Life Lessons

So somedays I learn lessons in my life away from the clinic that I take back to the care of my  patients and my clients.  Their is truly no substitute for life lessons.

My 6-year-old daughter began to have stomach cramps Saturday afternoon which led to multiple episodes of vomiting which led my wife and I to take her to urgent care. There, we were expecting to get something to help with the vomiting and pain and go about nursing her through this. Unfortunately, the urgent care physician almost immediately told us that an appendicitis was likely and we immediately needed to run some bloodwork and potentially needed a CT scan and surgery in the morning.

Wow! This knocked both my wife and I back.  The thought of surgery for my daughter was a shock.  It brought on so many emotions, but I was mostly scared and I felt like I had no control over the situation. I had to rely on the doctor’s recommendations, a doctor of whom I’d ever met before that night,  and move forward.

Lesson #1

      It is a privledge for people to allow myself and my team at the clinic to care for their pets (patients). A client’s trust in a doctors is amazing and I need to remember that everyday.

Lesson #2

      Doctors see and speak about medical illnesses and treatments everyday.  Surgery is a word spoken without regard because it is commonplace.  As much as I try to now, I should be more empathetic when discussing potential diagnoses and tretment plans.  Significant surgery is not common for our clients and is a big deal for any patient.

My daughter had her blood checked and treatment began on Saturday.  Bloodwork was kind of marginal (not bad enough yet for surgery) and we planned on monitoring for 24 hours.  Luckily, she began to get better on Sunday, and did not need any further treatment or any surgery. 

We did find out that it was just a stomach flu,  not food poisoning,  not an appendicitis.  I made this diagnosis myself on Sunday evening at approximately 11 pm when I started vomiting and did not stop  for several hours.  I eventually needed IV fluid therapy, but recovered pretty well in 24 hours.

Lesson #3

    Six year old children are walking petri dishes just waiting to get you sick.  Love you Ally!

Amanda had her baby!

Congratulations to Amanda and her new little baby girl, Avery Lee! Mom and baby are both healthy and doing great!

Boss and his soccer ball

Check out Boss playing with his new pink soccer ball, courtesy of Ally (my daughter)! He is having  so much fun playing outside during this nice weather. When he’s inside his favorite pastimes include chasing his tail (sometimes he even catches it), and hunting our broom. After all that, there is nothing better than curling up in his kennel and snuggling with Ally…yep, she crawls in there with him! This poor dog just never gets any love around here…

He continues to recover nicely and is bearing more weight on his leg each day. If we can bear to let him go and his recovery continues to go well, he will be ready for adoption in a month or so.

Boss’s Recovery

Update on Boss, who is doing very well! He is now putting weight on his back leg. He is such a sweet dog. During the day Boss loves to hang out with us. He has already found a favorite toy and has a permanent bed in the corner of our treatment area in the back. He enjoys watching us work. He loves it when we talk to him and show him as much affection as possible. More to come…