Please help save Sydney's life!

**kittykatharine** · 06-11-2008, 11:22 PM

So I went to Auburn today, and Sydney went through a battery of tests - kidney, spleen, and bone marrow aspirations, ultrasound, blood tests, ct scan, the works, and we found out that the Lymphoma has spread to one of her kidneys, making the Lymphoma systemic, and therefore Sydney not a candidate for the acceleration radiation therapy. When my vet did a ultrasound this past monday, apparently she missed all of that. Well, this means I had to take Sydney home. We are now going to have to start her on a very intense series of chemotherapy treatments over the next 6 months. Lets just say it was a long ride home. Ironically, since the chemo needs this super potent agent added to the normal COP protocol, it is still going to cost $4500, on top of the $600 I charged today for the tests. So here I go again. Sydney, is happy to be home, and I started her on her prednisone tonight. I am happy that she is home for me, but saddened by the fact that her cancer is more serious then first expected. I am still praying that the chemo will work. I will keep everyone posted with what happens next. Again thank you everyone for your support and help.

**Moesha** · 06-11-2008, 11:34 PM

I am so sorry to hear this news. I kept checking to read a good update. Did they give you an indication of how successful this treatment is? Can Sydney get the treatments from a vet close to home? Can you post the vet information for who is giving the chemo so that donations can be made to them? I sure hope for the best possible outcome for you and Sydney. Give her lots of love.

**Catty1** · 06-12-2008, 12:22 AM

Oh, no. HUGS and major prayers for you and Sydney!

I gather she will be having the chemo locally?

Let us know, we will help however we can! Give Sydney extra hugs and cuddles from me.

Good news that aggressive chemo will be tried.

HUGS!

**krazyaboutkatz** · 06-12-2008, 01:18 AM

I'm so sorry to hear this.

At least she'll be able to be home with you. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent her way. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

**jenluckenbach** · 06-12-2008, 06:19 AM

I am so sorry.

Hopefully the chemo will work for Sydney.

**kittykatharine** · 06-12-2008, 04:30 PM

What a horrible morning. So I called my vet this morning to talk about starting the chemo Friday if at all possible. My vet told me she needed to talk to the vet in Auburn first before she will order the chemo medication - and here is the catch, she told me I have to order the ENTIRE 6 mnths worth of chemo protocal and pay the total amount for the entire protocol up front. Here is my problem with this, Sydney looks like she is dying, and being completely aware of the severity of the situation, I know that she may not live through the entire 6 month protocol. So basically if she dies during the first administration of chemo, I am responsible for the 6 months of drugs. I told my vet to call me back when she was done talking with the Auburn vet. So my vet called me back an hour later and said that the Auburn vet said to start the chemo ASAP, and then my vet tells me that she has some EXPIRED chemo drugs she can use at a discounted price (only $600 off the $4500 price) if I am interested. I am not a pharmacist but I know that medications have expiration dates because of their prospective shelf life. With drugs like chemo, being extremely sensitive to temperature and storage, the drugs she was trying to give me, which were 18 mnths past the expiration date, could very well be ineffective. I called the vet in Auburn and got her opinion and I ended up finding a new vet. I hate to do this to Sydney when she is so sick and vulnerable but I just don't feel that she is getting the care she deserves. Anyways, I have a 2:30 appointment with the new vet that quoted having an interest in feline oncology. Another issue I had is that my vet had me pay $300 for an ultrasound when she wasnt qualified to even read it - her results where that sydney's liver looked funny, when the specialist in Auburn found a destinct mass on Sydney's kidney. Just like in human medicine, you would never have a family care physician perform surgery, so why did she charge me for a service that she wasnt trained for? Sydney is going to have a repeat ultrasound done 5 weeks after she has started chemo (we are starting her monday hopefully), and this new vet clinic has a trained specialist for reading ultrasounds. I just pray that this change in vets is in Sydney's best interest. I am very exhausted, mentally and emotionally, and this is really starting to wear on me. Please continue to pray for us.

**Moesha** · 06-12-2008, 04:45 PM

Thank you again for updating us. How terrible the things you have been going through are! I am so glad that you found out about the current vet now rather than later part way through a treatment program with Sydney. The chemotherapy and the ultrasound inaccuracies are very disturbing. Please keep us posted. You and Sydney continue to be in my thoughts frequently.

