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Meeko's Surgery & Future ER Care

Meeko's Surgery & Future ER Care

As many of you know, over the past month, my partner and I have been taking care of an emergency situation with our cat (aka fur baby), Meeko. Before I ask you to make any donation, I want to provide a backstory and full disclosure of why am asking for this help. Please also know that I did not come to this decision lightly. Having to reach out to my friends and family like this is difficult and I am only doing it as a last resort. Please also know that there is absolutely no expectations on my end regarding the outcome of this campaign. I hope you will not judge me for asking because I will not judge you for not donating. All of that said, let me tell you the long story of how we got here. (WARNING: this story is gross at times and very long/possibly rambling but fully transparent and factual.)


Starting last November 2015, we noticed that Meeko was having trouble defecating. He was getting constipated more and more often. My stepfather, a retired veterinarian, gave us some suggestions on what to do. We started giving him wet food on a daily basis that included pumpkin puree (to bulk it up with fiber). I also was able to administer warm water enemas by myself, due to a previous history with a cat that battled constipation and megacolon. Our fear was that Meeko was developing megacolon but we were hopeful a change in diet was all he would need.

Flash forward to January 29, 2016. That Friday morning, I noticed that Meeko was behaving like he was constipated again. It had been a few days since he'd acted this way and I had been hopeful that we had finally gotten him regulated. It was not the case. After watching him strain to defecate for 24 hours, even after I administered a few warm water enemas, and realizing that he was not eating or drinking, we decided we needed to take him in to see our local veterinarian. On January 30, 2016, our month-long ordeal truly began.


Upon examination by the veterinarian, it was determined that Meeko had an impacted bowel. The doctor felt that Meeko should be able to pass this on his own, with the addition of a laxative, lactulose, and some subcutaneous fluids. He was sent home with us that evening, so that we could watch and see if this treatment was going to work. By Monday (February 1st) afternoon (the vet had told us to give it 48 hours), Meeko was not eating, not drinking, and had not passed any feces. We took him back to the vet Tuesday morning. During the day Tuesday, the veterinarian took x-rays to confirm that he was, in fact, dealing with an impaction only. It was determined, from the x-ray films, to most likely only be feces that was blocking his colon. However, these x-rays also showed that Meeko had a deformed narrowing of his colon at an important juncture that was making passing of this fecal ball even more difficult. It was also determined, at this point, that he did, in fact, have megacolon. The veterinarian administered three large enemas, and also attempted to manually extract some of the feces. They were only able to get a very small amount of feces out. They were hopeful, because he was not releasing any of the enema fluid, that nerves were keeping his sphincter muscles tight and, if he came home, the "floodgates" would open. Meeko came home with us that Tuesday evening and we were told to watch him for 24 hours.

By Wednesday evening, Meeko was still not eating or drinking and had still not defecated. He had released all of the enema fluids but nothing came out with them. The veterinarian told us by phone that we needed to bring him in and let him stay there all day and all night on IV therapy to hopefully soften up the impaction and give them something to work with. We dropped Meeko off at the veterinarian Thursday morning and he stayed there, being worked on and getting IV therapy, through Saturday morning. They were able to extract a small amount of feces but not nearly enough. They also started him on painkillers, as well as an appetite stimulant. They were hoping, if they got some food in him and killed the pain, he would be able to pass this fecal ball. They sent him home Saturday afternoon with the warning that we were at the place of "better or dead." If Meeko did not pass a significant amount of feces by Monday, we were to take him to the emergency room at MedVet.

All weekend long, we gave Meeko high doses of lactulose, access only to prescription, high-fiber GI cat food, painkillers, warm water enemas, and appetite stimulants. Over the course of those days, Meeko only went to the bathroom three times and produced very small amounts of feces. We felt the time had come to take him to the emergency room at MedVet. By this time, we had already spent over $1200 of our emergency vet budget. We had less than $1000 left on our CareCredit card, because we had used it for another pet emergency a little bit over a year ago. We decided to take out a second CareCredit card in my name, so that Meeko would have the best chance at living. MedVet does not offer any type of payment plan and they expect all payment upfront before they will help your pet. Because of this, CareCredit was our only option, even though they charge a staggering 26.99% interest. What else were we to do? So, Monday morning, we prepared to take him to MedVet. However, after speaking to our veterinarian Monday morning, he seemed actually happy that Meeko had passed some fecal balls and he asked us to wait until Tuesday before taking him to MedVet. He knew how MedVet operated and he knew how broke we were, but he also didn't want to risk Meeko's life. So, after nothing else happened with Meeko's bowels all day on Monday, we bit the bullet and took Meeko to MedVet Tuesday morning.

