Lacey
Lacey is only 11 months old, and she has been having problems since we had gotten her, with her being very thin, not wanting to eat, and having spells of being very listless and sick, and the breeder had told me that it was hypoglycemia and to give her syrup when she had a spell.  Several times I had to take her to the emergency vet clinic because she was so sick.
Within the last few months I have noticed her not playing near as much and not quite acting like herself.   Then she started following the walls within any room, it seemed like she would go out of her way to make sure she followed the perimeter of a room and seemed very disoriented.  Soon after this started, she began acting as though she could not see and would drool excessively.  I would call her, she would go in the general direction of my voice, but stare with her head pointed upwards and try to find her way to me.
I then took her to our veterinarian who then referred us to another veterinarian that specializes in eye problems.  During this time, he didn’t find anything wrong with her eyes, and was puzzled as to why she could not see.  He then (without doing any blood-work or any kind of testing) told me he thought she had "water on the brain" and that I should put her down.  Not trusting his opinion since he didn’t do any kind of testing,  I then took her a different vet, and they immediately did several blood panels and tests.  A liver shunt was suspected and a bile acid test was done to determine if a shunt is a possibility. The morning the results came in, they called me and said that because of her declining condition I either needed to get her to K-State THAT MORNING for further diagnosis and surgery, or I needed to just let them put her down.  I was so devastated, I knew it would cost a whole lot of money (which I did not have, being a single mother trying to make ends meet) but I couldn’t give up, Lacey is a very big part of our family. If there was anything I could do, I had to try.
So, off to K-State we went.  Lacey slept most of the way there, but just as we were almost there, she vomited and became very limp, Soon after that she urinated all over my lap, and then started to seizure every few minutes.  I seriously thought she was dying.  But we got there within fifteen minutes, they rushed her back to ICU, got her stabilized,  and then did an ultrasound test which confirmed that she did have a shunt.  I was informed that Lacey needed a few days to get strong and well enough to even consider surgery.  A few days passed and she slowly got stronger, and could walk around by herself and eat.  But then just as things were going so well, they discovered she had a fever and x-rayed her lungs (they were worried about fluids being aspirated during the seizures).  The x-rays showed that she had gotten pneumonia!!! We had to drive up and get her (2 hour drive) and take her back home in order for her to get over the pneumonia and to get stronger for surgery.   She is doing very well on medical management for the shunt.  She is gaining weight, playing, and eating.
Thanks to the FMLS fund, we are now awaiting surgery and hoping everything will turn out okay.  I am overwhelmed by the generosity and compassion of the board members and this group.  We cannot say “thank you” enough!!! We are forever grateful and we definitely will be contributing back to the FMLS fund in the future to help you help other pups with this horrible disease.
Thank you very much,
Debbie, Allison, and Lacey.

Lacey is home now, still quite a bit sore, but already acting better since early this morning, she is chewing on a rawhide right now, lol!! She is not eating very well at all though, she has only ate a few bites today.   Any suggestions??  My instructions tell me to watch her closely for symptoms of hypertension and seizures.  I don't have a scanner here at home, but I will scan it Monday and send you the instructions.  Also before surgery they tested all of her blood levels and everything again, I will send you those also.  Attached is a picture I took last night when I picked her up.  I am holding her, surgeon in the middle, and the student vet on the left.
Thank you and the committee again for making this possible, you guys are lifesavers!