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 Jerry the Turkey has only been in our family for a couple of weeks now, but he has touched our hearts, and through speaking with a-lot of people throughout the last week or so I feel as though he has touched there's as well. My Family is greatly moved by all of the people who have gone out of there way to donate or just to give us words of encouragement. Because of all of the wonderful people out there we have collected nearly $2000 for Jerry. This is why I have now disabled the links for donations. I am truly amazed by all of the really great people out there and even though there has been a-lot of criticism all of that is outweighed by the positive feedback we have been receiving. Jerry is scheduled to see the avian/exotic specialist on Tuesday - and from there we will schedule surgery. We would just like to extend our sincerest Thanks again to everyone that has helped and we welcome you to check back with us here on the website (we will post updates) or just call or send us an e-mail. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I can say that this was my first Thanksgiving that I can say that I did not eat Turkey!!!!!! UPDATE 12/1/09 Jerry Visited Dr.Brown at OSVS today. He was there for his pre-surgical physical and bloodwork. Dr.Brown found that he has a respiratory infection, and also has some swelling and infection in his feet. Dr. Brown feels as though he has developed these problems with his feet because he has not been able to roost as a turkey normally would because of his lack of vision. He is being treated for his respiratory infection with ciprofloxacin and we are awaiting his blood-work results to get him started on an anti-inflammatory medication for his feet. Dr.Brown has also recommended starting him on glucosamine and omega 3,6, and 9 fatty acids. We will also visit a veterinary physical therapist per her recommendation to get some laser treatments to help his feet. We will reassess how he is doing in 2 weeks to determine when he will be well enough to undergo anesthesia for his cataract surgery. I will let everyone know how his blood tests results come back when I get them on Thursday. UPDATE 12/3/09 I spoke to Dr.Brown today in regards to Jerry's blood-work results and the great news is that everything looked good. He got the ok to start Metacam which is the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory. He has his first dose tonight. He is still taking his antibiotic ciprofloxacin, and I might add that he takes his medication better than some of my dogs and cats do!!! Our plan is to also start him on the glucosamine/fatty acids suppliments when they come in. He will be visiting the veterinary physical therapist on Mon next week for laser therapy for his feet. Otherwise he has a recheck appoint scheduled with Dr. Brown on Dec 11 to see how his respiratory situation is doing- Dr. Brown said they also get fungal infections sometimes, so we might have to switch to an anti-fungal medication. For now all is well and Jerry is Happy. I'll let everyone know how his laser treatment goes. UPDATE 12/10/09 Hello and good morning to all of Jerry's Friends, Just a quick update on Jerry, He started his laser treatments on Monday, and has another appoint tomorrow. He seems to be responding well, He also visits Dr.Brown for a recheck tomorrow so hopefully we will get the all clear for surgery. We will keep everyone posted. Talk to you soon. P.S. On a side note my 5 year old Pekingese Gracie is undergoing back surgery as we speak- she had a sudden rupture of one of the discs in her back and is partially paralyzed- I am asking for everyone to pray for her as she undergoes this delicate procedure. Thanks for all of your love and support.  UPDATE 12/16/09 Hello everyone, Jerry is doing great and his recheck visit with Dr. Brown went great. She thinks his overall health has improved greatly and that his respiratory infection is almost cleared up. I will continue with the antibiotics for another 2 weeks and we can go ahead and schedule surgery after that!!!!!!!! Grace is recovering, she has no use of her hind legs right now and I have to help her go to the bathroom, but I am assured that this is normal post-operative, so we hope and pray that she slowly regains her function - meanwhile she's on more meds than a pharmacy - I have a list to keep them all straight. Will keep everyone posted. Talk to you later.  UPDATE 12/29/2009 We visited Dr. Brown yesterday and she switched Jerry to an anti-fungal medication to help with his congestion. The great news is that she feels comfortable enough with his improvement to go ahead with the surgery. We are planning on him having surgery the second week on January, she just wanted to consult with Dr. Aubin (his opthamologist) about the details. I will call her with an update next week, but we are planning that his surgery will be done in 2 weeks. YAH!!!!!!!! This is great news and I look forward to the day when Jerry can see his new home and really start to explore. P.S. Gracie is doing well she is slowly starting to regain her neurological status and we are hopeful given more time she will continue this improvement and be able to walk again. UPDATE 1/22/2010 Hello all of Jerry's Friends, I just wanted to let everyone know that Jerry is doing well, he has some new chicken friends to keep him and Penelope company. We have the go ahead for surgery and are just waiting on a day that both Dr.Aubin (his opthamologist) and Dr.Brown (his avian/exotic specialist) are available. It seems that Dr.Brown is available Wed but Dr.Aubin is booked on Wed for a while - so they are trying to work out a day that will fit both their schedules. Thanks Again for your help and as soon as they give me a date I will let everyone know. UPDATE 2/21/2010 We are excitedly awaiting Jerry's surgery which is slated for Wed February 24th. We will let everyone know how he does, let him be in all your prayers on Wed. P.S. Here are some pictures of him and the girls i.e. Penelope and the chickens.     