Urgent Surgery Needed For My Dog Rory

About a month and a half ago, my dog Rory flopped over after climbing to the top of a small set of stairs and a jump up from a landing to the top deck of the boat I live on. It scared me. I thought something was wrong with his leg or spine. I rushed him to the 24-hour pet hospital. He seemed to recover somewhat while waiting for my ride. I thought maybe it was a hip dislocation. At the pet hospital, he got X-rays done and they observed him for a few hours. They said he had some knee problems possibly and to not let him climb steps or jump up on furniture, and I took him home.

A month or so after the first incident, he flopped over twice within 10 minutes. I rushed him to the 24-hour pet hospital again. I assumed they were seizures this time and told the pet hospital. They took him in, checked him out, and sent him home with me with anti-convulsive medication. The next morning around 6 am, I woke up with him having puked all over the bed and flopping around. I rushed him to the 24-hour pet hospital again. This time they kept him for the day to observe. He was now losing his balance badly when he walked and holding his head tilted. The neurologist came and assessed him and said there were a couple of possibilities, but they needed to get an MRI and a spinal tap to find out what the issue was.

At this point, I had spent $965.96 on the first visit, $271.96 on the second, and $1289.65 on the third. They wanted $5445.67 for the MRI and spinal tap, which I didn't have because all the other visits had tapped me out. I found out I could get a loan off of my work 401k (nice thing to have, this is the first job I've ever had that had one). I got the max loan amount they would give me, which was around $5800. I got the MRI and spinal tap done. The results were that he has a middle ear infection that has completely filled his middle ear with fluid (which is behind the eardrum, so not easily drained/cleaned out). It is so full that it's pushing into his inner ear and after that, it would get into his brain. The estimate for the surgery to clean it out is $7461.74-$8651.84 with a deposit of $7226.56. After spending $7973.24 already plus a few $50 cab rides, I am completely broke and have no access to any other money to cover his urgent surgery to keep the infection from getting to his brain and to regain his balance.

While all this was happening, I was dealing with many health issues of my own. I got a positive on a colon cancer test kit right after the first vet visit and over the next week, I got an emergency colonoscopy and endoscopy. They found 8 polyps. Two of them were in my stomach and benign, and six were in the colon and would have been an issue if not removed as the biopsy said they were possibly pre-cancerous. I also found out I'm having significant hearing loss, dealing with possible surgical needs for my right ankle, and need to be assessed for gout. I'll be seeing doctors every day off I have for the next month.

A friend suggested I try GoFundMe to help get some of the money for his surgery, and since I am all out of options, I decided to try. I asked work to put me on a 60-hour work week for the next 6 months and asked the vet surgeon to give me antibiotics to stave off the infection for as long as possible to give me time to get the money. He told me he would, but not knowing what kind of infection it was, he would have to just give me a few different ones so it would cover a broad spectrum of infections.

This is my story. If you can help, it would be greatly appreciated, as he is my world. I love this little guy. I don't want to give up on him. He helped me get through the last remnants of recovering from my neurosurgery spidering out and causing further lesions and the lasting effects it had. He was here when I was dying on the floor from a heart attack, laying right on my shoulder. I can't give up on him. I have only eaten 3 times in the past week since I spent every penny on the vet. I'd give anything to cover this surgery.