Hi all!

Bryant and I are setting up this Go Fund Me for our dog, Mischa. First of all, this is not ‘our style’ or something that is incredibly comfortable for us. But after watching the Vet bills continue to rise over the last week, we decided it was time to swallow our pesky pride and open our hearts, instead. It is with humility and immense gratitude that we ask that you donate whatever you can so that we can pay off Mischa’s Vet bills.

Bryant and I got Mischa when she was 8 weeks old. She’s 6 and 1/2 now. She’s been with us through his schooling, my schooling, moving across the country, her brother Vlad also lives with us. Mischa is our family, and we love her. We don’t want to have to make the decision between Mischa and money so we’re trying to be as brave as she is and have decided to open up this Go Fund Me.

Last night, we asked Mischa if she wanted to stay here and fight or if she was too tired and ready to go. We told her it was okay if she was tired; it was okay if she didn’t want to be sick and stuck in this strange place anymore. We didn’t get a call that she had passed, so I can only imagine (and hope!) that she heard us and said, “Of course I’m going to keep fighting.”

If you normally get coffee in the morning, but would like to help us out instead – we’d appreciate it. If you’ve ever had a Mischa of your own and you know how we feel right now – we’d appreciate it. If you love her dorky ears, or you’ve always been a fan of the Malinois, or whatever your reasoning – we are more grateful than we can put into words.

Thank you,

Abbie & Bryant Callahan

 
If you would like a little window into what our world has been like since she got sick, I’ll warn you that it’s not been pretty, so read on at your own curiosity and/or desire:

On 7/26 Mischa decided to stop eating her kibble; she became totally uninterested in it. This has happened a couple of times before, so I didn’t think much of it. But over the weekend, I noticed that she was drinking water excessively and she was urinating more frequently. There was a little bit of vomiting too, but nothing too alarming at this point.

By 8/1 we were taking her out every 2-3 hours to the bathroom. She’s had a UTI before, but her urine didn’t smell, and she wasn’t having accidents in the house. I palpated her all over her body and she didn’t seem to have any pain. At first, she was tempted enough, by a homemade mixture of chicken and rice, to eat a little bit more for us.

She ate about 3/4 bites of her fancy chicken and rice and within 4 hours she puked up some bile but the rice & broth seemed to stay down. I checked her gums and eyes for appropriate oxygenation (which, thankfully, she still had). But, now, where her eyes were supposed to be white – there was definitely a yellow tinge. So, we loaded her up and headed to the Vet.

The Vet was pleased that we brought her in, after some educated troubleshooting at home, and immediately had her tested for leptospirosis. They also did some bloodwork which returned her bilirubin at 19, when it is supposed to be below .3. Usually, bilirubin is formed by the breakdown of red blood cells in the body; the liver helps to excrete it as bile; high levels of bilirubin can lead to jaundice. This explained the yellow around her eyes,but we were still not closer to figuring out why it was so high, in the first place. The Lepto test would not be back for a few days and the Vet sent us home with some antibiotics to get started on treatment.

Friday evening (8/2), we took her out to the bathroom and she wouldn’t even walk for us any longer. On Saturday morning the Vet called with more information regarding the tests we’d done on Thursday. Her other liver enzymes were elevated (in addition to the bilirubin), and she advised us to take Mischa to the pet hospital for an ultrasound.

On 8/3 Mischa’s ultrasound came back “normal” but the Emergency Vet disclosed to us that she was very sick and they had not been able to identify what’s wrong with her yet. They want to put an internist on her case, due to severity, and said other scary things like “liver biopsy” –

We made the decision to relocate to her to the Pet hospital closer to our home since she would need to stay with them while she received treatment. We were given an estimation of 2/3 days for her stay. We also had to sign a DNR. That was really, really hard.

On Sunday, she didn’t seem any better to either of us. The Vet told us she may require a total plasma transfer if her bilirubin continued to climb. We got a couple of tail wags from her and then she just laid down, shaking continuously.

Sunday night the Vet called us to tell us the first good news we heard in a week: her bilirubin levels were finally coming down. They had peaked at 38, at some point, and now were back down to 25. This is not at all in range of where she needs to be, but we are hoping that she keeps trending in the right direction.

On Monday (8/5) she had an NG (nasogastric) tube placed so that she could start to get some nutrients, increase her electrolytes, and hopefully start to make some positive steps in the right direction. At this point we signed up for a Care Credit card, because our bills were already getting the to $6K mark. The Vet estimated that she would need another 2-4 more days of care at their hospital, because he really wanted to see the bilirubin come down to the single digits. He also wanted her to eat and drink on her own.

Right now? We wake up every morning and she’s the first thing we think about; she’s the first plan we make: “When are we going to go see Mischa?” As soon as we leave the hospital we start talking about when we’re going back to see her again. It’s either “Mischa Time” or “Almost Mischa Time” in the Callahan household right now. We’re hoping for some more good news today – anything that points to her turning the corner in the right direction.

Thank you, once again, for taking the time to read this. Thank you for sharing it. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, if you should choose to donate to help us out financially during this time.