UPDATE 2/24/2010 Jerry had his long awaited cataract surgery this morning. Dr. Brown called me this afternoon to tell me that all went well with the surgery - His right eye had more scar tissue than the left but she thinks he will still have good vision in that eye - his left eye should have great vision. He was supposed to spend the night there but Dr. Brown called me back at 3pm and recommended that I take him home because he was becoming stressed out in recovery (I can think to myself that after being blind for so long and suddenly getting vision back I think that seeing lots of people running around and barking dogs all around would stress me out too) So I went to pick him up. He is now all settled back in his barn with Penelope to nurse him back to health and to sleep off all of the anesthesia. Hopefully he will be back to his normal self within a few days- only now he will be able to enjoy his surroundings - Thanks to all of you. I will keep everyone updated on his recovery and post new pictures once he is back to himself. Thank You again to everyone, Lyndsey Jerry taught me to love blindly I just want to start by saying that each and everyone of you have touched mine and my families hearts by being willing to help a helpless creature like Jerry try and have a better life. The last 24 hours have been one of the most difficult days of my life. I brought Jerry home yesterday afternoon after I was told he was very anxious and would do better to recover at home. I spend the night trying to comfort him, giving him sips of water hoping praying that he would get better - he was very unsteady couldn't stand on his own and was panting. His vet told me that it was due to anxiety and that once the anesthesia wore off he would regain his ability to walk. I was unable to stay with him this morning and left him at 6am, at this point he was still panting and unsteady but seemed comfortable. At approximately 11am Jerry passed away at home. I am crying just trying to put into words how Jerry has impacted my life, he has taught me to have hope and compassion, he has reminded me of all of the good people in this world and he has shown me an unconditional love that I will always remember. I have been blaming myself for this disaster and please I have already ripped myself apart by saying what if he would have never had this surgery - although I am sure I will have many critics in this matter telling me I told you so. We always try to play the blame game whenever things like this happen and in this case I don't know what happened - he seemed more comfortable this morning than he was overnight, I have been told by his vet that it could have been stress and his heart, but I have a hard time believing that because he had delt with stresses on numerous occasions and fared well. I do believe that that anesthetic medications could have had something to do with it only because his mental status was never right after I picked him up - he did open his eyes when he heard me but never seemed to regain his normal function. I thought that it would just take time for it to wear off. His vet told me that they had a hard time keeping him under anesthesia even on the highest flow of gas, so they had to keep giving him injectable drugs. I would have rathered them call me and tell me that they couldn't keep him under and decide not to do the surgery than to give him more and more drugs that could have potentially harmed him. I was also told that he aspirated some when they were extubating him, now I have been in the veterinary field for 8 years and I hope and expect for them to know the appropriate time to remove his endo-tracheal tube, but I have to wonder now. I couldn't bring myself to talk to the vet, but when my husband called to talk to them he was greeted very coldly, he was told they did all they could do and that this can happen to any animal - which I know is true - but I expected them to be more caring - I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry for this being so long - I just am trying to understand what happened - and I think all of you deserve to know as much as I do. I was offered to have an autopsy done at the cost of $800 by the same vet who performed the procedure, but I don't know if I can bring myself to have it done - not because of the money - but because I want to let him rest in peace. Jerry will have a quiet place in our yard where we can always remember what joy he brought to our lives. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions - All I was trying to do was make his life better I never meant for any harm to come to him. Lyndsey |
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