**jennielynn1970** · 06-12-2008, 05:26 PM

Oh my gosh. I would be so upset with the previous vet! First, the fact that they were not qualified to read the ultrasound, and secondly to offer expired chemo drugs, and not just 1month old, but a year and a half old!!!

I wonder if they should still have their license?? I wonder if you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or something, and at least get a partial reimbursement for the reading that was done incorrectly?

I hope that the new vet will give some options for you, and have some kind of a reasonable payment plan. If I can help after I get some of my bills paid (I was on FMLA and getting basically no paycheck for the past 2 months), I'll donate what I can. I know I'd be a wreck if it were me, but hang in there, and definitely try some of the fund raising ideas.

One thing that I had done for our rescue group was I gave them an IPOD that I had won at a raffle and had no use for. I just don't use those kinds of thing, and was going to sell it on ebay. The IPOD was a new DV one (two years ago, we're talking now), and worth about $300.00. We actually raffled it off and raised almost $1000. The tickets only were $1, so we sold a lot of them. But even if they had been $2 or 3tickets for $5. I think it would have been even more successful.

Have a yard sale, or porch sale, or if you have a YMCA or something close by where kids go, have the penny donations. The kids did that at the one school where I worked, Pennies for Patients, and Pennies for Veterans, and raised a decent amount, even though we were a low income school. Many times the people who have little to give will give more because they know how much it's needed and how appreciated every little bit is.

Good luck, and let us know what the new vet says. I'll try to help out however I can as well.

**kittykatharine** · 06-12-2008, 05:27 PM

to add to the horrible day - my old vet that I just replaced, just called me and let me know that the records that she sent to Auburn where the ORIGINAL records, and now I have no record of all the procedures I have had done in the last three weeks! Why is everything working against me? I am trying everything I can, and I just want to save my baby's life. Aubrn couldnt fax the original vet paperwork because it is not "their work", so I am trying to get them to fax or send it to me. But, it is 4:26 on a Thursday, I probably won't get a hold of her. I just don't know what to do. ***sobbing***

**jennielynn1970** · 06-12-2008, 05:39 PM

Will they mail it to you? If it's the originals, and you need it for the new vet, why are they being so unhelpful! I'd be in a car and driving there tomorrow and yanking it out of their hands. If it's not their work, then they should have no problem marking it as such and getting it to where it needs to go. How inconsiderate and unthoughtful of these people. I wish there was a way we could help with this...

**jennielynn1970** · 06-12-2008, 05:43 PM

Can you have the new vet contact Auburn and talk to them and have them understand that they know it's not their work, but it is imperative that the paperwork gets faxed ASAP? Maybe one vet to another they'll do it.

Hang in there!

**Catty1** · 06-12-2008, 06:32 PM

Right, Jenn! KK, ask your new vet to help...one vet to another will do a lot.

HUGS!

**kittykatharine** · 06-12-2008, 06:42 PM

I got the wonderful student vet at Auburn to fax me the files from my original vet - One successful feat for today. Tommorrow is my consultatation with my new vet, I will keep everyone updated. (I have made copies of all the vet files for my own personal file - never will I make a mistake like that again.). Thank you everyone and wish us luck tommorrow!

**kittykatharine** · 06-12-2008, 06:44 PM

Also, I am going to sell all my formal dresses from my high school proms - hopefully I will be able to sell some of them - I am also going to sell my jewerly that is worth anything - hopefully that will help me a bit! Im staying hopeful!

**Freedom** · 06-12-2008, 07:41 PM

I am s sorry to read all these updates. Not bad enough that you are worried sick about your dear sweet Sydney, but the first vet messed up, the files got confusing for a time there . . . UGH!! I'd have my finger nails down to the quick by now! Hang in there, lots of us are praying for you and your Sydney.

When you can calm down a bit, consider contacting your state's veterinary licensing board about that first vet and see what they think. Doesn't sound proper to me: ultrasound not qualified to read; offering meds 18 months past expiration; sending ORIGINAL files out???? They are the proper group to handle a complaint and they can say if one should be filed. BBB doesn't normally handle professionals, at least not that I am aware.