Hi everyone! It's Jenn here. As many of you know, our beloved feline family member Genji became suddenly ill last month and gave us quite the scare. Throughout Sunday, January 15th, Genji started showing signs of having a swollen face and refused food for several meals. Thinking it was the stress of our new roommate coming in, or perhaps eating a bug or bumping his face, I put Genji in his favorite chair to take a nap for a few hours. When I awoke him several hours later his face was extremely swollen. Luckily our new roommate Zaphie works at a vet office and they examined Genji's lymph nodes and gums. Genji was extremely lethargic and refused to move. Because of the extreme swelling around his throat, Zaphie determined we had to get him to an emergency vet right away. It was a Sunday evening, so we called around to try to find the most reasonably priced emergency vet in our area.

When we arrived and checked Genji in, the nurses did not seem too worried about him. However, when we brought him into the exam room the nurses became increasingly worried and decided to go get the doctor right away. We wound up staying at the emergency vet for hours while the doctor tried to piece together why several of Genji's lymph nodes could be acting up so severely. Three hours later, we determined that because the costs of tests and labs at the emergency vet were so high, it would be best to make sure Genji was comfortable and safe enough to get through the night at home so that we could take him to his primary vet in the morning. They gave Genji pain killers and antibiotics just in case, made an appointment for 7am at Genji's primary vet, I threw the astronomical bill on my credit card and rushed Genji back home.

The next morning I brought Genji to his primary vet and they decided to admit him to do a surgical biopsy on his lymph nodes, leaving me with another very high bill. I was unable to go to work for a few days so I could care for Genji. A few days later the labs came back inconclusive, and the vet still does not know why Genji became so sick so fast. Luckily they said it does not seem like cancer. We decided to see if with medication and time and care, his lymph nodes would stop swelling on their own, and after a week or so they did. I was supposed to take him for a follow-up appointment, but could not afford the appointment or to take off work again. The vet said as long as he seems like he's okay, we didn't need to go back to see her. I felt so horribly irresponsible not going back and double-checking, but that is life. Genji getting better despite an inconclusive diagnosis is both a relief and a worry for me because we have no idea if it was a freak accident or if it may happen again. We're all keeping a watchful eye on him to make sure.

We unfortunately have been going through a transitionary time in our household that has been rough on everyone, and Genji suddenly becoming sick the day after we moved Zaphie into our home was extremely upsetting and unexpected. I just want to thank Zaphie for their support and love and for coming to spend hours with me at the emergency vet, and Barry for driving us home late on Sunday so we didn't have to take public transportation. Before these bills, I was on a steady plan to get out of some debt that racked up during a really bad mental health episode last year. Unfortunately, this has set me back in my debt plan several months, so I am doing something out of character and asking for help. Because of all this, I also ran out of budget to take Luna for her vaccines and checkup as well. The current total that I have put on credit cards for Genji's emergency without factoring in transportation and lost wages is $1975.55. That seemed like an unobtainable goal, so I am hoping we could get somewhere close to $1600. Any help would be so much appreciated. It's been a rough year and I've been trying to take responsibility whenever I can to get back on my feet. For full transparency, I'm posting Genji's workup and invoices here.

Thank you all so much.

And some photos of Genji being a brave boy during and after recovery...