Thursday, April 15, 2010

VCA animal hospital. Bad vet, no cookie for you!!



Baye bear is the love of my life. This Dog brings me so much joy and happiness that i cant describe to you with out sounding weird. We adopted baye in august. Healthy handsome man. Smart, beautiful German shepherd. I was in love before he got to the house. Well in september i told eric i wanted to take him to the vet because his breathing just wasnt right. Eric knowing i wouldnt let him say no, said sure babe make an appointment. We had no pets prior to baye so i did a search on vets in the area, read reviews and called a few places. VCA university animal hospital was the one we picked. Near the university on island. 20 mins away from home. We set up the appointment and that was that. the night before his appointment i was getting worried. What if this and What if that. So many things could be the problem. Or i could just be being a worry wart. Well the next day baye got in the car with ease and enjoyed the trip there happy as can be. When we were in the exam room with baye's vet, Dr. Leeloy, I told her i was very concerned of bayes heavy breathing. Also that he was just adopted and i wanted vaccines and tests done, fecal and heartworm included. So shot after shot he took it like a champ. By the time it came to leave he was happy to get in that car. In the mind of a human this is just another day, i wonder what baye thought was going on, I wonder how he perceives these things. Well anyways we arrived home and that was that if we get a call back then he has intestinal worms or heartworms if we dont get a call, hes good to go. The vet expressed to me that his heavy breathing was due to him being a bigger dog. A few days went by and we hadnt received a call back. My heart is calming down by now the thought of heart worms in boo boo would break my heart big time. Months go by and baye is healthy as can be . We start fostering a puppy. Penelope (penny) The sweetest pup ever. Baye and her would play for hours and hours. Happy as 2 dogs could be. January arrives and i feel a bump on bayes ear. Well sure enough a little while after i first found this mystery bump His ear is HUGE. Like a pillow. Like pillow ear. Also known as a ear hemotoma. Oh boo bear you have a boo boo. So i start calling animal hospitals to find out how much this surgery will cost to repair his ear. I called dozens of veterinarian hospitals and it looks like its going to be anywhere from 600 dollars to 1000 dollars Damn vets on their high horses thats what that is. So i call bayes vet and tell them i need an appointment because he has pillow ear. After being on hold for ages they made an appointment for the next day. I was kinda surprised because usually it is like a week till you can be seen. So now im nervous his ear could be more serious than it seems. So the next day I get dressed take baye for a walk and then head to the vet. When we got there it was sorta full. I sign in and im about to sit when they call baye and i in. In my head im like crap this is bad. "Exam room one please. Do you want some water? does baye need some water?" said the tech. I said " im fine baye would love some though im sure, Thank you." So we sit and Water comes in sure enough baye wanted some. Ive never had an experience like that where they ask if we want water. im super worried by now and notice there is a unopened box of tissues sitting in the room. Now im getting weirded out. its just a hematoma... Its fixable why in the world are they being so nice to me. Faye the hospital manager comes in and says sorry for the long wait (a whole 5 minutes if that) Dr leeloy will be right in. and she left. WTF WTF WTF is going on. Im seriously at this point freaking out. Leeloy comes into the room and opens bayes chart. She says oh wow his ear is very inflamed and i said yeah.. it kinda popped up outta no where. She then says well Just to recap, His fecal sample came back negative but unfortunately he is heartworm positive. WHAT THE F@&$. My heart sunk. My head spun and I nearly passed out. "hes what?" is all i could get out of my mouth. "Im sorry for the mix up but hes heart worm positive and has been since your last visit" WHAT THE F&@%. ARE YOU SERIOUS. "No hes not check the charts, You guys didnt call me, He was negative, You never called. He cant be heart worm positive. You didnt CALL!" Im sorry Mrs. Robinson, there must have been a mix up, The chart must have been filed prior to you getting a call back we are really sorry. With his condition though there is no way for him to have surgery on his ear. "So what now then." i said. "Well, you have a few options, one is you can leave it be, Causing pain and a slow but sure death."No," i said. Well two, We can treat it with 3 shots and hope for the best but these shots going in at one time could cause serious complications and possibilities for clogs in the veins and arteries leading to his heart, Causing death. Or the last option is we do the shots over time. It would be a 4 month treatment and it has a high rate of survival." She said. "How much"i asked" "Well Mrs Robinson, The price of the treatment is almost 1000 dollars." I died. I lost my mind. We didnt have that money. We were going to lose baye. My love, The one thing that was keeping my head held high when times were rough and i wanted to just stop caring i couldnt because this dog, This pound dog gave me hope and love. Even though he had been through so much. So much pain and heartache and so much confusion all he gave me was love and because i didnt call to make sure he was negative