Another Sad Goodbye

[gbird]

The Gabriel Foundation March 28, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Final Farewell
Adieu to Norman and Gypsy

From Julie Murad, Founder of The Gabriel Fondation



Today we must share sad news - despite a persevering spirit, Gypsy, the Blue & Gold macaw, is gone.

Last week, Dr. J. Jill Heatley, Clinical Associate Professor at Texas A & M, contacted us about Gypsy. After a strong upturn with her aspergillosis treatment, Gypsy was relapsing. Her nebulization therapy continued, and it was determined that she would still require an additional 30 days of therapy.

Then, yesterday we received this news: "On another note we have had a setback with Gypsy today. She has become a bit gurgly although she is still gaining weight and is bright alert and eating well, I am concerned that this may reflect that she is not responding as well as we had hoped to her initial round of antifungal treatment. We have the additional tracheal culture from yesterday pending and we are beginning an additional round of the serious antifungal amphoteracin. We will keep you informed as to her daily progress in the next few days."

About 10:30 AM today, we received the call that Gypsy was rapidly failing. She was on oxygen, had extreme difficulty breathing, and was suffering.

Patti Christie, Karen VanderHyde and Julie Murad were on the phone with Dr. Heatley and made the decision to end Gypsy's pain. It was a difficult one - but we were all in agreement that it was the best thing.

We immediately contacted Daina Mahone who had been providing Gypsy foster care (and an awaiting home) prior to this relapse. Daina was heartbroken, but said she had this nagging feeling all day that she needed to get up to College Station to see Gypsy.

With this sad news, Daina made the hour drive to be there with Gypsy. Daina's presence was a comfort to all of us, and we believe, also to Gypsy as they shared many happy moments since Gypsy's Texas arrival.

Dr. Heatley is quite certain that there are underlying factors which affected Gypsy's long term prognosis and recovery. When full necropsy and histopathology results are available to us, Dr. Heatley will provide details on Gypsy's life, state of health and other relevant information.

We believe that we owe it to every bird to provide as many answers as possible about why they passed away. We can only do that with a full necropsy and laboratory testing. It is painful for all of us, but each individual bird has so much to teach us about their life in captivity.

With this knowledge, our veterinarians can better understand underlying diseases, treatments and prognosis. With that information, we can all improve the care our birds receive.

Additionally, we received more news today from Colorado State University's Dr. Matt Johnston. Final results are still not in, but we learned that Norman, our beloved mascot, had been terribly ill. His necropsy indicated that he had lesions down the center of his brain, and much of that tissue was necrotic. He also had granulomatas pneumonia, many inclusion lesions, and hypoplasia, most of which is most likely associated with his herpes viral infection.

Dr. Johnston will provide us with a complete, written report to help us all understand more about Norman's disease.

Even with this post-mortem information, Dr. Johnston said that there was nothing that he could have done to help Norman recover considering these physical findings.

With this new information, it is some comfort that Norman passed away quickly, and was relieved of any further suffering.

The cost of care for Gypsy and Norman has been substantial. Thanks to your support, funds have come in that will help us be able to offset their veterinary bills.

In today's world of veterinary medicine, the diagnostics and testing used to determine disease are costly. Despite the final outcome for both Gypsy and Norman, we are responsible for this expense. We will provide you complete disclosure about the cost of care for these two on our website next week.

We will be soon be memorializing Norman and Gypsy's lives, and will establish the "Forever Norman Fund" that will be dedicated to extraordinary medical care for birds with chronic disease. We will provide further information on our website and via email.

Thank you to everyone who has sent their love, shared their memories, helped us raise the funds needed for these birds' care and who have grieved alongside us. Your emotional and financial support has been a testament to these birds lives and all who love them.

If you'd like to make a donation, please click here, and thank you.

https://www.thebirdbrain.com/forms/donation.cfm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Rest in peace and fly high sweet Norman & Gypsy......you were so loved by so many.