Some Mondays are worse than others...

[Guest TargetShooter84]

Sorry to hear that, man!

Thoughts are with you and Bella!

[vontar]

Sorry to hear everything you have been though this week. As they say, when it rains it pours. I totally understand, our pets are part of our family's and if people don't understand that it can not be explained. Hang in there, Jamie and be strong for your family.

[Guest Jamie]

We got Bella started on the Prednisone last night, and the doc had given her an injection of the stuff during the office visit. She'll get a fairly heavy dose of it - 3 tablets twice a day - for the next week, then it'll drop off to two tabs twice a day for about 2 more weeks. Then it's off to start the Elspar at the doc's office. So far she's doing well and showing no symptoms except for the swollen glands. And those should shrink down soon, if things go as they should.

Now I'm gonna make y'all mad:

Bella is going through pretty much the same routine and treatment... for the same thing... as one of my mom's neighbors. And where her entire treatment may cost us $1000, he's already spent $65,000 on his.

And in case you're wondering, both are getting the same drugs. There is no "human grade"/"doggy grade" difference. ( We've always gotten most of Bella's prescription at the Walmart pharmacy. )

If that doesn't tell you how screwed-up our entire medical system is, I don't know what will.

[vontar]

Just recently here on the board I read in another thread people talking about fish antibiotics. I read a little about them. I understood what I read and what I googled. I don't know enough to proscribe myself by any means but yea.

I worked with a person once that said he once got his meds though a vet once.

Keep in mind, before any of it was approved for humans, they were all tested on animals anyways. or your choice.

[Il Duce]

Just recently here on the board I read in another thread people talking about fish antibiotics. I read a little about them. I understood what I read and what I googled. I don't know enough to proscribe myself by any means but yea.

I worked with a person once that said he once got his meds though a vet once.

Keep in mind, before any of it was approved for humans, they were all tested on animals anyways. or your choice.

Ummm ok?

[Guest Jamie]

Just recently here on the board I read in another thread people talking about fish antibiotics. I read a little about them. I understood what I read and what I googled. I don't know enough to proscribe myself by any means but yea.

I worked with a person once that said he once got his meds though a vet once.

Keep in mind, before any of it was approved for humans, they were all tested on animals anyways. or your choice.

Well, remember that "medicine" is just a chemical that has a particular effect or interaction with another chemical within a living body. And if it has the same desired effect on one type of body as another, there's no problem.

We use the same stuff to get rid of parasites in our lizards as you would to de-worm horses. And at first glance, that might seem a little odd, given the size differences, etc. However, the problem... the critters living and feeding on both of 'em's insides... are pretty much identical. ( btw... a horse's digestive system has much more in common with our bearded dragons' than it does with humans. )

And I guess it's the same with most other illnesses... One just has to be careful about the particular chemistry of what's being treated, and not cause some unwanted reaction because of that. In the end though, all life on this planet is pretty much the same, chemically.

But as the saying goes, the Devil is in the details.

[vontar]

Ummm ok?

Here is the thread

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/survival-skills/41994-long-term-survival-4.html

It just pointed me to them. Like I said, I don't know enough and I would not go off in that direction unless it was say one of the END of the WORLD or government events and I had very little choice.

Like Jamie pointed out, in this case, it is the same meds for a person costs much more.

Bella is going through pretty much the same routine and treatment... for the same thing... as one of my mom's neighbors. And where her entire treatment may cost us $1000, he's already spent $65,000 on his.

And in case you're wondering, both are getting the same drugs. There is no "human grade"/"doggy grade" difference. ( We've always gotten most of Bella's prescription at the Walmart pharmacy. )

However, the way a politician would fix this would be to increase the pet meds instead of decrease human meds. No wonder my Health Insurance at work went up 58 percent this year.

[Guest db99wj]

My dog developed a bad infected hot spot on the side of his face overnight last year, it was swollen, he was pretty dang pitiful, I thought he might have gotten bitten by something. It was bleeding and nasty. Took him to the vet ER where they cleaned it, gave him a shot, then went to the vet the next day to check it and get an antibiotic. It was Keflex, which is the same Keflex that I grew up taking for various illnesses like strep, ear infections, etc. The difference, is that Keflex for humans can be purchased at Kroger or Wal Mart for $4. Through the vet it was $25. So kind of backwards to what you are going through. The medical industry is F'd up.

I keep waiting on the time I come home or wake up and my dog is no longer with us. He is 14, can't jump on the bed anymore, he trips coming up the step into our house, has fatty tumors all over him. He can jump off the bed and will still take off running around when the kids chase him. If he develops cancer, we will have to put him down, I don't want him to suffer and he is too old to handle the treatment. So in the mean time, he is living the life, eating good, sleeping a lot, and plenty of attention and barely goes outside other than taking care of his business and the occasional basking in the sun.

[dats82]

Best of luck to you and Bella. My sister recently had to deal with the same thing with her dog. As I told her, I think it is important to remember the best thing we can do for an animal in our care is to not be selfish with them. I hope the treatments work for Bella, but as I told my sister, "If all you can do is keep her comfortable, do that as long as you can. However, do not be selfish of your time with Zoe, and do what is right for her when the time comes." I often think this is one area that vet med has a luxury over human med.

[Guest Jamie]

The difference, is that Keflex for humans can be purchased at Kroger or Wal Mart for $4. Through the vet it was $25. So kind of backwards to what you are going through.

Welllllllll.... maybe.

We have another vet's office here that we tried several years back, that's a little closer. It, unlike the one we see now, is set up much more like a human hospital. It is first and foremost a business. And they won't write a prescription for you to go pick up at your local pharmacy, they sell you their meds. And those cost out the ass, the same as they would from a hospital.

