is it a holiday yet!?

 so the good doctor was supposed to possibly be at court all this week (she’s also a lawyer. and was called to be an expert witness for something). I kept hoping and praying. didn’t want to SAY anything out loud and jinx it. well.. she was already here when I came in this morning (I was almost on time I might add). there was an emergency on the schedule at 8:15. they never showed. turns out it was a neighbor scheduling and needed approval from the actual owner of the dog. they were switched to a non-emergency regular appt at 4:30. the dog was better and the owner did not want to pay emergency fees. 2 more appts were added to the good doctor’s schedule since she is here. since we were getting behind, she added a 3rd. but 1 appt still hasn’t shown up. I don’t know if her “leaving” is waiting on that. that appt is a local who sometimes subs in for others here. she’s always on her own time no matter where/when we schedule her. 

the weekend flew by like a flash. like they always do. I did a whole lot of nothing Saturday. just sitting around. so that night I planned things to do yesterday - I did only 1 or 2. 🤦‍♀️ I’m horribly lazy on my days off. I was yawning all weekend long. Saturday night I stayed up late because I was wide awake 😳👀 then lay on bed another hour still wide awake. 

our oldest chicken passed away. Friday night or Saturday morning ? she was sweet. kind of standoffish but still friendly. she taught all our other chickens how to be, what to do or not to do, stopped any fights or squirmishes. it’s sad. so, now we’re down to 6 chickens. only the youngest 4 lay. so we only get one color egg anymore. the older 2 are retired now. just living the good life. 

so… I got behind again…

    work is work.. that hasn’t changed at all.. never has.. never will.. 

although.. alternate vet is leaving. yeah. found out last week. her one year is September. and her last day is next Fri Aug 30. just before Labor Day. she decided not to stay. I know her and main doc have had their ups and downs.. they don’t always see eye to eye. and main doc always second-guesses her decisions on treatments. all estimates have to go through main doc. main doc will change her prescriptions. there’s a difference between consulting and conferring, and outright overriding a treatment. 

Monday 19 was our 17th anniversary. things have changed since we moved up here. the money is different so we don’t do restaurants anymore, haven’t camped or vacationed since we moved. just the “being” is a luxury lately. I’m gone long days when I’m gone to work. and I’m a zombie when I’m not gone to work  🤷‍♀️ 

yesterday was kind of our anniversary-day to be together away from ‘life’. we went to Point Dume in Malibu. Fox was actually filming something there (no idea what). we hiked Point Dume until filming wrapped up. all the way up and back down again. then played in the waves for a bit. our friend treated us to Chuck Fil A. then we detoured through Santa Paula to Newhall Walmart for monthly groceries. then back home. all in total, we left at 9:15a and got home 8:40p. it was exhausting but nice. he got incredibly sun burned even with multiple applications of sunblock. I used none and I’m hardly pink. 

I will survive!!

the rest of the week was somewhat non-eventful.. except... 

Wednesday was the chaos day of 85 morning appointments, and we were supposed to have a mandatory online staff meeting (seminar thingie).  we got a very late start because a euthanasia was supposed to come.. but they were late.. they arrived right when an angry client walked in.. so the good doctor had to deal with him.. plus a specialist.. and an alternate vet office.. AND handle the euthanasia. the angry client was there for 4 hours.. ranting and raving every chance he got. the good doctor was trying to get a prior vet to take his case, again, but he had been banned from that office as a client due to rudeness & hostility.

we have another client who at a preliminary appointment, was discovered to be a caution, possible 'fired' client. then we received records and he was banned from a prior office for his temper. he has recently been okay but we walk on eggshells to not get to that point. if it should come to that, he will be banned with us as well. most of our banned clients are ones who have 'bad mouthed' us.. trash talk on facebook..
these 2 clients are of a different nature. 

