Hello friends, old and new <3

I'm here on behalf of my little guy Palom. He means the world to me and we could use a little help.

If you've met Palom, you love Palom. He's so sweet and friendly and calm and smart! Even at 15 he loves chasing moths, ekkekk-ing at birds, rolling in catnip, and wrestling with his twin sister Porom. Before his arthritis set in, he loved playing fetch and had a 5' vertical jump.

Palom was recently diagnosed with kidney disease and diabetes, and has been taking Solensia to manage his joint pain since last year. As you may be aware, these conditions are not uncommon and many pets with these illnesses go on to live healthy lives for years after diagnosis - if they get the ongoing care they need.

-PALOM'S STORY-

Two days ago, we ended up in the ER after a diabetic ketoacidosis scare - DKA can happen to humans and animals, and can be similarly sudden and fatal in both.

The day before, I had taken him in for glucose & fructosamine testing to determine if he had diabetes, after some routine labwork last month revealed his kidney disease and that his blood sugar was "a bit high, which could just be stress from the visit or diabetes".

The day after his fructosamine test, the vet filling in for his primary care doctor emailed me to tell me he did have diabetes, told me he was an excellent candidate for a new breakthrough medication, and told me to book another appointment soon to get him on the medication. She didn't tell me how high his glucose was, or that his bloodwork showed that his pancreas was failing, or that he was in serious need of medical attention. She also didn't tell me anything about how to manage diabetes, what his treatment options were, or what the risks of this new medication were, and she didn't reply to the questions I sent back. I immediately booked his follow-up for the next day and hoped that he'd be okay until then.

Palom became increasingly lethargic that evening, and eventually began stumbling, tripping over his paws and nearly collapsing. He was extremely disoriented. He could barely move, and crawled under the coffee table and laid on his side, alternating between panting and slow, shallow breaths. I raced him to the ER.

Luckily, the folks at the ER were wonderful, knowledgeable, and empathetic. They immediately triaged Palom and took him back for some initial stabilization. The entire process took about 4 1/2 hours, and at the end the doctor sat down and calmly and thoroughly explained everything to me.

Palom's glucose was at 560. A healthy range in both humans and cats is generally 100-120. Anything over 300 is considered "dangerously high". Anything over 400 requires immediate attention. At 500 you are at very high risk of ketoacidosis, where the high concentration of sugar in your blood causes your body to break down fat, which then releases acid into your blood. This can be fatal within a matter of hours.

At 600 you have a condition called Diabetic Hyperosmolar Syndrome. This causes your body to enter a coma.

The ER doc said that Palom had so much sugar in his blood that it was beginning to thicken into "syrup". He was also very dehydrated from his body unsuccessfully trying to release the sugar through his urine. Luckily his ketones were only slightly elevated and he hadn't entered into DKA yet.

Their team got Palom on an IV and into a stable enough state to get him through to our appointment with his primary care doctor 12 hours later. I'm not sure Palom would be alive without their help.

When I brought Palom in for his primary care visit, they took him back for a ketone check, brought him back, and said I could get his medication if I wanted. I was kind of flabbergasted - I told them Palom was in critical condition and we had just gotten out of the ER, that the doctor who diagnosed him hadn't spoken to me about how to care for him or how his medication worked or how sick he was, that we needed to address his current acute state, and that I needed a consultation with his primary care doctor before starting the medication.

I was eventually able to see his primary care doctor, who had made room for me in between other appointments as I had only been penciled in for a "tech check", and she was similarly shocked. She apologized, said she had read through all of my correspondence with the relief doctor, reviewed all of Palom's case history and lab results (including the report from the ER), and told me I was right to demand a consultation.

She gave Palom a thorough exam, then sat on the floor for a full hour walking through everything with me. She said Palom was very, very sick, and that between that and his pancreas beginning to fail, he was by no means "an excellent candidate" for the medication the other doctor had prescribed. If I had just taken it and gone home, Palom would have almost certainly died - the medication in question requires the pancreas to still be making insulin. If it can't produce enough insulin, it can cause a variation of DKA in which the blood glucose levels do not appear to be elevated despite the fact that ketones are flooding into the blood stream and turning it acidic. It is incredibly hard to treat due to the fact that the patient needs to receive insulin to stop the release of ketones, but since the patient's glucose is already low they need to figure out how to prevent the insulin from lowering the glucose further and causing a coma from hypoglycemia.

Over the course of our visit, his doctor answered every question I had and then some, took excellent care of Palom, and had 3-4 separate people help with various additional testing, more subcutaneous fluids, call pharmacies to locate the type of insulin he needed and get me a discount for it, demo how to administer his shots, and schedule a whole barrage of follow-ups. I picked up everything he needed and am now giving him insulin injections twice a day.

Palom is slowly recovering; he's going to be sick for awhile, but now that he has the right care and I have everything I need to monitor him safely, it's predicted that he should be back to his old self (minus a functioning pancreas anyways) after a few weeks of steady care.

While the oversight of one doctor almost cost Palom his life, the dedication of many other doctors, nurses, and techs have given him a future again. And for that I am very grateful.

-WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP-

Between his kidney disease and the diabetes diagnosis, the labwork and exams and ER visits and medication and prescription food have all stacked up over the last couple of months, and I'm now tapped out financially. On top of his care, I'm still paying off my own medical debt from a tumor diagnosis a couple years ago (I'm doing great now!), and have had a barrage of financial setbacks this year (the studio I work at has been struggling and implemented a company-wide salary reduction, I've had a rent hike, health & car insurance premium increases, the list goes on...).

I currently don't have the means to pay for his ongoing care or pay off the debt from the care I've already gotten him to get him stabilized.

I'm hoping to gather enough to help cover the care he's gotten so far, as well as the next 2-3 months of medical needs for him. Those needs include his follow-up exams and labs (which will be frequent as we nail down what his regular care plan will look like), his pain medication and insulin, other necessary supplies like glucose test strips, and his kidney disease + diabetic maintenance diet. Hopefully that gives me enough time to get my finances back in a place to be able to take care of him on my own again.

Anything beyond our immediate goal, should we be so lucky to reach it, will go toward a safety net for potential medical emergencies as we navigate Palom's first couple of months of treatment, and toward paying off my own medical debt from my liver tumors to help free up my own finances for his care.

I know many folks are stretched thin right now, so don't feel compelled to donate - Palom and I would both appreciate it immensely if you'd share this wherever you're able to!

Thank you so much for being here, and for reading this, and for your support!

<3

Jenny + Palom

(and Porom too!)