Julie’s Journey

01/20/2024

Julie checked into the hospital today. She’s been having very watery stool and has been having a ravenous appetite & thirst despite having a full crop and eating all her food. We did bloodwork and cultures today. We should know more soon 🤞🏼

12/26/2023

Merry Christmas from Julie & her flock 🎄❤️

12/20/2023

We are devastated about this😭. You are an angel VC❤️

12/10/2023

Julie is getting into the Holiday spirit! She wants to know if you guys would like to see pictures of her flock brothers and sister? 🦜

11/30/2023

Julie had a scare! She was growling and wing flicking all night. She lost most of her tail feathers and was bleeding! We rushed her to the vet the next morning… we were so thankful she ended up being okay. Her cancer site looks SO GOOD! Yay! She is responding so well to the new chemotherapy treatment. She had a very painful feather cyst that her Dr opened up in hopes that the feather will come out on it’s own. If not, she will need to undergo anesthesia in a week to surgically cut the ingrown feather out and at that time she will also get her next chemotherapy treatment. She is doing so well otherwise. Her Dr thinks she may have fallen while we were not home and that is why all the tail feathers got traumatized and broken.

10/15/2023

JULIE UPDATE:

Julie’s most recent biopsies came back. The cancer is STILL in her right wing web - we expected this though. She has started a new chemo so we will see how she does. Her left wing though that we feared the cancer had spread to HAS NOT! Her left wing has no cancer!

The plan: Her Dr would like to remove the cancer in the right wing web (white circled area) in hopes of removing most of it and then continuing chemo on the small areas in hopes of having better success getting Julie into remission. Julie tolerates all of her procedures well despite her having heart problems & abnormal breathing when under anesthesia. We are still deciding on what to do. Obviously cost is a huge factor as we have spent so much already and have quite a debt to pay off. We gave gotten her this far and it just doesn’t seem right to stop now. Julie deserves everything and more.

10/01/2023

Julie underwent anesthesia today to obtain 6 biopsies. 3 of her right wing, 2 on her left wing to check for SCC. She started her new chemo on her right wing today as well. We are hopeful that maybe the new chemo will get our sweet girl into remission. We have a plan for her right wing if the cancer is still present. We will likely remove her entire wing web area. (This has not been decided yet by me if I’m willing to do this). We are also checking the left wing in 2 areas as it looks suspicious of SCC but not 100% sure.

Julie is back home and happy. She’s in good spirits. We will be starting back on monthly chemo again and it’s very costly. Today’s visit was a hard one but Julie deserves it. We will do what we have to for her. Keep her in your thoughts and thank you all for being so supportive of her and helping / joining us through “Julie’s Journey”. We love you all.

09/24/2023

Hello all! I apologize for the long absence here. We decided to give Julie a break from the medical aspect of things for a bit. She’s doing well! Last vet visit we had talked about looking to get a new chemo and wanted to try that out.. well the medication was on the back order for months and unavailable to get… then Julie’s vet clinic had an awful oxygen fire and everything got destroyed 😞. They are now up and running at a temporary location and we just had a follow up. Julie’s cancer is stable on her right wing and looks good given having no treatment in the last 6 months. Her Dr wants to repeat biopsies of her right wing and also in her left wing to either confirm or deny the cancer is in her left wing too. Her Dr also told us she was able to get the chemo we wanted to try! I am so excited and thankful. So Oct 1st she will be going in for biopsies again. Please wish her the best luck and prayers. Biopsies cost about $200-$300 each time we do them. We will be more active now so you all can keep up with our sweet Julie.

08/19/2023

We are so sad to hear this. We enjoyed watching Griffi so much. She will forever be in our hearts.

07/30/2023

The proceeds go to Exotic Bird Hospital 💔

Design by Robert Seymour, with our thanks! All proceeds to Exotic Bird Hospital. . Dr. Rhoda Stevenson and her team at Exotic Bird Hospital have helped thousands of parrots...

07/28/2023

Please share Exotic Bird Hospital’s GoFundMe so they can rebuild and cover expenses for renting a new place. Julie’s Dr is the only BOARD CERTIFIED AVIAN DR within hundreds of miles of Jacksonville and the only one who sees exotics. We need EBH in our area to be okay and come back from this!

We are creating this page with a feeling of heartache and loss. On t… Rhoda Stevenson needs your support for Exotic Bird Hospital Suffers Immense Fire Damage

07/28/2023

This is heartbreaking. This is our second home 💔

They got 62 patients out with only one devastating loss of an employee’s beloved pet. What an amazing team to have accomplished getting that many patients out and risking their own lives.

07/26/2023

Please pray for us. This is Julie’s Vet. We are devastated.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/07/25/fire-at-exotic-bird-hospital-sends-2-to-the-hospital-1-bird-died/?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar&fbclid=IwAR1xuf8PaZ_bKZ2jew3XldhDupNm7fyAIWtnogQK23IuxOVuAhkN8wYhIUk_aem_AZ7xcmvn8Oql5iDGfje30rMbCzNFpl0dHhoXiSJBqGZ0LiQwdyWkx-Ni0ogWvxJnpXI&mibextid=2JQ9oc

Jacksonville Fire Rescue tells News4JAX two people went to the hospital and one bird died after a fire at Exotic Bird Hospital on Old Kings Road South.

05/31/2023

Sweet Julie says Hello Summer ☀️

She’s been feeling very good lately and has even taken some baths on her own! We have had so much going on in our personal lives I had to take a step back for a bit. Julie is doing wonderful and loves you all.

04/11/2023

Sweet Julie hopes everyone had a great Easter 🐣. We have been busy busy here. Julie is doing well… we are still waiting on follow up results to see if her WBC levels are lower and on her culture results to make sure we don’t have infection. She has been sleepy lately and not as lively as normal. She is definitely still eating though ❤️. We love you all!

03/21/2023

Julie wants to say “Hello” to everyone tonight. She likes to help me prepare meds for all the birds at night. Thankfully they all take meds on muffins or take it in some handfeeding formula! She is doing so well. Her foot is getting better. Swelling is decreasing. She is in happy spirits💜

03/10/2023

UPDATE: Julie is doing well since her fall. She has started to go back to normal and is now back in her normal cage. Last week I noticed her right foot started to swell. She didn’t seem bothered by it as she was still using it and climbing. Her Dr wanted to check her xrays again and look at her foot. Xrays showed no breaks (we knew this) and only showed swelling. We also did bloodwork to make sure her metabolic health was still normal. All was good! Her liver & kidney levels are normal as well as her uric acid! We are still waiting on her CBC results. Julie is on 6 medications that are life long. She loves taking her meds ❤️

Her Dr is looking into a new chemo drug to try on Julie’s squamous cell. So we are excited to try something new in an effort to get her into remission.

03/02/2023

Our little angel is doing SO much better! Her foot is still slightly swollen but she is moving all around and climbing again! She is one happy girl & has been so lively! We are putting her cancer on hold until I get her an ultrasound (my choice). I just want to enjoy Julie and allow her to have a break. She is doing so well and I am so thankful she has recovered from her fall 💕

SHE HAS NEW FEATHERS ON HER HEAD!