Stewart's Emergency Surgery Fund
Donation protected
Hi everyone,
I am somewhat embarrassed to create this GoFundMe page, but with some encouragement from family and friends, I decided to go for it. Stewart, Tyler, and I are in need of some help. As some of you probably read on my Jan. 31 Facebook post, we have had a rough couple of months – Stew especially.
Background
We have fostered dogs for the German Shepherd Dog Rescue of Iowa for the past year and a half. The last foster we had was a pup who was extremely high energy. While she was a good dog, turns out that she stressed Stewart out to the point where he ate half of his foam dog bed, a picture frame, and chewed up a computer cord. He is 5-years-old and has never done anything like that. We took him to the vet on Jan. 30 and induced vomiting which was successful. However, x-rays showed there was still material was sitting in his stomach. The vet kept him overnight to pump him with fluids in the hopes that he would be able to push it through his system. The next day x-rays showed it hadn’t budged. At that point, his stomach was dilating and surgery became an emergency. The doc ended up pulling out even more material than he puked up – poor guy. The bill for that was $1,832 – definitely a dent in our pockets, but we knew we would still be ok. His recovery included 12 pills a day and nothing but walking on a short leash for the next two weeks (which if you know Stew, he would much rather be his vigilant self running off the birds in the backyard). Fortunately, the pup was to be adopted that weekend and her forever family was gracious enough to move up the adoption so Stew could recover in peace.
More Trouble
During his recovery, we decided to make him wear the cone of shame to ensure he didn’t mess with his stitches and crate him so that he couldn’t get into anything else. His recovery was going really well until I got home Monday night (Feb. 7). He ripped off his cone and tore into his polyethylene bed that he has had for nearly 4 years (that thing was indestructible, so we thought). He ate some of the stuffing in there and so I called the ER. Doc said it was not an emergency at that moment and asked that we bring him in first thing Feb. 8. We took him this morning and the vet explained we could not induce vomiting like last time for risk of rupturing his stomach since his surgery was only 7 days ago. We took an x-ray and sure enough, the material was sitting in his stomach. The vet suggested surgery again, but we opted to give him a solid 24 hours in the hopes he might be able to pass this one since it the bed was full of stuffing instead of foam. The chances look bleak, so we are preparing ourselves for a second round of surgery tomorrow (Feb. 9). Today’s bill cost us another $270 and the vet estimates the second surgery to be another $2,500.
The Risk
Beyond the finances, this surgery will be more invasive and recovery time will be longer, thus costing more. The doc said she will have to cut away the scar tissue from the previous operation to allow for proper healing, and his stomach will become smaller, resulting in a higher chance of complications. Not to mention undergoing anesthesia this close together is also a risk.
Tough Decisions
I have always thought that when it came to medical decisions for a pet that I would have to draw the line somewhere. In reality, money is a non-issue when it’s a matter of life and death for our 4-legged family member, but it’s becomes a problem when you just don’t have the funds. Tyler and I have discussed the option of putting him down, but he is a healthy 5-year-old boy who has lots of life to live, and he really is our baby. Part of me wishes he were a 15-year-old arthritic senior who has lived out his years – maybe then the decision would have been more apparent.
How You Can Help
We set the goal of $5,000 to cover all medical costs (which includes the 7.9% fee that goes to GoFundMe). While we can certainly afford part of his medical expenses, there’s no telling what sort of additional expenses will come from this. We will likely have to keep him on a prescription diet for a couple weeks and deal with any complications down the road. So, we are asking for contributions to help us get through these tough times. Every little bit helps, even if we don't reach our goal. If you can’t contribute, we completely understand and then only ask for your best wishes for a successful recovery.
Thank You
Thank you so much to both our families for keeping an eye on Stewart while we are at work or school, for administering his medications which have to be given on a strict schedule, for helping get him in/out of the car because he’s too heavy for me to pick up, and for encouraging us to reach out for help. We definitely couldn’t get through this without you.
