Every year at my week-long quilt retreat, I meet up with friends and indulge in my favorite pastime. Even though I am a doctor, and you’d think nothing about quilting could be scary, there are things I’m reluctant to try. Appliqué (APP-lik-ay) was one of those things. I had made a star quilt for a… Read More
Perspective
Making Your Relationship With Vet Med Last
One of the things that makes me so passionate about this field is the adrenaline that comes with it. The awesome feeling of a correct diagnosis. The self-esteem boost when a sick patient goes home after an extended stay. The rush of adrenaline when you go into an emergency surgery and walk out of the… Read More
What Running and an Old Cat Carrier Taught Me About Life
James was my heart kitty. He was like a little person. He had stress-induced asthma and I used to sing to him (“Sweet Baby James”) in the car – when we drove cross-country from California, where he was born in an old church, or when I had to take him to the emergency clinic… Read More
My Greatest Service Was Sending You Away
When we met, you were dying. Not in the existential ‘a little every day’ or a slow fade of light, but in the ‘Poo is hitting the fan, move. Now.’ kind of way. I quickly went to work. Your eyes were screaming for help, and you let us. Thank you for letting us, I know it… Read More
When Relinquishment Punishes Everyone
It happened again. A family could not afford the care of their pet and the veterinarian offered relinquishment instead of having to euthanize the animal. It should be a feel-good story. It should make you say, “Wow that veterinarian is so nice to do that for that animal instead of euthanizing.” But instead, people get… Read More
When Mastery Takes Time and Lots, Lots, Lots of Practice
It is a rainy day in 2008. It is cold and damp outside. You are walking down a busy city street. You see a veterinary hospital. You decide to go inside. You pull on the wet door handle. You brush the raindrops off your coat. It is very quiet inside. At first you don’t… Read More