Handing Off Responsiblilty

February 14, 2012, 6:53 pm

I was paged today at about 2:30 pm.  In the middle of a procedure at the time, it wasn’t until 3:00 pm before I returned the call.  The elderly woman who answered told me that she had a cat that couldn’t be put in a carrier but that she had gotten it in the bathroom. She added that her favorite cat needed an appointment today because, “it has had a cold for a few weeks and now it was sneezing blood.” 

 I told her that I was really jammed today but that I could get to her in about fifteen minutes on the way to my next house call.  That’s when she informed me that she needed a later appointment because after she had put the cat in the bathroom, she had gone shopping.

 I reiterated that an appointment later today was impossible but that she might want to consider cutting her shopping trip short…but of course that was impossible.  So I asked her if she’d like to schedule an appointment for tomorrow and her response was an indignant, “Well, I will if she’s still alive!”  Now the guilt was mine.

 Saddened to the bone; I felt so bad for the cat, put my cell phone in the cup holder and continued on to my next appointment.

Mrs. Bliss

November 6, 2011, 3:51 pm

        My appointment was with Mrs. Bliss at a retirement community.  I swung around the elegant hotel-like portico of the place in my van. The un-reserved parking spaces were sparse and filled while the other parking spaces were reserved, even if they were empty.  After a couple of swings through I pulled into one of the reserved ones, got my doctors bag and tin-back out and walked inside to the desk clerk who looked as if he was ready to reprimand me. Before he could say anything I gave him a knowing smile and said, “The farther away I have to park, the more expensive it will be for your resident.”  After a very short song and dance, he conceded and directed me down one of the wide pleasantly carpeted hallways to Mrs. Bliss’s room.

          After a short history and a quick exam I knew the source of her dogs’ itchy problem.  There are many explanations for this clinical presentation but I thought that the introduction of a new diet was the culprit here.  Mrs. Bliss told me that it would be easier for her to purchase my hypoallergenic diet that to go to the store, so I set her up with enough to tide her over for two weeks which would also be time enough to prove my diagnosis.  I asked her where she would like me to put the food and she said, “There, on the counter.”  So that’s where I put it.

         Some of my work days are really long and it was late by the time I collected Mrs. Bliss’s message, “Please call me back as soon as possible.  I’ve got a big problem.”  The sun was cooling off and so was I when I called her back but there was no answer.  I took to bed a real concern that maybe I had missed something and wondered what could have gone wrong?

         The next morning when I called her again and asked her what the problem was with Tommy.   Mrs. Bliss was ebullient, “Oh doctor thank you for returning my call.  Tommy Boy is fine but I thought  I was going to need you to come back to move that heavy sack off my kitchen counter, that is until I found a kind gentleman who also lives in this community to help me.”  Then she added, “and he is a very handsome man. ”  

        A bit taken back, I said, “Well, I’m glad everything is under control.” It took me a while to see the humor in the situation after I had hung up the phone and it took me a bit longer to appreciate the beauty in that moment.

Recovery Room

October 23, 2011, 12:53 pm

Every now and then it will be necessary to give your pet a restraint drug or anesthetic. Most anesthetics take a while to wear off so you will need make a temporary recovery room for them to wake up in.  Here are some guidelines on how to make one in your home.

1)      The room should be 3-4 times as big as your pet.

2)      The room should be dimly lit, warm and uncluttered.

3)      The floor of the room should be padded with bath towels or something similar to insulate your pet from the cold and to keep it comfortable. 

Bathrooms, laundry rooms (with the machines off!) or walled off portions of your pets’ favorite room all make great recovery areas.  Although it may seem weird to you to have your pet wake up from anesthesia in your home, you can imagine how much better this is than waking up in a veterinary hospital cage!   After an hour or two your pet will be alert enough to be let out and find its favorite place in your house to enjoy the rest of its recovery.

How to hot pack your pet.

June 29, 2011, 5:05 pm

The only materials that you will need are a clean damp dish towel, a gel pack, a casserole dish, a plate and a microwave oven.  The gel packs that you put in your freezer to make an ice pack work well for hot packs too.

Step 1.  Put the gel pack in a casserole dish that has about two inches of water in it and heat it in a microwave until it is very warm (usually around 2-3 min). 

Step 2.  Wrap the damp dish towel around the gel pack and put it on a plate.  Put the plate in the microwave for a short period of 30-60 seconds to heat the towel and boost the temperature of the gel pack to hot.  This is usually around 30 seconds in most microwaves.

That’s it!  The whole purpose here is to create a source of moist heat that will stay hot for about 15 minutes.  The hot pack should be hot to the touch but not so hot that you can’t handle it or so hot that it will scald your pet’s skin. Typical hot packing is applied gently at first, directly on a wound or surgical site with a drain and then as your pet gets used to it, you can rest the pack right on the affected area.   The whole purpose of hot packing is to increase the blood flow to the area, which will in turn increase the delivery of any medications and/or healing elements in the blood to the injured tissues.  A good duration of time to hot pack is about 15 minutes, so this works perfectly.