Scone - Christy is definitely the expert to listen to hear, I have no idea about paralysis ticks but from someone who has a lot of animals that are accident prone these are the questions we like to ask our vet.

What will happen if we don't go through with the treatment,
whatare their chances of survival with vrs without it?,
what will be the outcome with vrs without it (will they require treatment of medication for the rest of their lives etc)
What are the chances of survival if they do recieve the treatment
Any alternatives?

We ultimately have a fixed cost of vet bill allocated to each animal and I have literally said to the vet - this one has $400 left - do what you can for that?

Having said that COMPLETELYdifferent circumstances but my cat was vommitting blood one night, became very ill. Had an xray and it was recommended that she have surgery but we simply couldn't afford it. After asking the vet these questions we decided to let her stay at the vets on a drip and try and make it through herself. 16days later she came home $350 vet bill but a healthy cat - whatever her issue was she passed it herself and has no lasting damage but that was the risk we had to take. it could very easily have gone the other way but we could also have spent 1500 on surgery for her to have gut issues the rest of her life or to still pass away???

Hope your cat makes it out alright!!!!