Upon initial examination by an ER doctor, it was determined that Meeko needed to see an internal medicine doctor. They made an appointment for later that day. They took Meeko into the back and the internal medicine doctor did his exam. We were told that, based on Meeko's medical records and all that our veterinarians had already done and all that we had been doing, the internal medicine doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure that he was, in fact, dealing with nothing but a fecal ball and that there was no tumor or any other type of obstruction in his colon. He then wanted, based on the ultrasound results, to try one more enema and to give Meeko IV therapy because he was dehydrated. They wanted to keep him overnight and the doctor would call us on Wednesday morning with the results. The estimate for these procedures was $1500-$3000. It all depended on what they found/did. We agreed with the treatment plan and left a $3000 deposit on our account using my new CareCredit card. I left the high-end of the estimate as a deposit because it enabled me to get a payment plan with a bit lower interest, 14.99%, and gave me a longer time to pay it back. But this also took over half of the available money we had for all of the treatment he might need. We were in shock.

On Wednesday (February 10th), the doctor called us with news. The ultrasound came back as good as it could. It showed that Meeko did, in fact, have only a very large fecal mass that now encompassed his entire colon, but no tumors or other obstructions. However, his colon was so stretched out above the congenital narrowing that the internal medicine doctor did not feel that, even if they got Meeko cleaned out, it would be a permanent fix. He told me he wasn't even sure they could get him cleaned out for a fresh start regardless. He felt that Meeko's megacolon was so severe and had come on so fast, mixed with Meeko's deformity in his colon, that he would just re-impact immediately after being cleared out. We were informed that Meeko's only chance at survival was to have a subtotal colectomy and he needed to have it immediately. We were heartbroken.

At this point, Meeko had already lost a pound of weight and had been sick for two full weeks. We were terrified and we didn't know if we could afford the surgery or not. We had gotten a new CareCredit card with a $5000 limit on it and our old CreditCard card also had a $5000 limit on it, but it was pretty much maxed out. We had $5000 with which to get Meeko better and that was it. Everything up to this point at MedVet had already cost us over $1800. After two weeks of trying to get our big boy Meeko well, we had spent $3000 and only had about $3000 left to play with. If the surgery estimate came in above what we could afford, we didn't know what we would be able to do. We were absolutely beside ourselves. But I told the internal medicine doctor that we did want to speak with the surgeon and hear all of our options.

The surgeon called us later that Wednesday. The surgeon seemed to think that Meeko was a very good candidate for the surgery and that he would do very well. He explained all of the risks to us, as well as the entire procedure of the surgery and what to expect afterwards. It was a very invasive surgery. Meeko would basically be losing 90% of his colon and they would attach his large intestines directly to the remaining 10% of his colon. He would keep his sphincter muscles intact. The MedVet surgeon had done many of these surgeries and had never had one go wrong. He said that Meeko, while 10 years old, had the health of a much younger cat and that he felt this surgery would give him a completely normal lifespan. We were on pins and needles waiting for the surgical estimate.

Later on Wednesday evening, we received a call from MedVet with the estimate for the surgery. The high end of the estimate was $2700. We had $3000 to play with, so we knew, if anything went wrong, we would go over budget. But we didn't care! We were determined to save our fur baby's life. We authorized the additional charges to my CareCredit card and scheduled the surgery for the next day, Thursday (February 11th).

After a sleepless night and high anxiety day, we got the call late Thursday afternoon that the surgery was a success! Meeko had done remarkably well and the surgeon was very optimistic about a full recovery. I burst into tears at this news. I had not been sleeping well and my anxiety levels had been through the roof for the past two weeks. But now, came the hard part. Healing. There was a 15% chance that Meeko could have an intestinal leak inside his body after the surgery. If this happened, he could die. They could try opening him up and fixing the leak, but there would be additional costs and a low probability of survival. He had to heal perfectly without complications, or it could be over. Both of our CareCredit cards were nearly completely maxed out. We had seven days of fretting ahead of us. The surgeon said, after those seven days, the risk for any type of infection or internal issues was basically over. After 10-14 days, and suture removal, he would be able to go back to his normal life. The countdown began!


We brought Meeko home on that Friday, February 12. We had to set him up in a room all by himself with nothing but a bed and a cat box, along with food and water. He also had to wear the "Cone of Shame" unless we were with him. He was limited to 15 minutes of activity a few times a day, so most of the time he was in solitary confinement. It was so very hard on all of us, but especially him. He didn't understand what was going on with his body and, to be honest, we didn't either. He was incontinent, had severe gas, and his bowel movements were very, very runny. He only made it to the cat box about half of the time and was constantly stinking. Every time we went to visit him, we had to clean the floor and him. He was happy and he was doing well emotionally but he was lonely and confused and sometimes in pain. He was on pain medication but luckily no longer on any other type of medication. His incision was almost 6 inches long but healing nicely.


