Yesterday was a busy busy day. On so many levels. Mike had the day off but he had to go into work for an hour or two for a meeting... That's a little hard when you live 80 miles away. Well luckily Georgia had a vet appointment so I dropped him off at work while I took her to the doctor. The vet checked up on her and ran test after test after test, trying to figure out why she was losing so much hair on her flanks. (After all the tests and medications, a friend Kelley on Twitter told me that her bully did the same thing and it was from the stress of moving) I'd love to believe it's from stress because it doesn't seem to bother her at all, but I'm not so sure just yet. She was tested for ringworm, mange mites, etc etc etc. At the end of the day, she got two new injections, 2 new medications she has to take every day, a prescription shampoo, and fatty acid supplements to go into her food. Phew! And there was a hefty bill attached to it, as per usual.
I love Georgia more than life itself and this is why I stress to people who want an English Bully to trulyyyy research and make sure they can handle the monetary and medical commitment that they require. I wouldn't trade her for the world. After 2 hours at the vet, I picked up Mike and we ran errands and all that jazz. Then we came home.
Well, on the way home I called to check my FEMA application status... Much to my dismay, FEMA has found me "ineligible for assistance"... WHAT?! You can imagine how upset I got. I started crying immediately. And I didn't stop for well over an hour. Both Mike and I called trying to get answers, but everyone at FEMA was SO rude to us. It's just heartbreaking that I file, go to the inspection, try and provide photos of everything I lost, etc, and I'm somehow ineligible. Yet my roommates received assistance, and I lost SO much more. Anyway, I don't mean to be selfish or anything like that. I just thought that MAYBE I'd be able to get some help from FEMA, but life goes on.
I have to figure out when we can get Georgia to the vet to have her entropion surgery. We're leaving early Friday morning to start our travels to NYC and the soonest they can do her surgery is on Thursday... but we'd have to have her at the vet at 7:30am and that's an hour and a half away... PLUS we'd have to go pick her up that evening... 340 miles of driving the day before I move? I'm not sure we can do it. Plus, we're looking at $1,100 for her surgery. She has to have it though, so she will. We'll make it happen.
I started up my Etsy again and 100% of the earning of that goes directly to Georgia's surgery. Unfortunately, it's just not adding up yet. Obviously haha But I'm confident that all will be fine.
Susannah sent me an email the other day and suggested I open up a Donate button from my PayPal to help support Georgia's surgery, for anyone who wanted to donate, but not buy from Etsy. Normally I am very very very wary of this... Mainly because I don't want to ask anyone for anything. I didn't do it in the wake of the flood, and even now I feel out of my element. But she assured me that many other bloggers have done it to support endeavors like Silje competing in the Miss Tattoo USA pageant, etc. I've blogged about things like this in past, including the
Help Save Walter post just last month. Both Mike and I donated and felt so good about it. However, I have decided to no longer do the donate button, for it's causing too much commotion and it's leaving me very very VERY uncomfortable.
I know how you feel, my baby is my harlequin great dane, and so far he hasnt had any issues but im extremely weary for everything. It probably helps that i work at a vet office too. We love when people take care of there pets like you, everyday i have to witness someone considering putting there pet down because there apartment complex wont allow them to have animals or even when a bill is going to be too high for the nessicary treatment, they either neglect them or ask if euthanasia is an option.
ReplyDeleteits not like the pet asked for that. If there is one thing we all should learn is to be more like them. Loving everything all the time, being happy with the simplest and easiest things.
Ollie says hello to georgia
I hope you don't mind I posted about this on my blog. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you Caitlin! I popped a package for you into the mail today! I hope it arrives to you soon and safely! xoxo
ReplyDeleteThat is so sad :( I would love, love, LOVE an English Bulldog, but I did do research and realized that I'd be setting myself up for so much pain (not to say it isn't worth it, but you understand). I also LOOOVE Great Danes, but after doing that research I felt heartbroken.
ReplyDeleteI can't make any promises, but I am really going to try and buy something from your Etsy shop. I would just straight up donate, but atleast this way I can give you a sale and a 100% satisfaction rating for your shop :) That way, everyone wins.
I'm so sorry FEMA won't help you out...it's not fair. If it were up to me you'd get all the help you need.
ReplyDeleteAlso will be keeping Georgia in my thoughts, it's sad that she has so many health problems. Will be looking at your Etsy shop, once I get paid I'll see about buying something :)
I posted about this too, and used a pic from your flickr (hope you don't mind!!). Hope all goes well!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
susannahbean
Hey Kaelah,
ReplyDeleteyour donation link isn't working :/ I don't know what email to send money to! :(
hope your baby's surgery goes well! and sorry about FEMA :/
ReplyDeleteeverything will work out :)
What email do we use to donate? You should keep a running total of donations and a goal, so we can watch the progress...
ReplyDeleteAshley@
underthosenenonlights.blogspot.com
Hey Kaelah that's pants about FEMA!!!
ReplyDeleteMe and That Boy are in the Apple Store playing with the iPads. (well he's playing games and I'm reading blogs!)
Hugs
I sent through a little. I feel your pain. I have a sick-prone Chihuahua and a gorgeous Great Dane, along with a mortgage. I often worry about either of them requiring surgery because I truly don't know how we could pay for it :( Just so you know, the donation button doesn't bring ppl directly to you- they usually do, so you might have chosen the wrong options in set up or something. I had to find your email and just do it as "send funds." It's not a lot but I hope it helps anyway, give Georgia a snuggle!
ReplyDeleteHi hun,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and I love it - it's so pleasant to read and you & your sweet dog rule!
I'm so sorry that she isn't too well at the moment. I have 3 dogs, 2 of them are Pugs and there's never a time when they're both 100% well! But as you say, you researched the breed and so did we, and I wouldn't swap them for the world!:)
I really hope you raise some extra funds to help towards the cost.xxxx
anon: its been fixed now! i apologize!
ReplyDeleteI got denied by FEMA during Katrina and my roomate recieved benefits. They thought it was a double claim and I was trying to commit fraud or something. I simply appealed again by fax and explained the situation. I outlined my expenses thus far like student loans, bills, etc... And they approved me! It took much longer to get approval, but it was worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteI live in Nashville now, and my home received damaged in the crawl space. Our FEMA inspector barely glanced underneath the house. We were denied aid. I'm trying to get a handle on our expenses for the repairs so we can appeal this time, too.
It's worth a shot! FEMA isn't very nice over the phone. I can only imagine how many sad stories they've received. Just mail/fax your appeal and see what happens.
Good luck!
Celina: it's amazing how rude they can be in such a time, ya know?! Considering they do this every day and they see people in the most traumatic of times! I'm so sorry that happened to you but maybe you're right. They told me I could appeal but the problem lies in the fact I can't go back to the house for another inspection or anything like that because I leave so soon. I'll keep looking into it though! Good luck with your appeal this time too! <3
ReplyDeleteAnd another tip...I would get your roomates' FEMA case numbers and include them in the appeal. So they can reference them in your appeal and know all of you experienced the same damage. I think a lot of people fall the cracks with FEMA, and don't try the appeal.
ReplyDelete