Sapphie’s Health Updates and Medical Bills

Hi Everyone! Sapphie is a very special, sweet  and loving two and a half year old Himalayan boy who has been through two very expensive abdominal surgeries  We are under the care of Capital Veterinary Specialists, a 24 hour specialist hospital based in Tallahassee, Florida so surgeons there can better serve Sapphie and his condition. 

For those of you who don’t know my story, half a year ago, the doctors were trying to determine if a GI disease was causing my illness, or if I had lymphoma, a type of cancer.  From late Dec 2017, I started throwing up multiple times (food and sometimes blood) every single day. The next 3 months would include 2 surgeries - biopsies, thoracocentesis, and cisterna chyli ablation to prevent fluid from accumulating in my chest cavity, I was diagnosed with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease.) With both surgeries, hospital/ICU stays, and multiple visits w/ my surgeon/specialists and treatments, it piled up to $7,000+ in such a short amount of time. There are no words to fully be able to express our gratitude to everyone who had so generously, emotionally and financially contributed toward our savings for this huge unexpected expense on Youcaring.com where we were able to raise  $1800. As you know, YouCaring is now part of GoFundMe, and so this fundraiser serves as a  Healing and Wellness Fund to help with my monthly specialist vet bills which costs roughly $195 per visit, in addition to my prescription and specialized food. Because of your kindness and your will to never give up on me, I am slowly healing and enjoying a better life. I am on a specialized prescription diet of #RoyalCanin Veterinary Diet® Feline Selected Protein Adult PR canned & dry cat food! It consists of rabbit & peas and so far it has worked well with my stomach.
My current medicines consist of a steroid (Prednisalone), Metoclopramide, Cisapride,  and Cyproheptadine (as needed.) 8/12/21



Medical Timeline

Toward mid January 2018, Sapphie started vomiting almost daily and regurgitating soon after eating. With a decrease in appetite, he was taken to his vet and was hospitalized for a couple of days.  On January 25, he underwent a CBC and a Barium series as a diagnostic procedure to find any obstruction in his GI tract. The blood test came back normal, and while they did not find any tumors or ulcers, the Barium test/X-rays indicated a possible gastrointestinal obstruction as the Barium had not travelled as efficiently as it should have in 6-7 hours. Sapphie underwent emergency exploratory surgery the next day and his doctor found no blockage. The doctor noticed that his intestinal walls were abnormally thick, and so to better serve his needs, he was referred to a specialist hospital in Tallahassee. 

On February 6, he visited the GI specialist and underwent Thoracocentesis and abdominal ultrasound. The ultrasound indicated thickened wall of the small intestine and moderately enlarged lymph nodes. This thickening may be secondary to inflammatory bowel disease, infection or small cell lymphoma (a low grade intestinal cancer.) 

A small amount of chylous pleural effusion (a milky white fluid) was present in his chest cavity. This is abnormal and may be secondary to leakage from the thoracic duct (the duct that carries lymph fluid to the veins to nourish the body), cancer, or be idiopathic (duct is leaky for unknown reasons.)  We were told Himalayans and Persians are two of the breeds of cats that surgeons often see develop chylothorax (fluid build up into the chest cavity). Though no abnormal cells were found in the milky fluid, they found abnormally high Triglycerides (4153 mg/dl) in the fluid, but serum triglycerides (in the blood) is 258 mg.  The surgeons feel that there may be a common link with his digestive disease and this development of the fluid. 

Sapphie has lost some weight and due to lack of appetite, he is being syringe fed several times a day with Hill’s prescription diet a/d Pâté and he also eats the i/d Digestive Care. For a cat his size, he is required to eat 1/4 cup a meal but he takes about 3-4 days to even finish 1/3 cup. He has just started to enjoy some chicken breast and ground turkey that I cook in water to supplement. 




Why did Sapphie need surgery?

Their team of Doctors all agreed that abdominal surgery would be the next best step in determining the underlying cause of his health issues. The surgery would be to acquire intestinal and lymph node biopsies and perform an ablation (removal) of the small sac that collects lymphatic fluids within the abdomen to attempt to prevent the fluid from accumulating within the chest cavity. This fluid can cause constriction of the lungs and respiratory problems if too much builds up over time. The fluid can also cause a process of permanent damage to the lung surface if there is too much within the thorax for a long period of time (process called constrictive pleuritis) Our surgeons estimated the cost of this past surgery between $2,500-3,000. His case was forwarded to the chief surgeon at the hospital, who we met on Wednesday March 7 for a consultation and Surgery was scheduled for March 20, 2018.  




How is Sapphie now? (Updated 8/12/21)
We have created a hashtag #SapphiesIBDJourney to update all our friends his progress including recent hospitalization. He is currently in the ICU due to a flareup of his IBD which has caused a chain reaction to other health issues. He was first admitted on Monday, August 3, 2021 and was able to come home the next day.  However, his health declined so we took him back on Friday to the Urgent Care wing,  then improved, and then took a bigger setback on Sunday.  We returned on Monday, August 9th and he has been since. Elevated kidney levels, projectile vomiting and possible blockage/possible ileus or triaditis secondary to his IBD... we are praying hard for our baby!
 

 

Thank you in advance for your giving spirit and appreciate any amount that you can contribute to help with Sapphie’s Instagram alleviate this unexpected financial challenge of his medical care. Because of your love, we have been able to give Sapphie a chance at a full and happy life! There is nothing we wouldn't do to help him get better. I know each and every one of you have your own personal financial challenges so we are eternally grateful that you have chosen to help Sapphie with his challenge. This is so much for me to digest both emotionally and mentally, but your prayers and love continue to keep us strong. It means the world to us. Thank you soo sooo much to all of you for loving my Sapphire. I will keep updating here and also on instagram. 

http://www.instagram.con/sapphiegram 

#SapphiesIBDJourney


Please feel free to visit the veterinary specialists webpage from where Sapphie is receiving his care. 

http://www.capvetspecialists.com/




Thank you all so much!

❤️ Sapphire and Christine