Is this typical bilateral OCD Surgical Recovery? - Page 2

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Jenni78

by Jenni78 on 14 February 2018 - 00:02

This makes me extremely sad for this poor, sweet puppy.

Jenni78

by Jenni78 on 14 February 2018 - 01:02

What vet clinic does free boarding, now free surgeries, and more free boarding, for weeks on end?

by junkmail2014nov on 14 February 2018 - 10:02

Hey Jenni78: Thanks. Yeah. I have to say I was a blubbering mess all day Monday. But I saw her for about thirty minutes yesterday and she is moving SOOOO much better! She’s also bright, and still sweet, and happy, AND walking on BOTH legs!!! YAY!!! So fingers crossed this is the end of this race.


To be clear, in answering your second post, yesterday through next Saturday is NOT free boarding. And the third surgery was not “free” per se. This specialist last June repaired the ACL of my previous girl. She was to be my hearing service dog. She had naturally adjusted to my needs as I lost my hearing. She tore her ACL all the way in 2017 MAR. We tried to wait and see if it would heal on its own or heal enough that she would be comfortable but that didn’t work. She had the surgery, he did it, and she was recovering fine, in fact better than fine. Then in on a day in October, we went for a jog in the afternoon, came back, and that night I went to lift her onto the couch and she screamed in pain. I rushed her to the vet. She had had a pernicious tumor growing in her liver that was not discovered on the full blood panel that had been done prior to her surgery. It was the same type of Cancer you find in humans too late. There is a unique and specific genetic/bool titer test that has to be run in order to find it. Its such a rare type of cancer and is so silent in its symptoms that it no wonder both people and animals die from it. I’ve had a relationship with this hospital and its doctors and specialist since I’ve moved here. He/they would NEVER have recommended her surgery if they had known she had that. And there was no way they could have. They also know I’ve had to shell out of my own pocket the cost for my hearing implant receivers/aids. Point blank, the manager and her (my new pup's) physicians have stated this is their way to offer sympathy and help. Last, this repair she had on Monday, again, there was no way to foresee that something like this would happen. Its very rare. To quote the ortho, “I finish what I start. I do this for them....not for the owner....to make THEM healthy and comfortable....” And THIS is why I use this hospital.

I come from human medicine. I am very selective about my own personal physicians and those who care for my animals. Those who practice medicine are doing just that: PRACTICING. Most people do not understand this concept. I do. I “practiced” medicine in my field for over 25+ years. And this SHOULD be this way. They SHOULD be “practicing" all of the time and learning all of the time to get better and better. I don’t care HOW long they’ve been doing what they’ve been doing. And if something happens unexpectedly or is an occurrence of less than 1-2% of the population of patients in their care whom they see that they could not have predicted, then as vets, (and as human doctors) I WANT them to step up to the plate and say, “Well, didn’t see THAT coming. Okay, here’s what I can do about that to help out and this is on me.”

So I am paying for everything on this third one, (as far as I know right now as I don’t have the complete bill yet) except for his time. And she (my pup) is staying in the “critical care” area until next Saturday but I am being billed for standard boarding. To me, these things are a fair negotiation. In fact, and this is just my opinion, if we as humans had a way to negotiate health care in this way for ourselves, we’d be a hell of a lot better off! IMO.

I think what it boils down to, for me anyway, is I am a very ACTIVE person when it comes to both my, and my animals’ health care. Not that most people aren’t its just that as a person who comes from that discipline, I have a very unique understanding of what they face and what decisions they have to make. Case and point: when it came back that night that not only did she have that tumor but it had grown so large from feeding off the blood supply to the liver that it had slightly ruptured her liver and she was bleeding slowly internally. Her doctor told me later that week when she called me to give me all the lab results and tests etc. (Which I had asked for only to make me feel better for making the decision to let her go peacefully), she thanked me. As is/was her responsibility, she gave me the option of taking my girl home and trying to make her comfortable for “the little time she has left.” However the doctor also told me there would be no way to know how much pain she would be in and eventually this would be the outcome.

She told me later that week that 99% of owners, when faced with that information, that shock, take the animal home on pain meds, only to bring them back 24 hours later because they have had to watch the animal suffer before they realize that keeping them alive only serves their (the owner’s purpose) and not the animals comfort and well being. I knew the moment I looked at the radiographs what we were facing and how it would go. And I knew it because of my previous career. I also knew how much pain she would be in if I didn’t make that hard choice for her. The Doctor, and the staff who thoroughly enjoyed seeing her, said much, much later, when I went to pick up her ashes, how much they appreciated that I didn’t let her suffer and they didn’t have to stand by helplessly and watch it. And you know what? The blood work I requested on her? Which, as I said, I requested, KNOWING I wouldn’t have it back until AFTER I made the decision to have her put to sleep, the doctor wrote it off. They didn’t bill me for it. But it DID show they her liver enzymes didn’t even register and her RBC’s were way down and her leukocytes (basophils and eosinophils) were through the roof.

I guess, for me, what it comes down to is, do they care for my animal as much as I do? And do they KNOW, how much my animal means to me? My Arabians I had many years ago, same thing. One eventually died of COPD at age 17, (an Arab Quarter cross) and then the other, a pure bred Egyptian Arab got diagnosed with Sarcoma at age 10. We treated it and thought it was successful but it turned out that the tumor we removed on the outside of her head, was growing into her brain on the INSIDE. When I had it removed and treated her with Chemotherapy, the CT didn’t show it. It was just, unfortunately again, a pernicious type of CA tumor. Things happen. We, (humans, dogs, cats, animals of all kinds) are living, breathing, FEELING, creatures who’s bodies and lives don’t always pan out the way we hope they will. And I WANT a RELATIONSHIP with my doctors and those doctors of my animals such that they’re willing to step up to the plate and stand in the gap when s**t goes wrong. I want to hear them admit and for that they need to be COMFORTABLE with me to admit, “Well, THAT didn’t go well! My bad. Didn’t think that would happen. Soooo.....here’s what we can do....” and be willing to eat the cost or at least bear it out with me in a way that I can afford it to have the treatment for myself or for my animals. To me, medical professionals of any kind, if all they do is charge no matter what, they’re in it to make money. Likewise, those who are scared to death they’ll be sued are more likely to say “Jesus, Mary Joseph! Here! Let’s do this for you for 100% free and please GOD! Don’t sue us!”) Again, with this mentality, they’re also in it just for the money OR they’re NOT comfortable enough in their PRACTICE that they’re willing to admit when things don’t turn out as planned or hoped. I don’t WANT someone like that!

Soooo....a long diatribe to answer a seemingly simple question but I hope it helps explain it all.





 


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