Loki's emergency medical care
Donation protected
Our dear, sweet 6 year old Loki is very, very sick right now. He is currently in the ICU at Iowa State's Hixson-Lied Veterinary Hospital here in Ames. Loki is Adam's and my world, he is 100% our family and our child, and we will do absolutely anything and everything we need to to make him better. We have always prioritized him and his needs, making sure he has all his vaccinations and monthly preventative care, his fancy prescription food for his sensitive tummy, and weekly Tuesdays at Ames Pet Resort's daycare (one of his absolute favorite places in the world!). As we are both full time graduate students, money is tight. But Loki has never been without any of the care or attention he needs or wants. And that will continue now, for whatever he needs. But, Adam and I have to be completely honest and admit that, as graduate students, 3 weeks of vet bills, and now intensive care hospital costs are well beyond anything we can manage. We are committed to getting Loki all the care he needs (no matter how many part-time jobs we have to get and how many ramen noodles we have to eat), but we are humbly asking for any help anyone who's life Loki has touched, or who understands the pain of a hurting furchild, can give.
The hardest month of our lives:
About three and a half weeks ago (8/23) we started to notice him acting strange, lethargic, mopey and not his usual sunshine self. After he completely stopped eating we took him to our regular vet where they discovered that he had severe thrombocytopenia, or low platelet counts. A normal platelet count for dogs is 160,000-500,000. That day Loki only had 23,000. He was at extreme risk for uncontrollable bleeding, and was extremely lethargic and thirsty (a side-effect of thrombocytopenia). Working diagnosis that day was an autoimmune disorder, like doggy lupus, treated with high-dose steroids. With all the diagnostic tests that day, including x-rays, and numerous medications, our vet bill that first day was nearly $450. Loki then needed blood work re-checks every 2-3 days for the next two weeks, each coming in around $60-80 dollars. We made the decision to rush him to the pet ER on labor day because he was suddenly in severe pain whenever he laid down, literally screaming in pain when moving. We had thought the sad eyes and lethargy from the thrombocytopenia was heart wrenching, but nothing compares to the agony of listening to your dog scream in pain anytime he moves. ER doctors were able to identify neck pain, and diagnosed some sort of spinal injury/ruptured disk/disk bleed. They said it was possibly related to whatever caused the thrombocytopenia, but could also be unrelated and just tragic timing. More diagnostic tests that night, along with pain medications put another $300 on our credit cards. But, of course, we were willing to do anything to stop his pain and make him better. The pain medication really helped with his pain upon moving, but only made the lethargy worse. At this point he'd been on the steroids for 2 weeks and was really starting to suffer from some of the really bad prednizone side effects, like bloating, hunger, weight loss, muscle loss, and panting/strained breathing. The treatment that was supposed to be helping him was making him suffer...but it was working. His platelets over the first 3 weeks went from 23k, to 30k to 60k to 80k to 90k to 150k(!!)! We took him to the vet yesterday (9/16) for a routine recheck, hoping his numbers would be fantastic and that we could finally start reducing the steroid dose and get him feeling more comfortable. Only to discover that his platelets had plummeted again to below 100k and he had lost 10 lbs since this all began. At which point our amazing, wonderful, caring regular vet walked into the room and advised us to take him to the ER right away. On his high doses of steroids he should not have had such a dramatic back-slide in just a few day. So, off to the pet ER we rushed, and after more tests, 2 episodes of vomiting blood, and dangerously high lactic acid levels, he needed to be admitted to the ICU. An ICU admittance runs $2,000-$3,000. There has never been a more difficult or heartbreaking moment in my life than saying goodbye to him and walking out of that hospital last night without him. He is our world, and our home doesn't feel like our home without him. But, ISU's vet hospital is one of the best in the world and we could not be more grateful to the amazing people there. They closely monitored him overnight, keeping him hydrated and on anti-nausea medication. After a long day of blood work after blood work, chest and abdominal x-rays, ultrasounds, and urine and fecal testing the doctors have been able to rule out (as much as they really ever can) the big scary terminal diagnoses. It's mostly likely not bone or blood cancer, no masses or tumors anywhere, and most importantly they think it's probably not actually autoimmune at this point. They still haven't been able to determine what it IS, but are leaning towards a hidden infection, or a toxin.
He's still in the ICU tonight (9/17) as he still needs further monitoring to make sure he remains stabilized. They also have a few most tests to run to definitively identify what is so wrong with him. Providing good blood work results in the morning, they said we might be able to take him home tomorrow!
This has been the most emotionally difficult month of our lives, and we're not out of the woods yet. We, and the amazing vets at Somerset Veterinary Clinic and Iowa State University's Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital, are doing absolutely everything we can to get our happy, prancing, lovey Loki back on his feet and back to his sunshine self. This has also been the most financially difficult month of our lives. With all the tests nd re-tests, medications, ICU costs, and ER visits, Loki's medical care has totaled over $4,000. And we are far from a clean bill of health.
