#told my dr that one of my meds was making me constipated and he immediately took me off it

[starmist]

If anyone is waiting for my AOS analyses pls know I was in mania when I started and will need to be back in mania to finish them

[dookins]

Onion The Ferret’s Emergency Fund Update

      I’ve had to put off this update for awhile until some things have calmed down.  Although I must preface this…. It hasn’t been good…

       Two weeks had come and at last were ending.  We popped in to get Onion’s sutures removed, and the nurse Damien made quick work of it!  I do want to mention him here because he has helped in Onion’s recovery too.  And I believe in giving credit where wonderful credit is due:

  Since it was a follow up the procedures was free.  We picked up some more ulcer medication, and were on our way.

      The very.  Next.  Day… after his sutures were removed, he was blocked again.  And I couldn’t believe it.  I prayed it was some kind of constipation instead, but it became apparent it wasn’t.  Immediately I called my vet at Southwest Animal Hospital, but he was not in…. I asked the receptionist what I should do, and she set me up an early morning emergency surgery appointment for the next day and told me I should take him to an emergency vet’s nearby.  Since this emergency was not a Tuesday for once, the nearest exotics vet was ‘actually’ open and an option.

  I am now about to share with you the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever had.  

      We rushed to “Avian & Exotic Veterinary Care” of Portland Oregon as soon as my fiancé arrived home.  They are always closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but since it was a Wednesday they were open until 6pm.  We arrived minutes before 5pm.  I ran into the small clinic, sobbing to their secretary in scrubs that this was an emergency.  Regardless, I calmed down enough to tell her Onion’s entire history, had a folder/list of all his current medications, and how long it had been since his last urination.  She replied minutes later that all their rooms were full, that they were NOT an emergency clinic, that they were "about to close,” and everyone was currently with other patients…. Non-emergency patients.  “About to close.”  An hour from closing.  No emergency patients…. I couldn’t believe such a thing.  She kept informing me I should look elsewhere, but I begged and pleaded.  After waiting 15 minutes she brought us to an open room (one of their patients had finished their appointment I guess since they suddenly had a room available for me.).  Me and Onion waited there for a torturously long, 30 minutes!!

       Meanwhile people were goofing off and laughing in the small hallway by our door. Doctors and nurses alike, while my tiny fuzzy baby was in CLEAR pain.  I sobbed hopeless and desperate.  No one seemed to be doing anything about it.  It would only be later the next day I had learned the receptionist and possibly the technician had been calling my vet, not to get more medical information on my ferret as they said, but to actually try and push us out of their doors and make us someone else’s problem.  Finally the secretary/nurse says they’ll have someone come in and do a cost examination.  Another 10 minutes go by, and at this point they really were about to close.  At long last a technician comes in, only to give us a giant bill for how much everything was going to cost!  They gave me a giant list of everything they wanted to charge me for, estimating over $1000!!  And to ad insult to injury, they wanted to charge me for them working overtime as well!!! I just couldn’t believe it.  I knew all they needed to do was extract the urine, but they wanted to charge me for an x-ray and ultrasound (not either/or) as well as an enema.  The anesthesia I could understand, but I just knew they were over charging me.  “Please, please, can’t you just, extract the urine?  Please?  Just that and the anesthesia?  It’s an EMERGENCY!!”  She replies with, “Yes it is an emergency.”  At last a confirmation that it was an emergency, and still I couldn’t find enough anger within myself to yell back ‘Than why did you make us wait an hour?!’  Unlike Southwest, they refused to let me pick and choose what procedures I wanted to be done on my ferret, and sent us away…. “We’ll do it, but this is the price.  Really, you should just go to Dove Lewis Emergency Clinic instead.”  Truely, terrible, awful, and just the absolute worst…

      We did rush over to Dove Lewis Emergency Clinic after wasting an HOUR at “Avian & Exotic Veterinary Care.”  They saw my poor Onion immediately, gave him pain meds, some tranquilizers, and extracted the urine from his bladder.  They even made a home call to our veterinarian at his home after hours to get Onion’s full back story.  And yes he did answer.  The total of all this wasn’t $1000….

      It was barely $200….  Regardless, this was how the clinic should have treated us.  Avian & Exotic’s website even states that being unable to urinate is a medical emergency, and to immediately CONTACT them.  Let this be a warning to anyone who wants to gamble and trust Avians & Exotic.  Please, your pet may lose time they don’t have to waste!

      So with that done at long last the DVM, Naomi Kitagaki sent us home with Onion in stable condition and pain medication.  They confirmed it was stones again.  And I couldn’t believe it.  All of his hard work through recovery, the amazing support and donations we’ve received, all to just happen all over again…  I felt so defeated.  We checked out at 9:18 pm, and went home to wait over night for our emergency appointment the next morning.  I did give him more pain medication at 1am, and than after what felt like eternity, I took a Lyft to Southwest Animal Hospital at 8:00am.  They made Onion comfortable until DVM Burgess arrived.  He was much weaker going through surgery this time around…. Due to the ulcer he had lost so much weight…. And the vet had said his kidneys were failing…. I couldn’t get the lump out of my throat…. But thankfully, some silver lining, this time the procedure had gone more smoothly.  His catheter even stayed in.  And this helped seriously cut the costs compared to the last surgery:

      Without all of you…. I could NOT of afforded this second emergency surgery…. Honestly, I can’t even imagine…. I don’t want to….

