10/06/2026
Well… curiosity really did save this cat. 🥹
A couple of months ago, my incredible coworker and I were messing around with the ultrasound machine at work. Purely out of interest and curiosity, I asked her to take a look at my gallbladder.
And thank God I did.
She immediately found gallstones and told me I needed to get checked out by a doctor ASAP.
When I started researching the symptoms, everything suddenly clicked.
For over FIVE YEARS, I’ve had episodes of pain through my upper abdomen/thorax and straight through into my back. I had gone to the ER multiple times trying to figure out what was wrong, only to be told it was likely stress or anxiety. After my third visit got me nowhere, I eventually stopped pushing for answers and learned to live with it.
Then, completely by chance, my coworker and I found the stones ourselves.
Once we had actual evidence and could finally put the pieces together, my doctor listened and we started scheduling further testing.
Apparently, my gallbladder had other plans.
Saturday morning around 3 AM, I woke up in terrible pain. By 4:30 AM, I was driving myself to the ER.
I was admitted and over the next several days underwent bloodwork, ultrasounds, a CT scan, MRI, endoscopy, and more.
When I explained to one of the ER doctors how this entire thing had originally been discovered — simply because my coworker and I got curious and decided to ultrasound my organs— he looked at me and said:
“Well… curiosity didn’t kill this cat. It saved it.”
And they weren’t wrong.
My gallbladder was completely full and distended, with somewhere around 10–12 gallstones inside.
The general surgeon’s response when I asked if it really needed to come out?
“Yes. 100%. Absolutely yes. It has to come out.”
So here I am — day 4 in the hospital, and I just got out of surgery to have my gallbladder removed.
And I am HURTING.
Despite the pain medication, the pain right now is intense. I can hardly move, and when I tried to get up with help, I nearly fainted almost immediately.
My doctor told me today to expect approximately 6–8 weeks of recovery. Although the incisions are still considered small, they had to be made larger than usual in order to get my very full gallbladder — and my lovely collection of 10–12 stones — out.
So temporarily, I may be quieter than usual. I may take longer to respond to messages, applications, comments, and everything else.
Recovery is going to be rough, and right now my body is demanding that I stop.
But rescue doesn’t stop just because I do.
And this is where I need to ask for help.
Kenzie has been an absolute SUPERWOMAN through all of this.
While I’ve been stuck in the hospital, she has been caring for all of the dogs in our care and at the boarding house, transporting dogs, handling meet & greets and home visits, keeping everything moving, taking care of her own animals and somehow trying to take care of herself, too.
And she’s doing all of this with a badly broken thumb affecting her entire dominant hand.
Please know that every single animal in our care is safe, happy, loved, fed and being well cared for. They are lacking absolutely nothing.
But I feel horrible knowing how much has fallen onto one person while I’m physically unable to help her.
So I’m asking our community to please step up for us right now. ❤️
If you have even a little extra space in your home and heart, we desperately need you.
Whether you can foster temporarily, become a longer-term foster, foster-to-adopt, adopt, or help through a rescue transfer, please reach out.
Even taking ONE DOG temporarily would take something off Kenzie’s plate while I recover.
You don’t have to commit forever.
You don’t have to save them all.
We just need a few people willing to help carry the weight for a little while.
We spend every day trying to be there when animals and families need us.
Right now, we’re the ones asking our community to be there for us. ❤️🩹🐾
Please message Perfect Pet Adoption Center Inc. if you can foster, adopt, foster-to-adopt, or are a rescue able to help with a transfer.
And if you can’t take a dog right now, please share this post. You never know which person on your friends list might be exactly who one of these dogs needs.
Thank you for being patient with me while I recover, for supporting Kenzie while she somehow keeps everything moving, and most importantly, for continuing to show up for our dogs.
We could really, really use our village right now. ❤️
If you can help, please reach out:
Via Facebook,
By email: [email protected]
Or TEXT: 386-280-9917
View our available dogs!:
https://tr.ee/FJ0q6m7py0
Or if you’d even like to donate; anything is appreciated for food, supplies, vet bills, etc.
Just because I’m forced to stop temporarily, does NOT mean that rescue does and we have many furbs in our care that still need us. We will always step up for our babies, no matter what, we always figure it out.
Donation platforms may be found at:
https://linktr.ee/PerfectPetAdoptionCenterInc
I am forever grateful for my best friend and rescue partner. ❤️