Pearl, our Therapeutic Riding Horse needs help!
Tax deductible
Pearl Helps People. Now Pearl Needs Help!
Pearl is a Therapeutic Riding horse. She teaches children and adults with disabilities and special needs how to ride. Patiently she stands while they learn how to put her halter on or buckle the girth for her saddle.
An Emergency Arose!
On August 8th Pearl showed signs of colic. Colic is the number one cause of death for horses and Pearl is prone to having sand colic (the colon gets blocked by an accumulation of accidentally ingested sand). We usually can treat her at home with the help of our veterinarians, but this episode looked different.
We immediately took Pearl to an equine hospital.
If we hadn't, she would have died.
Diagnosis:
X-rays of Pearls abdomen and a scoping of her stomach showed
Pearl had a gastric impaction (food packed into her stomach, not moving through) as well as a sand impaction in her colon!
With a tube up her nose and down to her stomach it took two days to clear her stomach before the sand could be addressed in her colon. Then more days pumping various laxatives into her stomach to get to her colon to move the sand out.
IV fluids, pain meds, around the clock care and monitoring, X-rays, ultrasounds, scoping, blood tests... to save Pearl's life!
But Then...
An infection started at the IV port in her jugular vein. Swelling at the sight and fever set in. Heavy duty antibiotics were administered. Cold packs were applied.
The sand was moving out, but the infection persisted.
And it spread to her lungs! Pneumonia!
Now What?!
They had to find out exactly what kind of infection Pearl had. So, they cut her trachea and inserted tubes down to her lungs to get a sample of the fluid there. The sample was tested and cultured.
Oh No! It's MRSA! It's an antibiotic resistant type of staph bacteria! They have to switch to a different (very expensive!) antibiotic that will kill this type of infection.
Poor Pearl! No wonder she feels so bad! But she is trying to get better. She's not giving up. She's cooperating pretty well with all the tubes, needles, medications, temperature checks, cold packs, ultrasounds... and now a nebulizer! The new antibiotic is being injected into her blood stream and vaporized in a mask over her nose two times a day. this puts the antibiotics directly into her lungs to fight the pneumonia.
And it starts to work! Pearl's cough starts to get less and her breathing easier! Her temperature is starting to go down! But it's still taking weeks to even start to get better!
But Then!!!
The swelling in her neck around the jugular vein gets worse. It's hot and painful. So the doctor decides to cut open the infected area to clean it out and let it drain. Pearls jugular vein is blocked with scar tissue and pus. They use little hook-like instruments to reach into the vein to pull out as much scar tissue as possible. Now the infection can drain.
Whew!
It looks awful! But the swelling starts to go down, Pearl's temperature stays closer to normal, and she feels better!
But Then - Again!!!
Swelling starts again higher up in Pearls vein. They open and clean out that area so it can drain.
What About Pearl's Kidneys?
Pearl's urine became discolored. They did a urine analysis AND scoped her bladder to look for signs of infection in her bladder. Whew! No infection there! BUT, Pearl's left kidney is producing red blood cells in her urine - but her kidney numbers are good. Something else to watch, so kidneys are added to the list of organs, along with jugular veins, heart and lungs to be checked with ultra sounds.
Oh My! Poor Pearl!
It's been 5 weeks of hospital care!! So many tests, exams, treatments, medications, and wonderful care! And $14,000 !! (so far...) YIKES!!!
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
Please! We need your help to pay Pearl's hospital bills. And when she gets home she will still need antibiotics and care for her wounds. And then follow up visits at the hospital!
Please contribute what you can. It's tax deductible for you and life saving for Pearl! Use your social media and tell your friends about Pearl so they can help too!
We need her to come home and be healthy to do the work she is so good at doing! We love and miss her!!
Pearl is a Therapeutic Riding horse. She teaches children and adults with disabilities and special needs how to ride. Patiently she stands while they learn how to put her halter on or buckle the girth for her saddle.
An Emergency Arose!
On August 8th Pearl showed signs of colic. Colic is the number one cause of death for horses and Pearl is prone to having sand colic (the colon gets blocked by an accumulation of accidentally ingested sand). We usually can treat her at home with the help of our veterinarians, but this episode looked different.
We immediately took Pearl to an equine hospital.
If we hadn't, she would have died.
Diagnosis:
X-rays of Pearls abdomen and a scoping of her stomach showed
Pearl had a gastric impaction (food packed into her stomach, not moving through) as well as a sand impaction in her colon!
With a tube up her nose and down to her stomach it took two days to clear her stomach before the sand could be addressed in her colon. Then more days pumping various laxatives into her stomach to get to her colon to move the sand out.
IV fluids, pain meds, around the clock care and monitoring, X-rays, ultrasounds, scoping, blood tests... to save Pearl's life!
But Then...
An infection started at the IV port in her jugular vein. Swelling at the sight and fever set in. Heavy duty antibiotics were administered. Cold packs were applied.
The sand was moving out, but the infection persisted.
And it spread to her lungs! Pneumonia!
Now What?!
They had to find out exactly what kind of infection Pearl had. So, they cut her trachea and inserted tubes down to her lungs to get a sample of the fluid there. The sample was tested and cultured.
Oh No! It's MRSA! It's an antibiotic resistant type of staph bacteria! They have to switch to a different (very expensive!) antibiotic that will kill this type of infection.
Poor Pearl! No wonder she feels so bad! But she is trying to get better. She's not giving up. She's cooperating pretty well with all the tubes, needles, medications, temperature checks, cold packs, ultrasounds... and now a nebulizer! The new antibiotic is being injected into her blood stream and vaporized in a mask over her nose two times a day. this puts the antibiotics directly into her lungs to fight the pneumonia.
And it starts to work! Pearl's cough starts to get less and her breathing easier! Her temperature is starting to go down! But it's still taking weeks to even start to get better!
But Then!!!
The swelling in her neck around the jugular vein gets worse. It's hot and painful. So the doctor decides to cut open the infected area to clean it out and let it drain. Pearls jugular vein is blocked with scar tissue and pus. They use little hook-like instruments to reach into the vein to pull out as much scar tissue as possible. Now the infection can drain.
Whew!
It looks awful! But the swelling starts to go down, Pearl's temperature stays closer to normal, and she feels better!
But Then - Again!!!
Swelling starts again higher up in Pearls vein. They open and clean out that area so it can drain.
What About Pearl's Kidneys?
Pearl's urine became discolored. They did a urine analysis AND scoped her bladder to look for signs of infection in her bladder. Whew! No infection there! BUT, Pearl's left kidney is producing red blood cells in her urine - but her kidney numbers are good. Something else to watch, so kidneys are added to the list of organs, along with jugular veins, heart and lungs to be checked with ultra sounds.
Oh My! Poor Pearl!
It's been 5 weeks of hospital care!! So many tests, exams, treatments, medications, and wonderful care! And $14,000 !! (so far...) YIKES!!!
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
Please! We need your help to pay Pearl's hospital bills. And when she gets home she will still need antibiotics and care for her wounds. And then follow up visits at the hospital!
Please contribute what you can. It's tax deductible for you and life saving for Pearl! Use your social media and tell your friends about Pearl so they can help too!
We need her to come home and be healthy to do the work she is so good at doing! We love and miss her!!
Organizer
Robin Pawl
Organizer
Lakeside, CA
Magic Horse Therapeutic Riding Center
Beneficiary