Stormypie Victory Fund
Donation protected
Storm is doing so much better after having landed in the Littleton Large Equine Hospital ICU!! However, we’ve exhausted our resources and we need your help! He’s made incredible strides in recovery since Saturday but he still needs more days of supportive care and IV antibiotics. We are so close to making it over this life threatening hurdle. Literally anything would help, he is my world!!
If you can’t or don’t want to contribute please just keep sending him your happy healing thoughts and please keep him in your prayers. And to those of you that don’t understand why I would do this, it’s okay, you don’t have to, just keep sending us love.
On August 22 Storm had all of the clinical symptoms of a bacterial infection known as Strangles, a fairly common contagious infection that affects horses. Under my Vet’s care, we treated him with daily shots of penicillin administered by yours truly and hot compresses. On September 4th he was symptom free and thought to be beyond the infection, moving forward I was to monitor him just in case it flared back up and was still lingering. So I did just that and began to relax as he began to act like his old self, happy and loving to move and graze. The last temp I took was Sept 16 (all were in normal range).
Fast forward to early Saturday morning Sept. 21st , I got a call from our barn saying that his tongue was hanging way out and he was having difficulty breathing, his dinner from the night before was untouched. I met the vet there and she gave him a tranquilizer followed with a tracheotomy to ensure that he could breath. His vitals showed signs of shock and he had much more swelling than any time before. We all assumed that he had an aggressive relapse of Strangles (sometimes the body can hold off infection without sign until it can't anymore or an abscess bursts). We transported him to Golden Animal Hospital where they aspirated one abscess, unable to clearly reach the other abscesses because of all the swelling, they felt it might be better for us to go to Littleton Large Animal Hospital because they are a larger facility. He got a dose of intravenous antibiotics and more penicillin and we headed over. Upon arrival at Littleton Large, they scoped his guttural pouches and did not see signs of the icky pus associated with Strangles, however, he was draining thick pus from his mouth but it was unclear because of the swelling where the source was located. They gave him IV fluids and monitored him closely giving him antibiotics every 6 hours. His prognosis at this time was extremely poor and they were concerned that the infection may have spread and that it was possible that he had sepsis (which is deadly) they were also concerned that the nerve in his tongue was damaged and the likelihood of a successful comeback was against his odds because of his age.
He’s been my baby since I was 11 and I wasn’t going to give up on him that easy! I HAD to give him a fighting chance and wanted to re-evaluate the next day after the antibiotics had time to get to work. AND GUESS WHAT!!!!! Each day since then he has shown vast improvements!!! They eventually determined that the trauma was related to a foreign body/bodies (there were multiple abscesses deep in his throat on his tongue and one behind his jaw). They also determined that the infection appeared to be isolated! Hallelujah!! We will have the culture back in a few more days to see what the infection is and treat it more specifically. He has also shown improvement in his tongue (each day it’s had more movement receding back into his mouth and is now almost all the way back in!) His vitals were stabilized Monday and his temp finally back in range yesterday, He was able to breathe without the trache tube Tuesday, so they removed it yesterday and were able to also take him off of his IV fluids. He is still on IV antibiotics and will be for several more days. He is eating on his own but his tongue and mouth are still quite swollen and painful so it has been arduous for him to eat effectively. His temp spiked again today but overall he’s improved dramatically!!! He is not quite out of the woods yet though and with all things there is a possibility that he may encounter additional challenges along the way. I believe in him though and albeit difficult, I have faith that he will make it through!
**Unfortunately this type of care is extremely expensive and my vet vet bill is already incredibly high, especially with the IV fluids and antibiotics. Thank goodness that my Sister has been able to loan me a substantial amount toward his recovery, and again that his prognosis has improved so much!! We have however depleted those funds and that money ran out yesterday and now we REALLY, REALLY need your help to continue on this path!! I chose $4444 simply for its numerical meaning which is to have Faith and that our prayers will be answered - he’s doing so well even though it’s so hard. I had faith that he’d recover and all though he’s not out of the woods yet the Dr’s have been surprised at his progress**
Storm and I have been best friends for 27 years and I believe we can get him through this! His full name is Salvatore Storm I got him when he was 2 and he came with the name Salvatore, in Italian it means Savior. He’s honestly saved me countless times with his love and companionship and I’m truly hoping I can return the favor. If any of you have had the pleasure of getting to know and be friends with a horse, you know what I’m talking about. He’s absolutely one of the biggest blessings in my life. He is my EVERYTHING! Hopefully a few more days will solidify his recovery and we will be able to enjoy many more years of our incredible friendship!