      I spoke with Dr. Burgess for a good long time as to why this was still happening.  I actually recorded the entire conversation, and will be posting it in the future as a straight from the source reference for other owners who have to go through this with their ferrets.  The reason he was still forming these stones, was due to the cysteine that was apparently still present in his kidneys.  The stones do not form in the kidneys, but when the cysteine enters the bladder they form into stones.  This time he ‘only’ had two stones…. I say ‘only’ because…. Well, take a look.:   

   Believe it or not, it was the smaller stone that caused the blockage.  But now we’ve doubled down on our efforts.  Currently he is on vet prescribed hills canned cat food k/d for kidneys.  And amazingly he loves it and is eating a can a day now.  We also have given him more meds, including a better solution to his ulcer issues.  Although it is quite the daily cocktail, it’s only for a little while… The large syringe is just filled with food to act as a chaser.  Some of the meds don’t taste very good.

      One other thing is the addition of some slightly rarer medications.  One used in Guinea pigs to make their urine more alkaline.  The other was originally supposed to be a drug that dissolves stones in the bladder.  It had some pretty nasty side effects, even if it only effected 15% of it’s users.  But that is no longer an option after finding out it’s an experimental drug that costs FAR too much for a small sample. Though he’s since found another promising drug that he’s used in the past on ferrets with the side effect of dissolving stones.  I’ve even begun putting small drops of fish oil Omega 3 fatty acids into his food.  Dr. Burgess had mentioned how he spoke to another vet associate of his and got as much information as he could from him.  And although there isn’t solid proof the benefits of fish oil on the kidneys, it certainly couldn’t hurt to try.  I also made sure he got a heated blanket, which I can tell he just loves.  He is far perkier than when he came home from his first surgery, and is eating much more.  He’s also eating on his own, but regardless I make sure he eats at least 80ml of liquid food a day.  He doesn’t fight me on it either, which is also wonderful.  Honestly, I think it’s a nice bonding experience for us.  He gets so excited his feet jiggle!  Though he has not had a check up since, Dr. Burgess says his kidneys are no longer in failure, and is back on a diuretic to get him to drink and eat more as well.  I’m not entirely sure it’s making him eat/drink more, but we’re trying everything.  His new medications should arrive sometime this weekend.  It’s been 6 days since the surgery.  And he hasn’t had a blockage again yet.  Currently he is sleeping away in his cube.  With a warm full belly.  And smelling just a little bit like fish.  He has to heal, and was shaved again, but the catheter is still in place:

    I need to thank all of you once again…  We were supposed to start on rewards and everything that very next day but than all of our worst fears began slithering to reality’s surface.  And of course to top it all off, I am now jobless.  But Onion wouldn’t have gotten another chance at recovery without all of you…  I don’t believe in not doing everything feasible I possibly can for my family (fuzzy or no). Thank you.  Thank you all again.  I cannot express just how much this really means to me…. To us.  I’m unsure if he’ll be able to survive another surgery if his kidneys don’t purge all of that cysteine and stop forming stones.  At this point though I believe he’s so tough, that just maybe he could.  I just pray it won’t come to that….  Already my fiancé has helped me and my Onion so very much, I’ve promised him that we cannot keep spending in bulk like this.  Especially since he is now the only one who can financially support us.      And so I’ve come to the forceful conclusion that I will have to turn donations back on. To those who have already selflessly donated to us, I cannot bear the gall of asking for more.  But I do hope that you continue to share our story, and that new comers arrive and stay to read or share as well.  I didn’t want to ask others for help.  And now having to ask again…  It comes with feeling shamefully humbled and anxiously mortified.  I’m more than embarrassed.  I’m frightened my credibility might even be called into question, and be pegged as some sort of internet scammer.  I know they happen all the time, and that’s why I try to post so many pictures.  To give my story credibility.  Though I suppose you could always call Southwest Animal Hospital and ask..  But it’s still scary!  Scary how you’ll be viewed or perceived by others!!  Especially as someone who deals with that fear on a daily basis.  It feels like I’m ringing a gong to get the attention of anyone who hears it and asking them all to simultaneously to judge me, my ferret, and the worthiness of our plight!!        But I know.  I know I have to keep trying.  Trying everything.  Everything I can possibly do.  Even if I’m scared.  When I think about it, I could live with being called a scammer…. If it means Onion get’s to be alive too…

       Backers are still going to be receiving their rewards, so don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you!  But I am going to request the charitable Onion Crusaders who backed us to send a reference photo(s) of their pet they’d like to be painted.  I’ll be sending out an email to you as well, so don’t worry if you some how see this and worry I’ve forgotten about you. I know this update is massive, but a lot has happened.  And I just want to be as candid and transparent with you all as I can be.  For those who are invested in Onion’s well being I will gladly relay everything I can think of.  I also believe that this story may provide help to other ferret owners going through the same issues and what they can expect.  Again, we cannot thank you all enough for staying with us this far.  Truly, honestly, with the utmost sincerity, and of course on Onion’s behalf…. Thank you…

https://www.gofundme.com/onion-the-ferrets-esurgery-fund