Help with Honey Bee's Medical Expenses

The morning of September 11, 2016 was the day Honey Bee & I found each other. I had wandered into a PetSmart who was hosting an adoption day. She was a quiet, shy, nervous little girl who had a really rough start to life, but that was the day she never had to worry about anything ever again. 

 

With lots of patience, compassion, understanding, and love over the next 5 years, she blossomed into the best gift this life has ever given me. She was one of the smartest dogs I have ever known, She was a great road-dog, plane-taker, bar-sitter, farmer's market-patron, park-goer, and she went where I went - she started in Tennessee, and has been to Georgia, Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico, and ended in Texas. She learned to trust, to love, to explore, and to experience life without fear again. She became an incredible sister to her two kittens, she had the sweetest heart, and she was the best cuddler in the world.

 

We had a bond from the start that was once in a lifetime, and it grew stronger each day. She loved me endlessly, and I, her. We knew exactly what the other was thinking, often before they even thought it themselves, and communication was often as easy as a simple look or glance. We could read each other's minds, knew each other's hearts, and cherished each other deeply. She was my best friend in the whole world.

 

From the start of our time together, I promised to be her protector, her savior, her safe harbor, her advocate, her provider, her mentor - her mama. I promised her that I would do everything in my power to keep her healthy, safe, and happy, and to put her best interests before my own when it came time to make the hard decisions.

 

To Preface: Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) is a disease in which the immune system becomes confused, and for no rhyme or reason, starts attacking healthy Red Blood Cells. IMHA has anywhere between a 50-80% mortality rate with aggressive treatment. The goal of treatment is to suppress the immune system enough to stop it from attacking healthy cells, which gives the body a chance to replenish the much-needed RBCs that had previously been destroyed. It is ugly, and awful, and unpredictable, and unrelenting, and it fluctuates without warning or reason.

 

On Friday 1/7 , Honey Bee became sick and ultimately had to be rushed to our local Animal ER. She spent the entire weekend there, and after some blood tests & lab work, it was determined she had an idiopathic autoimmune disorder called IMHA. She required a blood transfusion, which she tolerated well. After some rises & dips in her RBC count, they felt she was stable enough to be discharged to her regular vet for monitoring.

 

On Monday 1/10, she spent the day at her vet's office. Her RBCs still had not stabilized, but with additional bloodwork, her vet was hopeful about her journey thus far and determined it would be safe to send her home with 6 medications and weekly blood tests to make sure her RBCs were replenshing.

 

After the vet's office and her positive reaction to her blood transfusion, there was a lot of hope. She spent 2.5 wonderful days at home in good spirits, with a good appetite, and some semblance of normalcy.

 

The evening of Thursday 1/13 she took a turn and upon examination at the vet, Honey Bee had developed a heart murmur, and her RBCs were continuing to drop below safe levels. She needed more intensive treatment than the vet nor the Animal ER could give her - she needed to see an Internal Specialist that had blood on-hand in the event she needed more transfusions.

 

All of the Internists in the area were at capacity, so I drove her to a Specialist in Dallas that night. She received another transfusion, and throughout the weekend, still could not hold her RBC count. Monday morning I received a call from her doctor in Dallas that gave us the news: She had developed a disease secondary to IMHA called Evan's Syndrome, in which now not only are her RBCs being destroyed, but her platelets as well.

 

IMHA alone is tough enough to get through but coupled with Evan's Syndrome, the chances of survival are slim to none, even with aggressive treatment. Honey Bee had been poked, prodded, monitored, tested, and infused for the last 10 days, and being away from home - away from Mom & Dad, her kittens, her bed - was not helping.

 

I discharged her Monday afternoon to bring her home to rest & spend some time with us, and a wonderful doctor came to the house yesterday to help give her relief. She passed peacefully around 1:30 PM 1/17.

 

Honey Bee was my everything. She was my best friend. She was my copilot. She was my confidant, my comfort, and my joy. I will never love another the way I have and will continue to love Honey Bee every day for the rest of my life. I would do anything for my Chicken Little, my Little Duck, my Baby Cow. I expected to be able to spend so many more years with her, to help her grow old. I knew the day would come eventually that I would be without her, I just did not expect it to be so soon. 1,955 days was not enough. She is going to be missed beyond words, and there will forever be a hole in my heart that she once filled. I am heartbroken and overwhelmed with her absence. There will never be another like my sweet Honey Bee.

 

We fought like hell to get through this. And I am humbly asking for help with the cost of her medical expenses and end-of-life services. Quite literally every single dollar counts. Giving her the best care, and the best chance for survival was costly, but she was worth and deserves every cent of effort involved in it.

 

I have never been good at asking for help, but anything offered will greatly help relieve the financial burden during this time of grief, loss, and sorrow.

 

This financial situation was born solely from the love, devotion, and loyalty of a mama trying to make the best hard decisions I could for my sweet little Honey Bee.

All donations will go directly to her medical & end-of-life expenses and are itemized as follows:

Animal ER: $3,800
Vet Monitoring and lab work: $770
Internal Specialist: $3700
Hospice & End of Life Services: $760
Lost wages: $170

 

Thank you for supporting us through this. Thank you for all the love you have shown, and thank you for honoring my Honey Bee in the most tangible way possible.