And so, this is where Adam and I humbly ask for any help that anyone can give. We know that Loki touches the hearts and souls of everyone he meets and we are asking for help to get him back to his smiling, long-walk loving, kisses-giving, couch-snuggling self.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Adam and Bree
The hardest month of our lives:
About three and a half weeks ago (8/23) we started to notice him acting strange, lethargic, mopey and not his usual sunshine self. After he completely stopped eating we took him to our regular vet where they discovered that he had severe thrombocytopenia, or low platelet counts. A normal platelet count for dogs is 160,000-500,000. That day Loki only had 23,000. He was at extreme risk for uncontrollable bleeding, and was extremely lethargic and thirsty (a side-effect of thrombocytopenia). Working diagnosis that day was an autoimmune disorder, like doggy lupus, treated with high-dose steroids. With all the diagnostic tests that day, including x-rays, and numerous medications, our vet bill that first day was nearly $450. Loki then needed blood work re-checks every 2-3 days for the next two weeks, each coming in around $60-80 dollars. We made the decision to rush him to the pet ER on labor day because he was suddenly in severe pain whenever he laid down, literally screaming in pain when moving. We had thought the sad eyes and lethargy from the thrombocytopenia was heart wrenching, but nothing compares to the agony of listening to your dog scream in pain anytime he moves. ER doctors were able to identify neck pain, and diagnosed some sort of spinal injury/ruptured disk/disk bleed. They said it was possibly related to whatever caused the thrombocytopenia, but could also be unrelated and just tragic timing. More diagnostic tests that night, along with pain medications put another $300 on our credit cards. But, of course, we were willing to do anything to stop his pain and make him better. The pain medication really helped with his pain upon moving, but only made the lethargy worse. At this point he'd been on the steroids for 2 weeks and was really starting to suffer from some of the really bad prednizone side effects, like bloating, hunger, weight loss, muscle loss, and panting/strained breathing. The treatment that was supposed to be helping him was making him suffer...but it was working. His platelets over the first 3 weeks went from 23k, to 30k to 60k to 80k to 90k to 150k(!!)! We took him to the vet yesterday (9/16) for a routine recheck, hoping his numbers would be fantastic and that we could finally start reducing the steroid dose and get him feeling more comfortable. Only to discover that his platelets had plummeted again to below 100k and he had lost 10 lbs since this all began. At which point our amazing, wonderful, caring regular vet walked into the room and advised us to take him to the ER right away. On his high doses of steroids he should not have had such a dramatic back-slide in just a few day. So, off to the pet ER we rushed, and after more tests, 2 episodes of vomiting blood, and dangerously high lactic acid levels, he needed to be admitted to the ICU. An ICU admittance runs $2,000-$3,000. There has never been a more difficult or heartbreaking moment in my life than saying goodbye to him and walking out of that hospital last night without him. He is our world, and our home doesn't feel like our home without him. But, ISU's vet hospital is one of the best in the world and we could not be more grateful to the amazing people there. They closely monitored him overnight, keeping him hydrated and on anti-nausea medication. After a long day of blood work after blood work, chest and abdominal x-rays, ultrasounds, and urine and fecal testing the doctors have been able to rule out (as much as they really ever can) the big scary terminal diagnoses. It's mostly likely not bone or blood cancer, no masses or tumors anywhere, and most importantly they think it's probably not actually autoimmune at this point. They still haven't been able to determine what it IS, but are leaning towards a hidden infection, or a toxin.
He's still in the ICU tonight (9/17) as he still needs further monitoring to make sure he remains stabilized. They also have a few most tests to run to definitively identify what is so wrong with him. Providing good blood work results in the morning, they said we might be able to take him home tomorrow!
This has been the most emotionally difficult month of our lives, and we're not out of the woods yet. We, and the amazing vets at Somerset Veterinary Clinic and Iowa State University's Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital, are doing absolutely everything we can to get our happy, prancing, lovey Loki back on his feet and back to his sunshine self. This has also been the most financially difficult month of our lives. With all the tests nd re-tests, medications, ICU costs, and ER visits, Loki's medical care has totaled over $4,000. And we are far from a clean bill of health.
And so, this is where Adam and I humbly ask for any help that anyone can give. We know that Loki touches the hearts and souls of everyone he meets and we are asking for help to get him back to his smiling, long-walk loving, kisses-giving, couch-snuggling self.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Adam and Bree
Organizer and beneficiary
Breanna Marmur
Organizer
Ames, IA
Adam Lawrence
Beneficiary