he had been suffering for months. WOW way to go chrys, you so get the mommy of the month award. So what do i do, I cry. I wasnt just crying i was sobbing. And honestly there wasnt anything i could do other than cry. My brain was so overloaded my heart was shattering and all i could do was cry. Leeloy stood there opening up the tissue box. Staying silent with ease. Im sure she was worried of what i would do next. Starting to pull my thoughts in, I start thinking wait a minute you a holes didnt call. You talk about the best service. YOU DIDNT CALL. HE COULD HAVE DIED. With a sniffle i said "Well, Im not paying 1000 dollars. You guys are incompetent. You should have called me and you did not. You should have noticed i didnt make an appointment for this. You should have realized i wasnt informed, AND YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED." Well Mrs Robinson let me go talk to someone and well see what we can do for you. She left. She left baye and i in this cold small room. This room that was so blank and empty to me, Just baye and I. Baye sat down next to me placed his head on my lap and waited. Waited for a pat of "its okay boo bear" The pat was coming but the encouragement behind it was fake and i know he knew it was. He got up and went to the door. Looked at me like alright mom Lets go your sad and we should go for a car ride those always make me super happy. "Its okay boo, Everything is okay. Its okay Its okay its okay."I said. Still crying Faye entered the room. Hi Mrs Robinson Im faye the hospital manager, Im really sorry for this mix up but im not sure what it is you want us to do. she said. Im not paying 1000 because you guys effed up. your all absolutely incompetent and had this been a real hospital and baye was my son. My son with cancer that was left unnoticed by me because the hospitals staff failed to notify me You would be sued and serious consequences would arise. I dont have the money and i cant pay 1000 dollars. I will not allow him to suffer any longer you, you will find a way for him to get this treatment," I said. Well Mrs robinson this hospital excepts the pet credit card if you would like to fill it out you will be able to afford the treatment if approved."she said. OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS? I said"No, I want this price cut up. I want to pay little or nothing. This is your hospitals fault and you need to realize it." Well mrs robinson please wait and i will see what we can do." she said. I waited, I waited longer than long. i waited in this room. My brain was like scrambled eggs, And my heart was as if it were a fine piece of crystal thrown against a boulder. I felt my body was dying and my soul was shriveling up. The thoughts in my head were, Im going to lose him. The love i have for him doesnt make a difference im going to lose him. Faye comes in at just the right time and says we can do it for 400 dollars. I said ok um i want to pay that per visit so 1oo dollars each time we bring him in. And i want the number to your higher up. This isnt over. Im so upset with how you all run this business and i will bring attention to you and this one specific incident. I will not lay down i will fight for the rights of animals and all animal lovers, your hospital was incompetent and absolutely negligent. "Okay mrs robinson ill get you that number, doctor leeloy will be right in. She left im starting to get angry. The anger i held wasnt i wanna hit something anger it was more of a fire burning deep within me. He could have died was basically all i had circling through my head. I want everyone to realize that i am a pro-life fighter. Every life on this earth is precious(except bugs ick) I will fight for life, Dog abuse is unacceptable and veterinary hospitals being incompetent is unacceptable. I was and still am fighting. Well long story short lol, We set up an appointment for the next day for him to start treatment. Take xrays and whatnot. The treatment was 3 shots of Immiticide, An arsenic based shot given in the lower lumbar muscle. Painful yes. More painful was that he is on restricted activity no more walks and penny my love had to be given back to the program in which we fostered from (pawprintsrescue.net) No more playing with baye no more fetch nothing we basically had to pretend he didnt have legs and need to sleep all the time. The first shot was given the next day the next 2 shots a month later. The month after that he was given ivermectin a liquid given orally to kill the larva of the heart worms and this is where were at. January 21st he received his first shot. In five days he is tested for heartworm. And by god i am praying for that test to be negative. There are possibilities that it isnt. That he still has it and then we would have to go through treatment again. My worry and hopes are meshed together. This is my baye bear. please please make him okay please find his life precious to live please help me find the strength to handle a positive test. My heart slowly is breaking. The thought of a positive test is so scary and i dont know how to handle that. Eric leaves soon how do i handle losing baye if that were the case. How Do I deal? I am a catholic. I will pray to god, I will find the strength for baye and for myself. He will make it. And he will be negative. VCA university hospital of Honolulu SUCKS and once were done with treatment with him there i believe we will be switching vets.
Thanks for reading my rants on this. Had it swimming in my thoughts and needed it out and about.

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