Friday was a neuter surgery.. it was a busy day as the alternate vet was back and the schedule was all booked solid. we didn't stay long that day as we had to come back 'tomorrow'
Saturday was also booked pretty solid. we had a morning exam that ended up as a euthanasia. a 5 year old cat who stopped eating and had lost a lot of weight. she always was sub-temperature, but refused heat. the owners had given her a heating pad, we had as well, and she would walk off of it.
with xrays and labwork (quite difficult with her level of dehydration) it was determined she had liver AND kidney issues, as well as a mass in her abdomen. the owners decided to say goodbye and not prolong her suffering.
in the afternoon we had a frenchie with an ear infection. the owner has been texting with the doctor for a long while.
8/2023: her female was about to have pups and the owner wanted bloodwork before the c-section.
10/2023: she was nursing her pups and had to have emergency spay due to pyometra.
11/2023: she had 4 pups but one died, and 'now one has diarrhea'.
she's constantly texting for food recommendations.
this time momma came in with the ear infection- another vet office gave ear meds and an itchy shot (cytopoint). but she's had 3 shots now and each one lasts shorter duration than the prior one and they "charge too much". we don't?
so I went over the entire history.. the owner kept interrupting. but then if I stayed on her tangent, "will the doctor be coming in?" 
I finally finished history and tried to get a weight. and the dog flipped out! she was trying to fly over the owner's shoulder. then her husband was trying to calm the dog while she weighed her - and wife is yelling at husband to go away, to stop. I had to stand behind the husband while the owner held the dog upside down on the scale, and the husband read out what the numbers on the scale were. I didn't get "tech stuff" (elbows, carpi, teeth, respiratory, nails) and didn't attempt temperature because I wanted her to settle before the doctor would do her exam. I explained to the alternative vet all the exam history and the "nature of the beast". the owner had already come out of the exam room and asked the receptionist "will the doctor be coming in?" the alternative vet went to finish a prior exam and told the receptionist to let her know it would just be a moment longer. when we went in the room, the owner immediately asked to be seen by the primary vet.. so.. the good doctor said - "let them know, I'm finishing with my other exam and I'll be in" - they were supposed to be there at 3 to see the good doctor, but they arrived at 3:45 and had been bumped to the alternative vet. I went in to relay the good doctor's message and the owner said - you might as well try the temp now. the owner was holding the dog.. and as soon as I touched the dog's butt to secure her, she tried to launch over the owner's shoulder. I barely touched with the thermometer (not yet in the butt..) and she's screaming so the husband is trying to calm her again, and the owner put him in his place - again. so.. no temperature. the owner actually asked "did you get it?" uh. no. it doesn't work that fast. "why don't we try a different method? I use the ones that you swipe them like radar and get it" we don't have that kind of thermometer.
our alternate is an ear thermometer.. which a) she doesn't let me touch her. b) she's here for an ear issue.
I held for the good doctor.. and oh man, all bets were off!!! she was screaming and launching and scratching.. and eventually biting. we muzzled her with a flat face muzzle (ie. nacho libre) and I just held on for dear life. the owner kept trying to take her from me, but the good doctor wanted me to keep hold so she'd get used to the restraint (she never did...) she was definitely more vocal and scratching and biting once it came to looking at her ears (that's what muzzles are for). the husband had tried another time to calm her, but the owner quickly put him down. he was about to leave the room but the good doctor told him to stay because he's family.. that would make the Frenchie more comfortable.
the owner said she had been poked and prodded more than she'd like. and she's a fearful dog.
that doesn't explain the half of it !!! 

next week we START the week with a doggie dental and foxtail removal, and 14 appointments..
Wednesday is a kitty spay and a doggie lumpectomy (from the throat!), and 7 appointments.
and we end with a doggie dental, and 15 appointments.

we never had a staff meeting last week.. but they still mention that the alternative vet wants to add a Thursday.. we shall see..
I'm not really in the mood to do that. especially on the long weeks because that will make Wednesday through Saturday a back-to-back with only the Sunday to recover from it all. it's supposedly only a 6 hour day (3 hr appt + 3 hr paperwork) but I'm never home by 4.. ever..

I had thought of doing video blogs on my lunch break..
you'd be able to see me in my hot sweaty exhaustion..
my lunch breaks are sometimes VERY hectic and chaotic and rushed..
other times, I'm writing this out.. so it would basically be the same thing.. in non-readable format..

just tryin’ to get from one day to the next

our other vet didn’t show up today. everyone was texting her with no response. she finally responded that she had texted in at 7am that she was home sick. so, the vet is none too happy today. none of us are allowed to text in (we’ve all tried it) so I think that put her in a worse mood than she already was 🙄

this weekend went far too quickly. we went grocery shopping to make burgers (not our big shopping trip) and discovered that yet again his ebt was NOT updated. so, no $$. he was supposed to call this a.m. but by the time we both remembered it was 8:30. and the call center had opened at 8am, so he couldn’t get through. 

this is my long week, Wednesday is 85 appts in the first 4 hours, and then we’re open on Saturday. the new vet still wants to work a portion of a Thursday each week, 3 hours, and then the next 3 hours after that would be paperwork. Ron has his surgery Oct 10 so I wouldn’t be able to work that Thursday. I think his follow up 2 weeks later became on a Wednesday so I can’t drive with him for that. we might get time off in October so I’m really looking forward to that. unfortunately it’s after surgery and before the follow up. but it’s a bigger break than Labor Day in 4 weeks. there’s a Saturday in there somewhere when big poppa’s funeral is. I can’t recall if it’s in August or September or October. 

2 appts were added to today so we had to quickly prep those files. and then some paperwork had been added to a file messing up our timeline. now the appointments and financials are out of sequence for that patient.