My name is Trent, and my cat Regulus is in pretty dire need of continued medical care. My wife Jessica and I have spent a little over 5k on his care for the past two days and frankly, we're beyond tapped out at this point.

Short version: My 14 year old cat Regulus has been hospitalized for two days waiting for testing to confirm lymphoma after a very quick decline in his heath. He is unable to be kept at home while we wait for results as when he is not on maintenance care, he has recurring vasovagal collapses and is in visible distress. We cannot afford to continue this maintenance care if the test results don't arrive today.

For a longer background, my cat Regulus started losing weight about six months ago despite still having a voracious appetite. We consulted with his primary vet and on their suggestion after some lab work, tried out diet changes before doing any more expensive or invasive testing. For quite a while, he seemed alright. His labs were steady and he was acting normally. A few weeks ago, he started losing more weight and we scheduled an ultrasound to get answers.

A few days ago, he started to decline rapidly to the point where upon consulting his vet again, we took him to the emergency vet immediately. He proceeded to have a vasovagal collapse on the triage table and had to be rushed back for treatment. After stabilization, they kept him overnight for an ultrasound and further testing. He was doing well at this point, and the next afternoon (yesterday) we took him home to wait for the results, which, when based on his symptoms, is either IBD or some type of lymphoma.

Less than 12 hours later, he had another vasovagal collapse, this time at home. We rushed him back to the emergency vet and they stabilized him again. Upon testing and discussion, the going theory is that fluid is collecting in his abdomen and pressing on the vagus nerve, causing the collapses. Rather than distress him or ourselves further, we admitted him for another night so that they could keep the fluid drained and keep him comfortable.

We're still waiting for results from his inflamed lymph node, but we (and the vets) are reasonably sure that it is lymphoma. It's just a matter of what type and if he'll have quality of life should we try to treat it.

If they get the results today (Friday), we'll be able to make further decisions. If not, the soonest results will be on Monday, and we absolutely cannot afford another two days of inpatient care for him. I've completely maxed out my Carecredit card and we're blowing through our savings pretty quickly.

I've included invoices and estimates, but they don't include the (so far) six $40-50+ lyft rides each way to the emergency vet, as an emergency specialist with on-site oncology is quite far away from us.

No matter what our final decision has to be, any bit of help is at least some small relief financially.