The doc we see, on the other hand, is far more concerned with the animal's welfare than he is his bottom line. He'll find the best price on what it is he thinks is needed, and if it's cheaper through him, that's what he'll do, but if you can get it yourself at a better price elsewhere, then that's where he'll send you. Also, if you have an emergency, you call him and he'll meet you at the office, any time, day or night.

The other place, you get a number for a place in Rivergate, and that's where you have to go during off hours. And if that's what I'd been forced to do back when ours got bit by the snake a couple of years ago, it might very well have gone far worse than it did, since the drive is twice to three times as long, and I ended up having to make 2 trips.

Anyway, I think it's more the Medical Big-business that's the real problem, more than just human vs. animal medicine...

The medical industry is F'd up.

No doubt about that one. And I think, as I said above, that the problem is Medicine becoming a business, first and foremost, rather than really being concerned with the patient's well being.

[Guest db99wj]

Welllllllll.... maybe.

We have another vet's office here that we tried several years back, that's a little closer. It, unlike the one we see now, is set up much more like a human hospital. It is first and foremost a business. And they won't write a prescription for you to go pick up at your local pharmacy, they sell you their meds. And those cost out the ass, the same as they would from a hospital.

The doc we see, on the other hand, is far more concerned with the animal's welfare than he is his bottom line. He'll find the best price on what it is he thinks is needed, and if it's cheaper through him, that's what he'll do, but if you can get it yourself at a better price elsewhere, then that's where he'll send you. Also, if you have an emergency, you call him and he'll meet you at the office, any time, day or night.

The other place, you get a number for a place in Rivergate, and that's where you have to go during off hours. And if that's what I'd been forced to do back when ours got bit by the snake a couple of years ago, it might very well have gone far worse than it did, since the drive is twice to three times as long, and I ended up having to make 2 trips.

Anyway, I think it's more the Medical Big-business that's the real problem, more than just human vs. animal medicine...

No doubt about that one. And I think, as I said above, that the problem is Medicine becoming a business, first and foremost, rather than really being concerned with the patient's well being.

Yes, this vet dispenses it himself, so his pricing is jacked up, he is padding his retirement before Obamatax hits him...lol...sortof.

[Guest Jamie]

We lost Bella this evening, a few minutes after 6:00pm. And the end came very suddenly.

Apparently something in her stomach ruptured, and she began to hemorrhage, because at roughly 3:00-3:30 this afternoon, she threw up, and it was about 50/50 blood and dog food. All this out of the clear blue, and after what seemed to be massive improvement from earlier this week.

After much panic on our part ( the vet is out of town this weekend ) we found a place in Clarksville that we took her... The Animal House, is the name, I believe.

The doc there did some blood work, and confirmed that Bella had, at very least, a bleeding ulcer. And while we were discussing treating that, Bella threw up once more. Same story, only more blood this time. And it was obvious from both how fast Bella was going down hill, and the look on the doc's face, how this was going to end.

I asked the doc... Dawn Neal... what she would do if it were her dog, even though we didn't want things to go the way they were obviously going.

And her advice was that we needed to do what was easiest for Bella.

So, Bella got to go to sleep in the back of mama's car, and to take one last ride back home. And sometime tomorrow, a fellow with a backhoe is gonna come help me bury her.

I thank you all for your well-wishes, and the comfort that you've all offered.

Right this minute though, the three of us here are pretty sick at how things went. Especially when we had thought they were going so well, and that we might get another year or two with Bella.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Jamie

[Raoul]

Condolences Jamie. Bella was obviously a good dog and I have no doubt that good dogs go to heaven.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Shame to hear, Jamie. Am pretty sure if anybody goes to heaven, it is dogs.

[Guest Jamie]

I guess the hardest part was the suddenness of it.... She was fine all day long. Running up the hill this morning, eating like a horse at breakfast... even begging in the kitchen just a half hour earlier.

Something my great grandmother used to say came ringing back in my ears today... something about "getting better to die".

I suppose I'm just grateful Bella's last week... and in many ways her last day... went as well as they did. Because as bad as it was this evening, I know it could have gone much worse... both for her and us.

[56FordGuy]

Again, terribly sorry to hear this Jamie.

Thoughts and prayers for y'all.

[Rightwinger]

Sorry Jamie.

[Guest Jamie]

Thanks again, folks. I gotta sign off of here for the night though... 'cause I feel like hammered , and am having a really hard time forming coherent thoughts...

... and that's with me being stone cold sober.

[Oh Shoot]

Sorry man...

Life's full of milestones, but at least half of them are losses.

Enjoy your other canine friends, maybe give another one a good life in Bella's stead.

- OS

[dariks]

Sorry to hear the news

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Guest db99wj]

Sorry to hear it. Sad news.

[laktrash]

I'm so sorry, I wish there was something I could do to help, but I know I been there

Again I'm truly sorry

[Guest BEARMAN]

Sorry to hear the sad news of Bella's passing, Jamie.

Hang in there, bro.

[Guest Jamie]

Thanks again, folks...

I spent the day building Bella a casket, and just a while ago my mom brought over a small platoon of her crazy neighbors to help with the burial.

Earlier today a fellow that one of those neighbors knows came over with a backhoe and dug the grave, so there was no manual digging required on this rock pile.

I've gone all day long on about an hours sleep so I'm pretty much exhausted at the moment. My wife isn't doing much better.

[leroy]

Jamie:___________

What kindness and devotion. Our prayers are with you. I lost my old Golden Retriever on May 30; and im still crying from time to time.

Cant hardly go to the kennel without crying.

Condolences,

Joe