May 12, 2003
9:15 a.m.

Why is it that everyone has to have some type of emergency on a holiday? For pretty much that last couple of months, I have been in and out of the clinic when doing treatments, yesterday, because I actually had plans, "morning treatments" last almost eight hours. Sunday was Dr. C's first day back on call, and she was getting every call imaginable. As soon as we would wrap one call up, and I would start to get ready to go home for Mother's Day, the phone would ring again. I think my favorite client of the day, would be the one's that came in with no shoes, no shirt on the male, with a dog who hadn't seen a vet her whole fifteen years of life, not on any heartworm preventative, a tumor on her back the size of my fist, now having breathing problems, and, suddenly, they want to do everything they possibly can for her. It's a little too late for that. X-rays showed that the tumor was most likely malignant, and it had spread to her lungs. I was sorry for the dog, but I have become sick of people who think they can make up for years of neglect with some last minute ditch effort to prolong life. Most of the time, the animals will end up in a much better place if they were to die. Sounds harsh, but, is true.

I felt a little bad for Dr. C though. A lot of the time, when we are on calls together, clients will ask if she is my Mom. Normally, after calmly telling them no, she will later, look at me, begin jumping up and down, saying 'do I look old enough to be your mother!' Well, the clients mentioned above looked at me yesterday, and goes 'Now, I know you two are related, that's obvious, but I'm afraid to say how.' I watched Dr. C kind of clench her teeth. I shook my head, and said that we weren't related. The guy looks at me, then at Dr. C and goes 'Well, I would have just sworn she was your mother.' I had to work really hard to not laugh at Dr. C's face. Later, when we went to get some X-rays, I made sure to give her a really hard time about it, saying things like 'Do you want this film, Mom' To which she would reply with a glare and a 'shut up Heather.'

For Mother's Day, I kind of made my Mom a little bag of gifts with a purpose, dorky stuff like, a candle to light your way...blah blah. She got all setemintal, and excited, so, I guess that means she liked it. I got a little upset later on, when she asked me if I would sit on the floor, or the chair, so Roger could sit on the couch with her. I guess it just kind of hurt my feelings.

Anyway, I am going to go and get ready for work. Sometimes, this seven days a week working crap kind of sucks.

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