple ($10,500) if they have to cut away damaged stomach and intestine... Then chances of survival may still be slim because of "necrosis" (dead tissue).
So there we were, with her wincing with every breath, with THAT as our immediate option. We were begging and pleading for him to let us know if there was any options for a scholarships, charity options, somewhere that would be able to help us, anything? He kept suggesting Care Credit (as if it wasn't actual money that we would have to pay back). I don't want to go on about our financial sitch now, but suffice to say we are pretty maxed. The vet told us how much euthanasia would cost and left the room for us to make our decision.
Weeping and with shaking hand and I posted what was happening on FB. The Vet Techs were also crying - Franny had already stolen their heart when she licked their faces while they put the needle/stent in her arm. They told us they would stall so we could call around and see if somewhere could do it cheaper and suggested some places. I sat and called and called and called. No-one could get us in till the next day and not only was she in pain and in a bad way - she wouldn't have made it. I couldn't believe it. Like a bad dream we were deciding whether to bury or cremate her and signing the paper work. The said they would give us her paw print in a circle of clay as a keepsake. Then the Vet Tech said.... "I think your phone is ringing".
Marcella, the receptionist from Thrive said "Are you the lady who called about a puppy needing surgery?" "Yes" "I'm so glad I found you - I didn't take your name or number because we couldn't do it but our other Vet just arrived and he said to bring her in he'll do it right away for $1500... is... she still... with us?"
"YES YES YES WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!!!!!!!"
With her starting to lose consciousness we zoomed up to Round Rock and even though this Godsend Vet Dr. Ayas Taie, couched our expectations he wanted to give it a red hot go. I told him even if she died on the table, at least we gave her a fighting chance. The previous Vet had made sure we knew that this Thrive Vet was "Not Board Certified". What he DID have was a deeply empathetic bedside manner and the reassuring conviction of wanting to do everything he could to keep her ALIVE.
He was young and gung ho and just what we needed.
As we waited, at the urging of several people, I set up this Gofundme and the response was overwhelming.
The other Vet that works at Thrive told Dr. Taie
he was concerned about several parts of her intestine that looked likely to turn necrotic and while he would have cut it out, our guy chose to not keep her under for the 6+ more hours that it would take (too long for her age) and just hope her little body can heal itself. "She's a special little girl... most dogs are grumpy, disoriented and whine with pain when they wake up.... She just looked up at me and wagged her tail sweetly."
Thrive can't do aftercare and she would never have made it if we just took her home. Thanks to YOUR HELP we could pay Thrive and afford aftercare at the Emergency Animal Hospital who were so great. Of course, she wooed those Vet Techs too during her days there and now every time we bring her back for a check up they all yell "FRANNY!!!".
So here we are, it's 19 days later and she's got a big scar and sooo much life radiating from her. JR and I just constantly stare at her and have to pinch ourselves. Instead of picking out a spot in the yard to bury her we are picking up her poops again.
What have JR and I learned?
- If you can afford pet insurance, get it.
- Don't let your animal suffer but do your best to exhaust all avenues, don't let a Vet who seems a bit "over it" sit there with crossed arms and not much hope decide their fate. Go with your gut.
- To that end, we were happily getting cheap early life care at Emancipet (a charity) but from now on we will establish a trusted, researched and reviewed local vet to have both our dogs "on the books" and have established on-going care.
- Fear, Grief, Shock can make you FREEZE UP and not be able to think straight. If that ever happens to you please reach out to others. There is NO WAY things would have gone this well if we didn't have advice, prayers and support rolling in from all over the country... nay, globe! JR and I had a beautiful matrix of love that materialized as a net beneath us and it was truly moving to witness.
- Something I'm learning lately is that helping others is more symbiotic than I realized. So please let others help you if you need it... It's hard. Feels weird. Almost shameful to admit you are stuck. I hate failure. I hate feeling embarrassed and exposed - some of you will find that hard to believe ;) ...But that's how I felt about this Gofundme.
- This is what I thought you would think/say: "Dont have pets if you can't afford them!" "I can't believe you almost put her down!! I would never have even thought of it!!" "So if we don't donate they are gonna just kill her??" "Wow, they just bought a damn house... now they are asking for handouts" "Lucky it's just dog and not a kid!!!" "Ugh this is just gross emotional crap... Dogs die all the time" "There are people with REAL problems".
....What actually happened was very different.
-Be like Dr. Ayas Taie at Thrive... Do your best, have optimism, give it a shot. Great things may happen.
J.R, Mavis, Frances and I love you very much.
May your blessings return a hundred fold!!
~Sally oxoxoxoxoxox
Organizer
Sally Strecker
Organizer
Austin, TX