Meet Luna Alstadt, my miracle kitty. My first meeting with Luna was during her spay back in August of 2009. She is the house cat of one of our purebred Angus cattle breeders, who I do a fair amount of work for.
This past winter, she came into the clinic as a very very VERY sick kitty. She hadn't eaten in a week and was very dehydrated. Her hematocrit (or amount of red blood cells) was very low, less than 5%. Two blood transfusions, antibiotics, and after almost 2 weeks in the hospital, Luna was discharged. She was my miracle kitty. All the doctors at my clinic and even the owner thought she wouldn't make it. She gradually recovered and went back to holding things down at the farm.
Two weeks ago, Luna was back at the clinic. She came in recumbent with a very low body temperature. Blood work was almost normal, just a low blood glucose. I had absolutely no clue what was going on with her. I was sooo frustrated and felt helpless. We hospitalized her and did everything we could for her, and she passed away the next night.
Then, it finally happened.... I cried. It was the first time I cried after loosing a patient. The hardest part was trying to keep it together on the phone to tell the owners. The owner could definitely tell I was torn up. Thank goodness the morning was slow, cause it took me almost half an hour to get it together and go back into the clinic.
My favorite memory of Luna had to be this spring: I was out working cattle and paused for a moment to look up the driveway. There was Luna strolling across the drive. A bird flew by, and wham! Luna was 3 feet in the air doing a flip trying to catch the bird. Such and acrobat! May she rest in peace.
"Fences are like a person's life. Sometimes it's up and strong, and all theses posts are all the things that keep the life up and strong: a loving spouse and family, health, work, neighbors. You get the idea. Sometimes even dreams make good fence posts......... Your problem, is that you ain't got enough fence posts to hold up your life. And many of the ones that you do got are rotted. You got to get you some fence posts, boy. And if you got a neighbor who wants to help you put them in, by God, you let him. One day he might need help with his own fence, and if helped you, it'll be easier for him to ask for your help. You get it? "
~ Whitey from "Church of the Dog"
Monday's are always bad days, that's just the nature of the day. I hate it when I walk in the door in the morning after a weekend off and have absolutely no clue what I'm walking in to (which most of the time is a screaming hurricane of a mess). Even after I have been on call that weekend, I just dread going into work, cause it means another 5 days of work before I am able to escape.
But anyhoo.... here's the summation of how this Monday went:
(Notice the perfect symmetry of the feline canine teeth as they sunk into my arm....)
After a long day working (complete with a migraine), there's no better way to end the day than by pulling a calf. And the big plus, both mom and calf were alive at the end of it :)
I first met Forrester on a farm call this fall when I was treating one of his "siblings". His owner owns and operates a very successful small business in the area. She and her "friend" have 3-4 Great Danes that visit our clinic often in one way or another.
One afternoon this winter, Forrester was on the schedule for "diarrhea and making a strange gurgling noise". When I walked into the room I could definitely tell that this big guy was not feeling well at all. On exam, his heart rate was very elevated, his gums were pale, and he was dehydrated. I highly suspected that he had a GDV or "twisted stomach". Blood work was run and I took x-rays of this belly. Everything was normal- no signs of a twisted stomach. I was clueless... trying to figure out what to do next when my boss suggested that he could be an Addisonian. We stabilized Forrester overnight, and waited for the bloodwork to come back. 24 hours later- out suspicions were confirmed.
The most amazing part of this story is the fact that I was actually allowed to work up and diagnose Forrester. Even bigger, was the fact that his owner didn't hesitate when I explained to her that Forrester needed monthly injections for the rest of his life, and because of his large size this would cost ~$250/month just for the medication. I've very thankful Forrester has caring owners who are able to care for him the rest of his life.
At his last recheck, they said that Forrester almost seems like a new dog- running and playing and jumping like a puppy. However, he still gets nervous on his trips to the vet. There's nothing like seeing a ~140 pound dog tremble and shake and he walks through the door like a scared 3YR old.
Word for word as left on my voicemail.....
"Our dog is like going in circles trying to catch her tail or something.... and it's like driving her crazy."
Does everyone go through times where they think about a career change??
Could I be happier doing something else??
Was I meant to do this??
Why do I put myself through all of this??
Is it worth it??
