Help with Jinx's medical bills

Let me tell you about my girl…. adopting Jinx was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I found myself still a bit lost after losing my mom; I was a semi-empty nester and spent a lot of time alone at the barn taking care of our horses. I needed a “barn buddy,” so I started looking at pictures of puppies on Petfinder and saw her sweet face. The shelter that had her was right up the road from where I work, so I took a friend from work, and we went to see her at lunchtime. I told my friend, “Whatever you do, don’t let me get her.” When we arrived, Jinx wasn’t there. They told me one of the volunteers took her home at night because she was so tiny that the other puppies picked on her. We were walking towards the door to leave when someone said, “wait, here she is.” When she put that little ball of fur in my arms it was love at first sight and Jinx went home with me that day. She has been by my side ever since.

Fast forward to this past year. Anyone that watches my FB page knows what an absolute year from hell Jinx has had. In October 2021, she had TPLO surgery to repair her ACL on her right leg. It took her eight weeks to recover. We got out for some hikes through the winter and spring, and all was well until June 2022 when she had TPLO surgery to repair her ACL on her left leg. Eight more weeks to recover. We did a couple of rehab hikes but took the rest of the summer off because neither of us like the hot weather. At the end of September, we were out for her first “real” hike back and she decided to try and make friends with a porcupine. That turned into a trip to the Veterinary ER to have the quills removed. Two days later, she was having trouble breathing and ended up at a Veterinary hospital near Philadelphia. One of the quills had migrated into her lung, and she had a severe bilateral pneumothorax with nearly complete collapse of both lungs, which required major surgery to remove a lung lobe. She came home a couple of days after surgery, and her recovery was going great until the day of her two-week checkup when she developed trouble breathing again. Back to the hospital she went. At first, they thought it was a twisted lung lobe, but the radiologist thought it might be pneumonia. She was started on antibiotics and monitored. Then the doctors started thinking that another quill had gotten into her lung, on the left side this time. On her second day there, they did x-rays and started to again think one of her lung lobes was twisted, and she would need another surgery. Complicating our decision-making process was the fact that, clinically, Jinx was getting better. The following morning, we decided to do a CT scan before doing surgery to try and confirm the twisted lung lobe, and the CT scan showed no twist. Jinx stayed over the weekend to be monitored. On Monday, after reviewing the CT scan again, they were concerned that her lung lobe was necrotic, so we decided to do an ultrasound to try and determine if there was any blood flow. The ultrasound showed there was no blood flow, so Jinx had to have surgery again. The lung lobe was so necrotic that it was stuck to her pericardium, chest wall, and the rest of her lung, and the surgeon had a difficult time removing it. Jinx stayed another 48 hours after surgery to err on the side of caution. She is home with me now, and my heart is happy!

Jinx is the strongest/toughest dog I have ever met, and I know how incredibly lucky I am to have her in my life. She loves me, and this past year has proven that beyond a doubt. She is my life, and I will do anything for her. When this all started, I joked with some friends that I would find a way to pay off the national debt if that was what it took to have her healed and home. While talking with my best friend, I mentioned I didn’t know how I would pay all these bills, and I had considered a Go Fund Me, but I know Jinx’s care is 100% my responsibility, and I am not one to ask for help. She said, “do a go fund me and I will share the shit out of it.” So that’s what I am doing. If you can donate and share to help us thank you from the bottom of my heart; if all you can do is share the shit out of it, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and if all you can do is send us positive, healing vibes thank you from the bottom of my heart!! My girl is home with me; the rest will work itself out!