Those Ears, Though! in Ponderings of the Universe

I’m enjoying the first three day weekend I’ve had in a very long time. It was much needed.

Work has been even extra insane. I think I say that every time I write. J, one of our doctors, is on paternity leave and summer is typically a bit busier than winter for us. The last few weeks have been beyond busy. Our schedule book has 15 minute appointment slots and typically it is not completely full so there’s some wiggle room. The past two weeks we have been booked SOLID with each doctor working having appointments every 15 minutes. It’s impossible, especially if those appointments are not simple vaccine/annual exam appointments, which many of them have not been. Reception has had it drilled into their minds by old boss that you cannot turn anyone away plus they were still scheduling us for surgeries. It’s improved slightly but the week of the 9th was non-stop appointments with trying to fit in surgeries over our lunch hour/catch up time. There was no time for paperwork so at one point I had excess of 60 records to write it. 60! That is absurd! We were getting 4-5 appointments behind schedule and we’d get walk-ins which got us even further behind schedule. Then it was putting out fires due to people’s appointments getting started much later than initially scheduled. It was an absolute nightmare. Plus, because I was so behind on paperwork, I was coming in after work for hours to attempt (and fail) to catch up. Holy. Shit.

We’ve been talking to reception and trying to get them to change their ways. We’ve been blocking off appointment slots to give us time to catch up. I have to keep crossing off slots because they keep trying to over schedule us or schedule solid blocks of sick/diagnostic appointments. Slowly, though, I think they’re learning…maybe? Plus, we’ve also been having old boss, who’s trying to retire, come in to do all the surgeries so the rest of us can just focus on appointments. Last week was slightly less awful but still exhausting. I can’t wait for J to come back from paternity leave!!!

My friend came to interview for the new vet position and everyone likes her. Old boss told her not to take the job until she comes in to do a shadow day and also that he thinks she would be happy with us. She’s planning to shadow the first week of August sometime. I hope she feels like it’ll be a good fit! I’d like to work with her. Plus, more doctors hopefully=less insanity? Who knows lol!

I did my first toe amputation on Friday with P (Old boss). I think it went well. He’s an interesting teacher. His method works for me. It’s kind of like your dad teaching you something-both patient and getting kind of impatient and irritated with you when you’re doing something he thinks is dumb. I’ve known P since I was 3 so I give him sass back and make him laugh. He pretty much is my work dad. He is a phenomenal surgeon and has lots of great tips they don’t teach you in school. Anyway, the toe came off and the incision closed up fine. Let’s just hope the pet doesn’t bust it open before it has time to heal!

Last week I also had my first semi-serious dog bite. We were doing a sedated groom for a known biter. Things were going great. I had great control of his head, he seemed sedated enough through the whole groom (he needed his face groomed, otherwise he woudl have been muzzled). We got to the end and I went to re-lube his eyes and fast as lightening, he turned and got my right forearm. Ouch! I was wearing my lab coat and I think that provided more protection than I would have thought possible. Luckily the dog was small (about 18 pounds) and did not break skin at all. Bruised like a motherfucker, though.

Picture doesn’t really do it justice. It looks a lot worse lol! I’m just happy it didn’t warrant a hospital visit! And that he bit me and not my tech or my groomer.

In other news, meet Johnny:

Johnny is an approximately 6 year old, male, chihuahua-mini dachshund (we think) mix. He was adopted from the Animal Humane Society in 2016. He came from Georgia. Recently, his owner was hospitalized and then transferred to a memory care facility. His owner’s brother took Johnny in but their resident dog did not like Johnny and they were afraid that the much bigger dog would hurt him. They brought him to my clinic to have his vaccines and heartworm test updated. M saw him for his appointment. While he was in the treatment area getting his blood draw, I made the offhand comment of “That looks like a dog I’d bring home with me based on ear size alone!.” Oh, little did I know.

His owner’s family were looking to re-home him because of how their dog was responding to him. They felt really bad about it but felt it was for his safety. They wanted to get everything updated to make sure his new foster/owner wouldn’t have to put in too much financially.

Well, turns out, he’s heartworm positive. My suspicion is he was positive at the shelter but it was too early in the infection to get a positive test result. His owner didn’t bring him to the vet after he was adopted and wasn’t giving him any preventatives/routine yearly testing. That complicates matters. Treatment is pretty involved and lasts approximately 4 months.

Meet Johnny, my foster dog:

Johnny came home with me on Friday. I met with his temporary family and they were so thankful that I’d be taking him through his treatment. They also left payment for his treatment.

He’s remarkably well adjusted for a chihuahua mix. Very sweet, doesn’t seem scared. He is a little wary of everyone in my household. He’s taken to me and wants me to be his person. I want him to bond with the other members of my family instead of just me. It’s only been a couple days, so hopefully he’ll warm up a little more. He’s definitely more wary of men than women. I’m having Aaron give him lots of extra tasty treats. So far, I’ve only introduced him to Harvey. He’s interacted with Gracie and Stanley through the baby gates I have in the house. I’ll probably introduce him to Gracie next and later Stanley. Stanley’s the only one I worry about-he’s kind of a jerk. Johnny has a nice big pen to hang out in when he’s not out in about. I want him comfortable in it because once he gets the heartworm killing injections in 2 months, he will need to be kept very very quiet as they break down. I want him to be comfortable and see if I potentially need something smaller to keep him quiet during that time.

Sweet boy

He loves to sit on my lap.

So, yeah, those are all my recent adventures :P