TL; DR

Kristina here— We need help with Indy. On our cross country road trip, Indy started bleeding profusely from his nose. After 2 emergency vet trips, we canceled original plans and drove through the night to get to Kansas State hospital in Manhattan where they immediately took him in.

 

They are providing incredible care, but haven’t been able to resolve the issue yet. After a blood transfusion last night, Indy is being kept at the hospital until they can do a CT scan, rhinoscopy, and other testing to help determine what is going on and help him get better.

 

My family is nearby, which we are grateful for, but being away from home for who knows how long while we get Indy better is a little overwhelming as the costs keep climbing with testing and care.

 

Those of you who know Erik and Indy know how much he has poured into giving this sweet rescue the best life possible. I hope that we can gather some community support in funds and positive encouragement to help get Indy better and relieve some of the stress from Erik.

 

Any help is so, so appreciated. We know Indy is resilient and can get through this!

 

 

Long Version:

Our road trip started on July 5 to go cross country and visit our families. We had planned some adventures and dance classes along the way. Indy loves driving through the Colorado mountains and visiting the rivers and forest.

 

After the first day’s 16 hour drive, we stopped at a hotel in Glenwood Springs Colorado. Things seemed normal, but upon waking up we found blood on the comforter in the hotel room. We weren’t sure where the blood came from but after checking ourselves we supposed it had to have been from Indy. A quick inspection of his paws ears nose etc.didn’t yield anything wrong.

 

The second day of the trip we didn’t travel as far but stopped at a few different lakes and rivers to have some exploring time. Indy seemed completely fine but the next morning we found a small amount of blood on the towel that he slept on.

 

We moved forward to the next destination which was Omaha, Nebraska to teach some dance classes and stay at our friend Tyler‘s house. That night after the dance classes, Indy started to have another bleeding episode and this time it was evident it was coming from his nose. At first we thought it would maybe stop after a minute or so, but it kept coming. We took him to urgent care in Omaha and they were able to temporarily resolve the bleeding but didn’t have any clarity on what caused it. After the visit to the clinic, we went back to Tyler‘s house where Indy was stable for about an hour and then had another episode. This time we weren’t able to stop the bleeding. The urgent care we had just visited was closed, so we had to find a different place to go. The 2nd urgent care encouraged us to go to Kansas State vet hospital to receive additional care. We scraped our other plans for the trip and drove through the night to get to KState. With Kristina driving and Erik staying in the back to try and stop the bleeding and keep Indy stable, we arrived in Manhattan around 4:30 am. When Indy would sneeze and have an episode it was very difficult to manage the quantity of blood as it would get all over his snout and paws and other towels and things we had set up in the car for him.

 

The first urgent care had given him a mild sedative to lower his blood pressure so his behavior is starting to wane and the epinephrine given to wasn’t working as described.

 

Once we arrived at KStste, they accepted us into the urgent care immediately . At the time he was stable but as we waited the next six or seven hours the vet let us know that he was still bleeding. They were managing his blood loss and proceeded to do testing to help us discover what the problem was. They decided to keep him at the hospital the next few nights, which we are thankful for since he ended up needing a blood transfusion in the middle of the night.

 

At this current time they are monitoring him around the clock 24/7 and will continue to give care. On Monday, he will receive a CT scan and a rhinoscopy as well as any other additional testing to help determine the cause of the bleeding.

 

This is an incredible hospital and we are so happy to have gotten him this far and we are confident that they will be able to give us the best support available as we resolve any possible issues.

 

Our summer trip to visit families and friends is of course on hold and unfortunately classes have been canceled too. Yet we are so thankful to be at such a renowned clinic.

 

Of course the last thing we think about is the cost of care, but it is part of the reality that we pay these trained technicians and caring hearts to serve and protect our pets. Kristina’s family is in Manhattan which is helpful, but the costs of Indy’s care are adding up quickly while we are away from home in CA.

 

I am reaching out for some support in this endeavor as the cost has already reached approximately $4000. Any amount helps, truly. We know Indy will get through this. He is a good strong young boy and has already been handling his transfusion, catheter, IV, emergency stay, and more like a champ.

 

Thank you so much for considering helping this sweet boy!

 

(venmo also accepted at kristinasims)