March 14, 2004
2:42 p.m.

I've said the clinic was one of the least organized companies before, but, after dealing with Bellsouth, where I get my internet service from, I think I am going to change my outlook. I couldn't connect to DSL last week, so I called tech support. After talking to the guy for an hour, he finally goes, 'oh, well here's the problem, your account has been canceled' Of course, he couldn't tell me why, and he tells me to call billing, who told me the account was active and that the tech support guys were on crack. So, for another hour, I bounce back and forth between tech support and billing getting two different answers. Finally, someone in tech support found out that the account was active, but my user name had been canceled. Why, you may ask. Simply because my Mom had changed her last name over a year ago, and somehow, while bellsouth had changed the name on the account, it hadn't gotten changed on my user name, so, a year later, the delete it. So, it's going to be another week before I can get the user name back so I can get E-mail. The whole thing is just crazy.

I've learned over the years working at the clinic to deal with animal death in a way. It's not that it doesn't bother me, but that I can push it back in my mind and just deal with it a little each day. The thing I have the most trouble with, is watching the owners deal with it. Most of the animals that die at the clinic are animals that I am not emotionally connected to, but to the owners that are losing them, they are family. A couple of weeks ago, I watched this horse trainer that comes to the clinic a lot grieve after her dog died. This trainer is known for being a major hard ass, she doesn't take crap from anyone. But to see her collapse by the body of her dog, tears streaming down her face, I wasn't sure what to do. I guess it just reminds me sometimes how powerless we really are.

I really hate to watch young animals die. We have been working on these two foals, both with severe leg problems. We did surgery on the most severe one that was only two days old, and then put her legs in casts. Dr. C didn't even think we would get her legs straight with surgery, and was shocked when, with a loud crunch, the legs straightened. She seemed to be doing really well, until we went back a week later to remove the casts. The first leg looked pretty good, although it wasn't straightening as good as we would have liked. We then removed the cast on the other leg. As the bottom of the cast came away, so did a large amount of pus, as well as half of the skin on the lower leg. The surrounding tissue was necrotic, and the smell was pretty strong. Dr. C cleaned the leg the best she could, and instead of recasting, we put the legs in soft bandages with splints, figuring we would give her another couple of days on antibiotics and see if there was any chance. When we went back two days later, we lost hope. It appeared that the other leg was trying to get infected, and the leg that was so bad to begin with was getting worse. Hardly any skin looked viable. We put her to sleep. She was barely two weeks old. The other foal, who's legs look like this:
is doing a lot better. Her legs are much straighter, but she will still need surgery. If the surgery doesn't work, then she too will be euthanized. Both of these babies were so full of spirit, I just hope one of them makes it.

Now that I have depressed everyone, I'll write some good stuff. The Linkin Park concert was last weekend, and it was pretty good. Dr. C and I ended up missing the first two bands, one of which I really wanted to see, so I was a bit upset about that. Dr. C had to work that Saturday, so she didn't get to my house until six. There was so much construction going on in downtown Atlanta, that we decided it would be easier to take the Marta train, which would have been fine if I hadn't forgotten the tickets in my truck. We only got a couple of stops before I realized it, but it still took about fifteen minutes to go back and get them. Dr. C will never let me live it down. I didn't think this concert was as good as the other two I've been to. I think part of it was that we weren't on the floor this time, and that the sound wasn't great. Even on songs that I knew, I couldn't hear any of the words, they were drowned out by everything else. A lot of people were complaining about it. It wasn't that it was horrible, I mean, I still had a blast, but just wasn't as great as the other concerts I've been to. Dr. C and I didn't get back to my house until after one.

At seven thirty the next morning, my dog Piper was up on my bed, staring at me in the 'Mom, I really have to pee, and if you don't get up and let me out, you are going to find a big wet spot by your bed' way. Grumbling, I very tiredly(it's a word, honest)let all my dogs out and fed them. Of course, by the time I finished and got back into bed, I was wide awake. Grr.I was supposed to meet Dianna, Ellyn, Kelly, and Dr. C a little later to go see Hidalgo, so I got went ahead and got up. The movie was really good, although, working at a vet clinic has kind of ruined animals movies for me. At the end, he lets the horse go, and you're supposed to be all happy, but as the horse runs away with the herd, I saw shoes on his feet. I turned to Kelly about the same time Dianna turned to me, and we were all thinking the same thing. THe horse is going to throw a shoe, get lame, and be eaten. What a morbid group we are. The fact that we were all thinking it is really sad.

Things at the clinic have been going better. Business if finally picking up. Amy also announced that she is quiting. It took a lot of self control for me to not jump up and down, and I mean A LOT of self control.

Thursdays are Dr. C's day off, so I end up assisting Fuller on those days. Last thursday he had eight surgeries scheduled. This is the guy who takes a hour to do a fifteen minutes procedure, so, I was making major bets that it was going to be a really bad day. Surprisingly, we got everything done by five. I was amazed. I even got to do a punch biopsy, which was pretty neat. And, the most amazing thing of all, Fuller was very nice to me. Hmm. Body snatchers anyone?

We took an eye out of this little pony who insisted on being a bad anesthesia patient. The entire time, he would breath like this: In, out, in .......silence..........out.....in, out..in.....silence..... You get the point. I had him so low that he started moving his head, but still wouldn't breath regularly. He did fine otherwise, and went home two days later, but I was sweating the whole surgery. I just hate large animal anesthesia.

Anyway, I am putting off cleaning my room, and I really should do that, so, off I go. I hope this entry didn't jump around too much.

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