Laegertha's Necrt Fasciitis ER Srgy
Donation protected
In the past 24 hours, our beautiful 4.5 month old Irish Wolfhound puppy, Laegertha, went from a romping playful girl to deathly ill. She is in ER surgery in attempt to save her life by removing tissue infected by flesh eating bacteria. We have no idea what the source of the bacteria was but this is our only chance to save her life. Last night we noticed a swelling was the size of bee sting on her shoulder. We thought she had perhaps been stung by a bee. The following morning the swelling had spread and she could barely walk. We took her right to the Texas A&M Vet Med School. The swelling quickly spread, covering her chest and is creeping up her neck and down her arm. The doctors just told us we will have to amputate her leg in the morning, if she makes it. The cost of this surgery has gone from an estimated $3,000 to $7,000 plus just in the course of the 4 or 5 hours it took to diagnose her, call in the ER surgery team, and get her prepped. We have $2000 and will be making payments from there. We have to come up with $3500 for the deposit for them to continue treatment, without which she will not survive. Any help towards her medical treatment would be greatly appreciated. We overdrew our main account, took out a payday loan, and maxed out our one small credit card to get where we are. We are completely devestated and beside ourselves.
NOTE: We are adjusting our goal as donations have been made through PayPal or to the vet school directly. If would like to donate and prefer either of these methods, the Texas A&M Veterinary School Small Animal Emergency Services phone numer is 1-979-845-2351 (ask for billing for Laegertha Voltura owned by Gerald and Elise Voltura) or send PM for information about our PayPal account. THANK YOU and GOD BLESS!!!
ADDITIONAL UPDATES: In the "Update" Section
UPDATE 4: New plan for second surgery to lessen impact of anesthesia. Two shorter ones better than single very long one. Amputation tomorrow if she makes it the night.
UPDATE 3: They are in surgery now. They want to amputate the leg since it has spread to her elbow just during prep but too late for this surgery since we were just told the instruments are contaminated since they already started... They wanted an immediate answer and couldn't give it. I'm horrible.... I'm not sure she's going to make it.
How can this happen in less than 24 hours? How? I can't think straight! We decided to come back to the hospital despite them telling us to go home and not being able to see her. We can't waste another second with phone calls.
UPDATE 2: The vets isolated a rod shaped bacteria so not typical strep flesh eating bacteria but unsure of extact ID. It's being cultured now while she is in surgery. We were just informed they aren't sure they can get to it all due to the location (chest). If it was on a limb they would be amputating it; that's how bad it is. We are so worried.
UPDATE: Lægertha was just diagnosed with necrotizing fascitis. It's caused by a rare rapidly spreading flesh eating bacteria. There isn't an obvious entry point and cause is not well understood so no idea where it came from or how to prevent it. The swollen area has completely blown out from what is seen below. It looks like there is a half a basketball stuck her chest now - within a matter of hours! She is going in for emergency surgery now. Her prognosis is guarded poor. Only about half of patients, including people, survive this condition even with aggressive treatment. Please pray for her and for us to come up with the deposit of $2500 by tomorrow morning.
I just went to see her before she got put under and despite the pain she was wagging her tail as much as she could and happy-to-see-you whining.
Posted to health group earlier.
.....
Puppy was not feeling well last night and worse this morning. Swelling in one spot last night and pulled what I thought was a stinger of some kind from middle area. This morning vet did bloodwork. Systemically normal but she is in pain and they found this red blotching. Not the exact same place where swelling was last night. No obvious snake bite puncture. Any thoughts?
Scorpion or wasp maybe?
She is on pain meds but nothing else since they don't know what it is... Sent her home on pain meds and told us to keep an eye on her.
WE WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE YOU KEEPING US IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!
NOTE: We are adjusting our goal as donations have been made through PayPal or to the vet school directly. If would like to donate and prefer either of these methods, the Texas A&M Veterinary School Small Animal Emergency Services phone numer is 1-979-845-2351 (ask for billing for Laegertha Voltura owned by Gerald and Elise Voltura) or send PM for information about our PayPal account. THANK YOU and GOD BLESS!!!
ADDITIONAL UPDATES: In the "Update" Section
UPDATE 4: New plan for second surgery to lessen impact of anesthesia. Two shorter ones better than single very long one. Amputation tomorrow if she makes it the night.
UPDATE 3: They are in surgery now. They want to amputate the leg since it has spread to her elbow just during prep but too late for this surgery since we were just told the instruments are contaminated since they already started... They wanted an immediate answer and couldn't give it. I'm horrible.... I'm not sure she's going to make it.
How can this happen in less than 24 hours? How? I can't think straight! We decided to come back to the hospital despite them telling us to go home and not being able to see her. We can't waste another second with phone calls.
UPDATE 2: The vets isolated a rod shaped bacteria so not typical strep flesh eating bacteria but unsure of extact ID. It's being cultured now while she is in surgery. We were just informed they aren't sure they can get to it all due to the location (chest). If it was on a limb they would be amputating it; that's how bad it is. We are so worried.
UPDATE: Lægertha was just diagnosed with necrotizing fascitis. It's caused by a rare rapidly spreading flesh eating bacteria. There isn't an obvious entry point and cause is not well understood so no idea where it came from or how to prevent it. The swollen area has completely blown out from what is seen below. It looks like there is a half a basketball stuck her chest now - within a matter of hours! She is going in for emergency surgery now. Her prognosis is guarded poor. Only about half of patients, including people, survive this condition even with aggressive treatment. Please pray for her and for us to come up with the deposit of $2500 by tomorrow morning.
I just went to see her before she got put under and despite the pain she was wagging her tail as much as she could and happy-to-see-you whining.
Posted to health group earlier.
.....
Puppy was not feeling well last night and worse this morning. Swelling in one spot last night and pulled what I thought was a stinger of some kind from middle area. This morning vet did bloodwork. Systemically normal but she is in pain and they found this red blotching. Not the exact same place where swelling was last night. No obvious snake bite puncture. Any thoughts?
Scorpion or wasp maybe?
She is on pain meds but nothing else since they don't know what it is... Sent her home on pain meds and told us to keep an eye on her.
WE WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE YOU KEEPING US IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!
Organizer
Jerry Voltura
Organizer
Bryan, TX
