Saving Pearl!

Hi my name is Tina, I am reaching out today on behalf of a very special girl “Pearl”…my sweet friend Becca adopted Pearl, and the story was initially a dream come true for them both. You see Pearl was originally rescued from Texas by a couple in Colorado, Olivia & Nick but one of them was due to be shipped overseas to serve our country and they needed desperately to find Pearl a home…with the help of a friend with rescue experience (M.E. Murphy) they were able to place Pearl in her forever home with Becca!

Things were absolutely amazing right from the start. For all intents and purposes, Pearl was a healthy 4 year old when she came to live with Becca in the Fall of 2021. Shortly thereafter, in July of 2022, Pearl developed a runny nose…no biggie right?? Wrong!!! This is where a heartbreaking, emotional and financial nightmare ensued!

In short, Pearl’s standard vet (Tender Touch, Scarborough ME) tried several different things to help with the runny nose, going down an allergy path, but the runny nose continued to get worse. In September of 2022, Tender Touch finally referred Becca to take Pearl to Maine Veterinary Medical Center (MVMC) in Scarborough, ME, a specialty vet that has the equipment to do scopes, MRI, CT Scans, etc. MVMC performed a CT Scan and a rhinoscopy up Pearl’s left nasal cavity, and unfortunately, misdiagnosed Pearl as having negative fungal activity (which was good news at the time), but identified a positive bacterial presence. It was at this point Becca picked up dog insurance as she quickly learned how expensive a procedure of any kind can be within the animal world. The next 3 months played out with multiple different antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and steroid medications to battle the diagnosed bacteria...to no avail.

In late January of 2023, Becca woke up to a vile sound and quickly turned on the lights to find Pearl with an insane bloody nose. After a trip to MVMC Emergency department, Becca was left with “there isn’t a whole lot we can do for a dog bloody nose” and sent her home with an herb (Yunnan Baiyao) that helps control bleeding. An appointment was made immediately with Portland Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Care (PVESC) in Westbook, ME for a second opinion. While waiting for that appointment, Pearl suffered multiple bloody nose episodes, until finally one morning she almost passed out and fell down the stairs. Becca got her into the Emergency department of PVESC, in which they kept her until the specialty team could see her (one day before her scheduled appointment). Dr. Adam Shoelson (whom Becca refers to as boy genius) knew immediately from the MVMC scan what was happening!

Pearls final diagnosis:

Aspergillosis (fungal disease) in the left nasal cavity, as well as chronic rhinitis that will be lifelong. Becca was advised that these two diseases can be as challenging to battle as cancer. But Dr. Shoelson was convinced that Pearl’s health outside of this issue was strong enough to endure what would be the next 9 months of invasive procedures. Becca was also advised of the cost, and luckily with some open credit lines, she immediately said “let’s do it”, and she would figure out the money part later.

Pearl has had several scopes up her left nasal cavity to “debride” fungal plaques, and because of the length of time the fungal had been allowed to grow and destroy (due to misdiagnosis and wrong treatments), she basically has no bone or cartilage remaining on the left side. As part of this, a severe complication ensued where the fungal disease got to the arteries in her nasal cavity which was causing the nose bleeds leading to severe anemia, and several blood transfusions; this was ultimately solved by litigating the carotid artery feeding the left side of her nose.

I am happy to state that Pearl has climbed over the hump and is feeling great (almost puppy-like) currently, but this girl Pearl has been through it!! And so has Becca’s financials, now facing extreme high minimum payments, as well as the insurance company has denied all invoices submitted, stating the documented runny nose has deemed all of this pre-existing. Becca has taken on a second part time job to help take the heat off , but could truly use your help. Going forward, Pearl will require (per Dr. Shoelson) two scopes a year, and an intermittent CT Scan to ensure the fungal has not become present again (estimated $2100 to $4000 per procedure depending on extent) with the hope that in a year or two, maybe one or NO scopes. Additionally, Pearl is on an anti-fungal drug daily, and most likely will be for the rest of her life. Sweet Pearl has come so far, at this stage it would be a tragedy to not be able to maintain preventive care to keep her healthy due to money.

This all happened so fast and Becca was mortified when she learned that the insurance company denied all of her claims, expecting a least a portion of the multiple procedures to be covered!

I am hoping that you will consider making a donation and sharing this story out to all your friends. No donation is too small!

Becca is facing a truly agonizing situation and without a little help from the pet-loving community, she will be forced to say no to future procedures that will keep Pearl ahead of this invasive disease, or worse, surrender Pearl. Thank you in advance for your support!!

Tina

Notables:

• We tried to keep the above story short to keep your attention, but full story, vet write ups, receipts, videos (Warning! Some are extremely graphic!) and pics can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pearl.s.story.2023/

• Becca did contact a lawyer once she understood that PVESC was able to detect the fungal by simply looking at MVMC’s scan, and while the lawyer admitted the story sounded like a no-brainer, he himself advised that trying to win a veterinary malpractice suit would be very slim odds, and more money out of pocket initially

• Becca wants to note that she has absolutely nothing to hide in this story, and if you would like to contact her, please do so thru Pearls Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pearl.s.story.2023/

• Becca wants everyone to know that PVESC and Dr. Shoelson literally saved Pearl’s life, and that Tender Touch did everything they could to help, within their realm; Tender Touch would call to check on Becca & Pearl frequently as they received reports from PVESC, and she holds no blame or ill-will towards them in this; Tender Touch is still Pearl’s regular vet for shots, checkups, etc.

Date Vet Description Amount Paid

9/1/2022 MVMC Initial Rhinoscopy/CT 5746.64

1/28/2023 MVMC ER for initial bloody nose 260.99

2/2/2023 PVESC ER stay + initial assessment and scope at PVESC, blood transfusions. 8912.61

2/9/2023 PVESC Litigation of carotid artery 3567.94

3/21/2023 PVESC Rhinoscopy / Fungal treatment 2433.32

5/19/2023 PVESC Rhinoscopy / Fungal treatment 1991.22

8/10/2023 PVESC Rhinoscopy / Fungal treatment / lesion biopsies 2848.87

10/12/2023 PVESC Rhinoscopy/ Fungal treatment / polyp biopsies 4324.94

Total* $ 30,086.53

*Does not include medications, blankets, dog beds, carpet replacement, etc. etc.