This process went on for 10 days. He was such a trooper and he did so well. Yesterday, February 22, we took him to the surgeon for his follow-up and suture removal. We couldn't have gotten a better report! The surgeon said that Meeko was perfect. His incision was he healed well enough to remove his sutures and also well enough for him to no longer have to wear the "Cone of Shame." He doesn't have to stay on his prescription diet for megacolon and he can go back to eating the prescription urinary food he was eating before this situation and that his sisters eat. Yes, he has two sisters! Their names are Oats and Piggy. He is now 12 days post surgery and doing fantastic. He lost over 3 pounds during the past month and almost all of his colon, but we couldn't be happier with the outcome and we would do it all again, if we had to. Unless something absolutely crazy happens in the next couple of days, this ordeal is over. Aside from continued healing and bowel adjustments, we can just sit back and enjoy the rest of his life with him.


The only thing that makes this moment of joy a bit dampened is the amount of debt we have gone into to save his life. We 100% feel he is worth it and would do everything exactly the same, if we had to do it over. He is worth it! Please understand that! That said, I am a homemaker, both by choice and mental necessity. My partner works full-time and he gets paid well but, after we pay our bills, we don't have a lot of extra money. We don't have a savings account. Any "extra" money is tied up in an inaccessible retirement plan and 401k, and those are funded by Company contributions. The only thing we had for emergencies like this was my partner's CareCredit card. Now we have his CareCredit card and my CareCredit card, with almost $9,000 of debt between the two. The majority of that debt is from this one emergency for Meeko. My biggest fear now is, if something were to happen to either Oats or Piggy, or again with Meeko, we have nothing to save them with. We would have no way of paying for any type of treatment they may need. This is very scary to me. All three of our fur babies are siblings and they're all 10 years old, so that in itself is worrisome. They're senior cats and that tends to be when physical issues start to show themselves, like Meeko's megacolon.



I am not on here telling you that we are destitute because we are not. We can pay this bill off, eventually. It would take years and we would have to give up doing anything social for the most part from here on out. Right now, we have just enough money, after bills, to do a few small social things a month and pay for our necessities like groceries, gasoline, etc. But, with these new CareCredit bills, we will need to come up with another $300 a month above what we were already paying. That will put us into a very dire financial situation.


I fully realize that there are a lot of you reading this that are worse off than I am. I am not expecting donations from anybody that can't afford it or that makes less than I do or is in a worse situation than I am. To be honest, the only reason I'm asking for these donations and for this help is because I am afraid that we will have an emergency situation with our cats before we have a chance to pay a significant portion of these credit card bills off. These CareCredit cards are used exclusively at our veterinarian. They can't be used anywhere else. We aren't using this money to go out on the town. If you know us at all, you know we are not wasters of money. We have fun once in a while and I enter to win giveaways, so that we can afford things we otherwise couldn't. But, on a day-to-day basis, we live very frugally. With $300 extra in bills a month, if anything goes wrong at all with our house or our car or the cats or ourselves, we are not going to be able to pay for it. That's where, hopefully, you come in.


If I am able to raise $6000, we can pay for all of Meeko's treatment plus the interest we are already accruing (daily accrual) and the fees from GoFundMe/WePay. That would give us our CareCredit cards' available credit partially back (I am not asking for enough to pay them off completely) to use in case of future emergencies and would keep our monthly payments where they were before this emergency with Meeko happened.


I can't tell you how much I fretted, worried, researched, discussed with friends, and discussed with my partner about posting this GoFundMe campaign. I worried so much about what people would think because I'm a homemaker. Those of you who know me intimately know that my being a homemaker was partially choice and partially mental need but a lot of people, I know, have biases against homemakers and would be asking why I don't just go get a job. If you are one of those people, that is fine. Don't feel like you need to donate. I only want people that truly want to help and understand my personal situation to actually donate. I am not going into great detail about my personal reasons for being a homemaker but I am willing to disclose that to anyone who reaches out and asks me. I am all about full transparency, as I feel that is the least I can do, if I am asking you to donate money to me while you are getting nothing in return but a massively heartfelt thank you from me! Regardless, I appreciate you taking the time to read my story and even consider donating. And, if you can't afford to donate but wish that you could, please feel free to share my story anywhere you can. Post it everywhere! That could help just as much as a donation from you!

Thank you so much to anybody that donates. Even if I don't make all the money that I need to make to get Meeko's treatments paid off, every single cent donated will go directly to our CareCredit cards, which will help us to stick to our already tight monthly budget and to be prepared, should an emergency happen with one of our cats in the future. I hope everybody can understand that and know that posting this page is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Asking for help does not come easy to me. I love you all! If you have any questions or want more details about anything, please don't hesitate to ask. I have included pictures here of Meeko taken during the whole process he went through, as well as screen shots of our CareCredit statements, so that you can see exactly what you will be helping to pay off. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help us!

Organizer

Ann Matheny
Organizer
Delaware, OH

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