GoFundMe Campaign to Help Pay for Patches’ Thyroid Treatment

I’ve set up a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for Patches’ upcoming thyroid treatment on February 22nd. Please share the link with the animal lovers in your orbits. Thank you!

 

https://www.gofundme.com/help-pay-for-patches-thyroid-treatment

 

The campaign raised $1,135 in just four days, but it seems to be stuck there now.  The radioactive iodine treatment will cost $1600.00 and may need a follow-up treatment that will cost $650 to $650 if the first treatment doesn’t completely eradicate the thyroid. (A second treatment is required in about 20% of the cases, and Patches’ thyroid levels are super high, so she may well be one of the cats who will need a second treatment. I hope not!)

 

I have already paid close to $500 up to now to get her into shape and the tests and other things she needed to make her an eligible candidate for the treatment. Just before Christmas, I thought I was going to lose her, for sure, but the pills and antibiotics and other assistance has put her on enough of an even keel to make her robust enough to undergo the treatment.

 

She is very clingy right now, and she’s eating me out of house and home. Human Gerber baby food–turkey, beef, chicken and ham–is expensive (98 cents to one dollar per jar, and she eats at least six of those a day), but it’s all she’ll eat now and the thyroid clinic says to feed her as much protein as she’ll eat, day and night, or her muscles will begin to fail, and her heart is a muscle!!! She’s still skinny and will remain that way until her thyroid is destroyed, at which time her appetite will return to normal and she’ll be able to keep some weight on.

 

She sleeps atop my pillow and on my chest or neck a lot when I’m in bed, and she follows me from room to room when I’m awake, as if feeling insecure.  She bursts into song (purrs like mad) every time I touch her or she sleeps with me, but she isn’t chatting as much (she’s part Siamese) so I know she’s still feeling a bit under the weather.  I’m watching her closely in case she needs to go back on thyroid pills for a time, but she’s also on the waiting list at the thyroid clinic in case there’s a cancellation before Feb 22nd, and she has to be OFF thyroid meds for seven days prior to the treatment, so I’m hesitant to put her back on thyroid meds for that reason.  Otherwise I probably would…

 

Anyway, we’re still short of the amount needed for me to be able to pay the treatment fee up front (which is required), so I’m hoping the GoFundMe campaign will bring in enough so I can relax.  Every dollar that comes in is one I won’t have to put on a credit card, and I’m trying my best to avoid that.

 

The life and income of a freelancer isn’t lucrative (to say the least!), so high vet bills are a real challenge. One reason I have cats and goats as pets is that they are usually so maintenance-free (as far as vet bills go–they’re healthy critters overall!) that it isn’t overly risky to have them, and it isn’t expensive to feed them. (The goats live off the land three quarters or more of every year, and they eat very little hay and grain during the lean months.)

 

Patches is worth every dollar it will take to save her. She has been a joy and can remain so for up to another ten years if we can get her over this rough patch.  And I know we will.  She’s a trouper, and I’m determined–and not too proud to ask for help when a fur baby needs it!

 

Update: Patches is back home after eight days in the hospital and she’s doing soooo much  better. I highly recommend the Feline Hyperactive Treatment Center in Seattle (or Tacoma), both run by the same wonderful doctor, Dr. Vaughn.

 

Her final bill hovers at close to $2K but there will be ongoing follow-up visits with my Tacoma vet (in one month and three months) for bloodwork and physical checks, so the bills won’t stop coming for a while yet.