Hi, my name is Nadia and I'm a single mom in NYC. My son and I rescued this gorgeous boy Pastel 2,5 years ago. He was a tough cookie at first and I definitely questioned if I made the right decision taking on the big rescue dog. But with lots of love and lots of training, Pastel became a part of the family we can't live without. He's a very high energy dog who was getting at least 2 hours of walks and runs daily. He is my best running buddy. He taught us as much as we taught him.

On Thursday 3/7 we went on our regular run in Riverside park before my work. He was completely fine until the afternoon when he threw up and started acting very off, tired, uninterested, almost lethargic. I know my dog and knew immediately something was wrong. I took him to a wonderful family vet down the street who did an amazing job with an exam and blood tests and prescription of antibiotics, that were ready early the next morning. Blood tests came back normal. Something still didn't feel right and our vet referred us to get an xray. Xray showed nothing, but by now he had a fever. The vet doing an xray suggested that we go to emergency room at Animal Medical Center. We came there, but he was given anti-nausea meds, some fluids and sent home. They said his fever is now gone. Side note, he's refusing any food this whole time, but started drinking water after AMC visit, so that was encouraging. Next day I can feel he's hot, but I thought going to the hospital and getting sent back may be too stressful for him, he's drinking after all. And then this morning he was very reluctant to go for a walk (we live on the 5th for walk up and I had to carry him up these days, he's 50lbs, I'm 120lbs). He walked great this morning and was even stopping to smell things. I thought, he's getting better! I haven't left his side at all since Thursday. But I had to step out for 2 hours on Sunday and he looked and felt better also fever was down. When I came back I found him completely lethargic, not being able to step on his left hind leg or stand at all. I took him back to Animal Medical Center immediately. They admitted him to keep overnight and for a few days and will continue doing different tests.

I still have no good explanation of what's going on with him - poisoning, bacteria or infection spreading throughout his body and now affecting his joints, or smth else. We simply don't know. Hopefully I'll have more answers tomorrow and update.

But what I do now, I've already had to put $10,000 on my credit cards from Thursday till now on different vets and now for hospital stay and the bills are only going up. He does have insurance, but I'll get back 50% of it at best. I'm cutting any expense possible and I'm taking on another job. I'll greatly appreciate any contribution towards Pastel.

All my son is asking me tonight is when is Pastel coming home. He wants to know he's ok, he wants to see him. It breaks my heart.

The biggest of thanks from my family to yours ❤️

UPDATE from 8/11 - Animal Medical Center ran a lot of tests on him today including putting him under anesthesia and getting into his inflamed joints to get to understand the liquid inside those joints. Surprisingly to them, there was mostly just blood inside his joints in that leg that is hurting and inflamed. Also, they said there is potentially blood in his lungs. His liver enzymes do not look good anymore. They are now afraid it could be a bleeding issue and, if that's the case, the prognosis is not good. The vet assured me that 10 different vets are working together on his case as there is nothing that is obvious. She went over the test results they have now, but other results may only be ready in a week!!! She also said that if there is internal bleeding, his condition can worsen very quickly. I am anxiously waiting to hear how he does overnight - I have not slept for days, anxiously checking on Pastel when he was here and now checking my phone non-stop to make sure I don't miss any calls. I spoke to all the vets who ever met Pastel or me and they spoke to the Animal Medical Center just to bring in more experts on board. I don't know what to do anymore. Nikolai keeps telling me Pastel will be ok, but i'm not so sure anymore. I keep thinking if he was not discharged on Friday or if I could have pushed more for him to be admitted, this could have been prevented.

Cost details:

Thursday: first vet visit cost and bloodwork+antibiotics $609.75

Friday: second vet visit, radiology, blood sugar test and blood pressure $943

Friday night: Animal Medical Center, emergency visit fee, ultrasound of abdomen, anti-nausea meds, introvenal fluids $1,189.60. He was discharged.

Sunday: admitted to the hospital - ICU care overnight and 2 days regular care afterwards $7,121.02 + $450 hospital admission fee.

Tuesday: the bill for his stay is now at estimated $8,500 + $450 hospital admission fee. Yes, $9,000 for 3 days in the hospital with no approvement or diagnosis.

This last bill will go up as it basically just includes stay, xray and bloodwork. They did tell me that they'd have to put him under and take liquid from his joints to find out what kind if inflammation is happening there. That'd be another $2K+.

Final hospital checkout bill: $8,476.33

As of right now, total that I've already been presented with is $11,218.68. They did offer a payment plan for the $4,500 over 3 months. So at least that helps a bit!

He will need at least anther visit and xray this month. It's about $900, but I'll get a better estimate soon hopefully.