Tilly is dying today.

We don’t know why. We don’t know what happened. Not exactly, anyway.

We arrived at the clinic today and found her half laying on her side and 97 degrees. Emergency measures were taken to warm her up quickly and get an IV catheter placed. Blood was drawn for in house lab work to see what we needed to address immediately. Electrolyte imbalances and elevated kidney values were present, requiring IV fluid therapy, as well as some special medications to correct her electrolytes. Luckily, her heart rate and blood pressure were appropriate, although she had a cardiac arrhythmia due to her increased potassium level.

Now we are racing against the clock to stabilize her as we monitor everything from blood sugar levels every 20 minutes and blood pressure readings every few minutes, to constant EKG readings.

We haven’t even had a chance to tell Tilly’s story and properly introduce her to everyone, and here we are, fighting to save her life today. Her kidneys can’t handle the level of dehydration caused by her intractable diarrhea over the past week, although we’ve been trying to manage it to the best of our ability. On Friday, when she hadn’t been eating well for a few days, we made the decision to place a feeding tube to provide nutrition and water and allow us to medicate her without issue.

We’re doing our best to save her, but as of right now, her blood pressure is trending in the wrong direction, and her electrolytes haven’t corrected enough to make a big difference. Not to mention the cost we’ve accrued in just the first part of the day. It might be the last thing on our minds when it comes to saving her life, but the reality is, her care comes at a cost.

Tilly Needs Us