Anything AT ALL would help buy us a little more time on his road to recovery and we would be eternally grateful for your help. He is the greatest blessing of my life! If you can’t or don’t feel inclined to donate to our cause please send us joyful and happy thoughts of recovery and please keep us in your prayers!! We CAN get through this!!
If you can’t or don’t want to contribute please just keep sending him your happy healing thoughts and please keep him in your prayers. And to those of you that don’t understand why I would do this, it’s okay, you don’t have to, just keep sending us love.
On August 22 Storm had all of the clinical symptoms of a bacterial infection known as Strangles, a fairly common contagious infection that affects horses. Under my Vet’s care, we treated him with daily shots of penicillin administered by yours truly and hot compresses. On September 4th he was symptom free and thought to be beyond the infection, moving forward I was to monitor him just in case it flared back up and was still lingering. So I did just that and began to relax as he began to act like his old self, happy and loving to move and graze. The last temp I took was Sept 16 (all were in normal range).
Fast forward to early Saturday morning Sept. 21st , I got a call from our barn saying that his tongue was hanging way out and he was having difficulty breathing, his dinner from the night before was untouched. I met the vet there and she gave him a tranquilizer followed with a tracheotomy to ensure that he could breath. His vitals showed signs of shock and he had much more swelling than any time before. We all assumed that he had an aggressive relapse of Strangles (sometimes the body can hold off infection without sign until it can't anymore or an abscess bursts). We transported him to Golden Animal Hospital where they aspirated one abscess, unable to clearly reach the other abscesses because of all the swelling, they felt it might be better for us to go to Littleton Large Animal Hospital because they are a larger facility. He got a dose of intravenous antibiotics and more penicillin and we headed over. Upon arrival at Littleton Large, they scoped his guttural pouches and did not see signs of the icky pus associated with Strangles, however, he was draining thick pus from his mouth but it was unclear because of the swelling where the source was located. They gave him IV fluids and monitored him closely giving him antibiotics every 6 hours. His prognosis at this time was extremely poor and they were concerned that the infection may have spread and that it was possible that he had sepsis (which is deadly) they were also concerned that the nerve in his tongue was damaged and the likelihood of a successful comeback was against his odds because of his age.
He’s been my baby since I was 11 and I wasn’t going to give up on him that easy! I HAD to give him a fighting chance and wanted to re-evaluate the next day after the antibiotics had time to get to work. AND GUESS WHAT!!!!! Each day since then he has shown vast improvements!!! They eventually determined that the trauma was related to a foreign body/bodies (there were multiple abscesses deep in his throat on his tongue and one behind his jaw). They also determined that the infection appeared to be isolated! Hallelujah!! We will have the culture back in a few more days to see what the infection is and treat it more specifically. He has also shown improvement in his tongue (each day it’s had more movement receding back into his mouth and is now almost all the way back in!) His vitals were stabilized Monday and his temp finally back in range yesterday, He was able to breathe without the trache tube Tuesday, so they removed it yesterday and were able to also take him off of his IV fluids. He is still on IV antibiotics and will be for several more days. He is eating on his own but his tongue and mouth are still quite swollen and painful so it has been arduous for him to eat effectively. His temp spiked again today but overall he’s improved dramatically!!! He is not quite out of the woods yet though and with all things there is a possibility that he may encounter additional challenges along the way. I believe in him though and albeit difficult, I have faith that he will make it through!
**Unfortunately this type of care is extremely expensive and my vet vet bill is already incredibly high, especially with the IV fluids and antibiotics. Thank goodness that my Sister has been able to loan me a substantial amount toward his recovery, and again that his prognosis has improved so much!! We have however depleted those funds and that money ran out yesterday and now we REALLY, REALLY need your help to continue on this path!! I chose $4444 simply for its numerical meaning which is to have Faith and that our prayers will be answered - he’s doing so well even though it’s so hard. I had faith that he’d recover and all though he’s not out of the woods yet the Dr’s have been surprised at his progress**
Storm and I have been best friends for 27 years and I believe we can get him through this! His full name is Salvatore Storm I got him when he was 2 and he came with the name Salvatore, in Italian it means Savior. He’s honestly saved me countless times with his love and companionship and I’m truly hoping I can return the favor. If any of you have had the pleasure of getting to know and be friends with a horse, you know what I’m talking about. He’s absolutely one of the biggest blessings in my life. He is my EVERYTHING! Hopefully a few more days will solidify his recovery and we will be able to enjoy many more years of our incredible friendship!
Anything AT ALL would help buy us a little more time on his road to recovery and we would be eternally grateful for your help. He is the greatest blessing of my life! If you can’t or don’t feel inclined to donate to our cause please send us joyful and happy thoughts of recovery and please keep us in your prayers!! We CAN get through this!!
Organizer
Chelese Hawkins
Organizer
Denver, CO