Adventures in doctor visits

[kaypeeoh]

I see several specialists, averaging one every three months. Generally I wake at 6AM to have time enough for a shower, shaving and caffeine before the visit. This morning my alarm failed and I woke 15 minutes before my scheduled exam.

I washed my face, gulped down two large mugs of coffee, found clean clothes to wear and dug out an old electric shaver. Generally it's a good day when I can do everything plus have time for a BM. And today all the stars aligned in my favor. I had a BM...yay!...then I drove to the appointment as I was shaving.

I found the room but was 5 minutes late. As I was putting chairs out the Yoga instructor arrived. I apologized and she did the same, saying her cat normally wakes her up and today he hadn't. We got into a discussion about her cat and I suggested she get him to a vet.

The symptoms were he was sitting in the litter box unable to pee. In male cats 90% of the time that means the cat has a urinary obstruction preventing them from peeing. If seen soon enough it's an easy treatment, if not seen soon enough they'll have urine poisoning and won't survive.

Good news, she got the cat seen and problem fixed.

I seldom have adventurous doctor visits.

[parkie13]

A lot of people are not aware of it. thank you for educating.

[MarionP]

Thank goodness you were there to give the advice and she followed it!!! And then told us cuz we need to know it too. Tell everybody! My three cats thank you!!

[kaypeeoh in reply to MarionP]

Sarcasm? Okay, the vet diagnosed a bladder infection. In healthy cats the urine is slightly acidic but infection turns the urine to slightly basic and that's when stones form. Hopefully it'll clear with Amoxidrops.

[MarionP in reply to kaypeeoh]

No not sarcasm. For real. 3 cats and a dog (the one in the photo). Animals are better than people.

[kaypeeoh in reply to MarionP]

...why I became a vet

[MarionP in reply to kaypeeoh]

They eat better than we do. They consume way more heath services than we do. Their vets have a new pool at their office because of us. They never go without, but we do.

And that Damn dog, I take her out three times between 11 pm and 6 because that's when she wants to go toilet, because she is breathing different and dancing I know that she has to it's not voluntary, and because she's a working dog, though I could sleep till noon (and need to because I've been up all night taking her out), 10 minutes after my wife leaves for work at 6:30, this dog is up in my bed bugging me and nuzzling me and nipping me until I get up and go to the living room, because it's "time" to change grazing fields. Then she goes to a corner and I don't see her for 3 hours except if I pet a cat because then I am giving her attention to somebody else and she has to come over and lodge a protest, or any time a cat descends to ground level because then they need to be chased and herded too. And then she just goes back to a corner and sleeps. She can hear me just thinking about eating. I don't go on vacations or long local trips because she can't tolerate being alone for 5 minutes, tantrums and eats things like she was born with pica, but only when she's left alone...she's eaten and gakked up or pooped out more inedibles then a room full of goats. When out on walks she accosts everybody (everybody), trying to convince them that she is really their dog who they haven't seen for years, and they need to take her home with them because we stole her. Because of escape risk, we installed a barrier to keep her in the car's back seat, to avoid the tantrums of being left alone, but anytime I take her to the store or gas station etc. and come out she has managed to get into the front seat and nobody knows how. She seems to have been born knowing how to high step. Twice a year our neighborhood is covered in these tiny little fluffy white sagebrush balls. After reading we are prodded and loudly barked at to go to the bedroom where she will climb under the bed and we will all stay there because that is the family safe spot. We are very fortunate to have a deaf neighbor because for some reason nature only equipped her with one volume level of bark, I've trying to train her and she really can't bark at less than 100% volume. We've tried training her for various things but she just doesn't care., and as a bred sled dog she does more walking of us than we do with her, so I have leashes anywhere from 35 to 70 ft long so she can have a little freedom to move. And whenever somebody mentions a cat's name, the dog always shows up first.

[kaypeeoh in reply to MarionP]

I would have written a script for Prozac for that dog.

[MarionP in reply to kaypeeoh]

Yeah you know we looked into that, but everybody we talked to, vet, trainer, groomer, and the breeder we bought her from said all of the above is typical of the entire breed, i.e, for them it is normal, not illness or symptom. And using that as explanation, we had to pass a quite a bit of grilling from the breeder before she would sell us the dog. Well we already knew that from our previous dog who we had inherited from our daughter, exact same breed, and she couldn't handle that dog, who had pretty much the exact same behaviors... ( she was married, two young kids, stay at home wife) so Mom and Dad inherited her.

But say maybe that Prozac idea is still good...for us humans. At least she helps keep us fit.

[kaypeeoh in reply to MarionP]

I was thinking the dog had separation anxiety. I read a book 40 years ago titled, Your Dog Isn't Sick, He Just Thinks He Is. When the owners were going out the dog would run through the house with scissors in his mouth. I had a Pit Bull I'd inherited who would chew holes in our chain-link fence and escape to roam the neighborhood looking for company. I kept her on Prozac and she did less chewing on metal fences.

[MarionP in reply to kaypeeoh]

True for any other dog.

[pdpatient]

kaypeeoh , while others have focused on the cat being cared for in time, I have been impressed with your ability to get to your appointment on time after getting up 15 minutes earlier. How did you do it? I can't imagine myself doing in 3 years after diagnosis and I was young PD diagnosed 🤔. You have even managed to perform the daily normal morning ablutions that regular people might have difficulty with sometimes.

Bravo, but you are doing something right that we could all learn from.

[kaypeeoh in reply to pdpatient]

Is there such a thing as 'Parkinson's-Light'?

[JCRO in reply to kaypeeoh]

Maybe Functional Neuropathy Disorder?

[pdpatient in reply to kaypeeoh]

I don't know if there is anything official. But I think some people have a milder type of Parkinson's. Plus it's also a matter of motivation.

I am finding that it is easier to get the job done if I force myself to do it even if it is not the best time for me.

[kaypeeoh]

Our house is maybe 5 minutes from Hartford Health in Mystic, CT. On appointment days I'm usually up hours before needing to get in the car.