Hershey baby

Many of you have followed my story with Hershey and know how hard the last 8 days have been and have asked how you can help.

Your thoughts, well wishes, and concerns are so greatly appreciated. I know they have made a huge impact on Hershey’s will to keep fighting and fight he is! My love for Hershey is priceless, but $35,000 in 7.5 days is greater than my emergency fund was set up to cover.

Any donation is GREATLY appreciated and will be used DIRECTLY to pay for Hershey's medical bills. Hershey and I love you all - thank you so much.

For those that haven’t followed from the beginning, I would love to share this and any more information to help anyone else going through a medical emergency with a beloved animal as I now know far more than I imagined.

During the thick of Covid (April 2020) I fostered a rescue dog and named him Hershey right away! I knew the moment I saw him I was doomed to be a foster fail mama. I was right! We have been inseparable peas in a pod ever since. He is my little sidekick and comes EVERYWHERE with me. Planes, trains and automobiles, beaches, parks, pools, restaurants, work, you name it - we have traveled there together. And everywhere Hershey goes people quickly become smitten and fall deeply in love. He is THE sweetest little gentleman who loves everyone! He is so gentle, curious, cuddly, friendly, with a head out the car window and is always down for an adventure (as long as I'm carrying him!).

I’ve been lucky. Hershey has been the healthiest little dude on a home-cooked diet since I became his foster mama. He has only ever been a light in my life and vice versa. I love him more than anything. It’s easy to say it - he is my world.

But here’s where things took a scary turn. Over MDW 2023 Hershey and I arrived with two friends in Joshua Tree and he began throwing up consistently. This kept going on throughout the night, and I ended up making a quick decision (as my friends were rightfully enjoying their morning in JT National Park) and took an Uber back to LA to get Hershey urgent medical treatment (everything within ~1-1.5 hour radius was closed due to the holiday).

Upon being seen, the medical specialists determined Hershey had a gallbladder mucocele meaning that his gallbladder needed to be removed as the x-ray showed a possible rupture making it even more urgent. They explained the complications but since Hershey is a strong, otherwise healthy 7-9 year old we all agreed surgery was the best course of action. I was on pins and needles during the procedure as this surgery is very delicate and complicated for dogs.

Waiting for the call was EXCRUCIATING. My friend answered the phone after and we were relieved to hear some good news - the surgery was a success! However, this was only the start of the journey. Hershey was on Fentanyl, Lidocane and Ketamine for his post surgery pain. He has a gastro feeding tube and is having a hard time keeping his feedings down. He is getting the liquid he needs through IV's but has a sense of being VERY thirsty 24/7 and watching the little guy trying so hard to find water is the sweetest saddest thing.

I visited him for the maximum allotted time while he was in the VCA’s care. It was the highlight of both of our day. Due to complications from the gallbladder removal surgery, Hershey developed a severe case of Pancreatitis. Many of his liver values are elevated and spiked, he has to be given insulin and monitored for glucose levels and there is a suspected biliary duct obstruction that couldn’t be seen via ultrasound due to his enlarged pancreas blocking the imaging.

Providing this type of intensive medical care for my beloved little Hershey was a choice I never imagined having to make and the extreme costs have been really hard to stomach. As of Sunday night (6/4) we will be at $35,000. This includes the surgery (was about 1.5x the cost due it being emergency surgery on a Holiday), the overnight stay post surgery, x-rays, ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc. This is all due now, there is no payment plan or financing option. After the small maximum amount covered by pet insurance I’m left with a bill of $27,500 and counting. The costs definitely will not stop there given at home continued care, follow ups, and any next steps.

With the above said, I decided to take him home Sunday night to provide the at-home care I’m praying will lower his liver values and bring his severe pancreatitis down to acute and then hopefully a full recovery from this big post-op complication. I began extensive home care last night which involves 12-14 hours of hour by hour pill crushing, mixing, syringing, aspirating bile from feeding tube, flushing tube, administering meds through feeding tube, blending food and feeding through tube, etc. will be doing at home care for Hershey starting on Sunday night and will reassess after 1 week to see if there has been any positive progress around his pancreatitis.

Here is 6/6/23 home care schedule :| Non-stop 7am - 10:30pm.