We don’t really know what to write here as we never thought that we’d be here: looming medical bills that are scarily high and sudden. And yet we are!

About a month ago, we adopted a total sweetheart, Sabrina. She’s a special needs cat as she only has one eye. She was found abandoned in a trash can in Stockton with an eye infection, probably the very thing that led to her being abandoned.

An agency performed emergency surgery and removed her eye and the tissues around the eye. We adopted her from a local non-profit with a clean bill of health and she’s fit wonderfully into our tortie household, playing and snuggling with Fiona and Gemma.

A week ago, we noticed swelling around where her right eye used to be. While monitoring it, we spotted a reddish ooze coming from an open wound on her face and rushed her to the E.R. She’d developed an abscess and it needed draining. The cause wasn’t immediately known, but the vet had some theories. Now, after a couple of visits to the E.R., we’ve come to understand that something was missed during her first eye surgery.

A tear duct or mucus duct remains and must be removed or abscesses will keep forming. The first surgeon missed it when operating and, as a result, tears/mucus have been leaking into her mouth (most likely) and bacteria is traveling from her mouth into her face. Thus, continual abscesses will form until the error made during the first surgery is remedied.

Our largest concern was that this will lead to a shorter life or increase the likelihood of sudden death. The vet with whom we spoke at the E.R. assured us that this isn’t so, but that the more serious route of consulting with a board-certified surgeon, anesthesia, and operation were in the cards for us. That is, unless we wished to see her continue to get abscesses.

And we don’t want that for our lil angel, Sabrina. We’ve spent $1,500 this past week on medical interventions, but that’s just the beginning. The vet informed us that a scan will be about $2,000 and the attendant surgery/anesthesia will be up to $8,000. We’re hoping that the pet insurance we have covers some of this, but we’re not sure what that will look like.

She advised us to wait until she develops another abscess (up to another $2,000 in cost) in order to aid in accurate treatment and diagnosis.

Yes, we knew we were adopting a special needs cat, but we hadn’t counted on negligent medical attention resulting in more surgery and around $15,000 in bills.

We’re able to cover some of this, but not all of it. If you have a spare $5, $10, $15, $20 … anything helps. We just want to see Sabrina live a full and happy life. She deserves all that and more.