I am somewhat embarrassed to create this GoFundMe page, but with some encouragement from family and friends, I decided to go for it. Stewart, Tyler, and I are in need of some help. As some of you probably read on my Jan. 31 Facebook post, we have had a rough couple of months – Stew especially.
Background
We have fostered dogs for the German Shepherd Dog Rescue of Iowa for the past year and a half. The last foster we had was a pup who was extremely high energy. While she was a good dog, turns out that she stressed Stewart out to the point where he ate half of his foam dog bed, a picture frame, and chewed up a computer cord. He is 5-years-old and has never done anything like that. We took him to the vet on Jan. 30 and induced vomiting which was successful. However, x-rays showed there was still material was sitting in his stomach. The vet kept him overnight to pump him with fluids in the hopes that he would be able to push it through his system. The next day x-rays showed it hadn’t budged. At that point, his stomach was dilating and surgery became an emergency. The doc ended up pulling out even more material than he puked up – poor guy. The bill for that was $1,832 – definitely a dent in our pockets, but we knew we would still be ok. His recovery included 12 pills a day and nothing but walking on a short leash for the next two weeks (which if you know Stew, he would much rather be his vigilant self running off the birds in the backyard). Fortunately, the pup was to be adopted that weekend and her forever family was gracious enough to move up the adoption so Stew could recover in peace.
More Trouble
During his recovery, we decided to make him wear the cone of shame to ensure he didn’t mess with his stitches and crate him so that he couldn’t get into anything else. His recovery was going really well until I got home Monday night (Feb. 7). He ripped off his cone and tore into his polyethylene bed that he has had for nearly 4 years (that thing was indestructible, so we thought). He ate some of the stuffing in there and so I called the ER. Doc said it was not an emergency at that moment and asked that we bring him in first thing Feb. 8. We took him this morning and the vet explained we could not induce vomiting like last time for risk of rupturing his stomach since his surgery was only 7 days ago. We took an x-ray and sure enough, the material was sitting in his stomach. The vet suggested surgery again, but we opted to give him a solid 24 hours in the hopes he might be able to pass this one since it the bed was full of stuffing instead of foam. The chances look bleak, so we are preparing ourselves for a second round of surgery tomorrow (Feb. 9). Today’s bill cost us another $270 and the vet estimates the second surgery to be another $2,500.
The Risk
Beyond the finances, this surgery will be more invasive and recovery time will be longer, thus costing more. The doc said she will have to cut away the scar tissue from the previous operation to allow for proper healing, and his stomach will become smaller, resulting in a higher chance of complications. Not to mention undergoing anesthesia this close together is also a risk.
Tough Decisions
I have always thought that when it came to medical decisions for a pet that I would have to draw the line somewhere. In reality, money is a non-issue when it’s a matter of life and death for our 4-legged family member, but it’s becomes a problem when you just don’t have the funds. Tyler and I have discussed the option of putting him down, but he is a healthy 5-year-old boy who has lots of life to live, and he really is our baby. Part of me wishes he were a 15-year-old arthritic senior who has lived out his years – maybe then the decision would have been more apparent.
How You Can Help
We set the goal of $5,000 to cover all medical costs (which includes the 7.9% fee that goes to GoFundMe). While we can certainly afford part of his medical expenses, there’s no telling what sort of additional expenses will come from this. We will likely have to keep him on a prescription diet for a couple weeks and deal with any complications down the road. So, we are asking for contributions to help us get through these tough times. Every little bit helps, even if we don't reach our goal. If you can’t contribute, we completely understand and then only ask for your best wishes for a successful recovery.
Thank You
Thank you so much to both our families for keeping an eye on Stewart while we are at work or school, for administering his medications which have to be given on a strict schedule, for helping get him in/out of the car because he’s too heavy for me to pick up, and for encouraging us to reach out for help. We definitely couldn’t get through this without you.
Organizer
Makenzie Heddens
Organizer
Ames, IA
