Shawn M. Finch, DVM

The self-assigned Read Every Single Book on the Veterinary Economics 25 Books List Project was so fun that I read the last two books really slowly because I did not want the project to end.  Then I realized that between friends and family loaning, giving and suggesting books, books the authors of the books on the lists recommended, and books I found in hunting down all twenty five books, I have an ENDLESS list of books to read this year!  Yay!

I wanted to list as many as possible in one place.  Now they are in a combination of on-my-shelf, on-my-nightstand, in-my-head, in-my-notebook, in-the-reference-section-of-the-books-I-have-read and in-cyberspace.  Very unorganized and overwhelming.  AND…when I am overwhelmed, I write a list!

So, you have seen the list of Books I Have Recently Read and Loved.

Here is the list of Books I Would Like to Read.  Anytime I try to put What’s In My Head into a list, things can get a little crazy, which makes sense, considering the contents of my head.  You’ve been warned. : )

What books would you add that you have read or would like to read?  Thank you for all of your recommendations this past year and In The Future!  This has been so fun!

What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith (Thanks Phil!)

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino (Thanks Dad!)

Soar with your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson (Thanks Dad!)

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca (Thanks Dad!)

SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Future Books by Malcolm Gladwell

Every Book Published by “Twelve”

The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon (Thanks Brendan!)

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (the original edition)

Public Speaking and Influencing Men In Business by Dale Carnegie

Public Speaking for Success by Dale Carnegie

Lincoln the Unknown by Dale Carnegie

Five Minute Biographies by Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

The Great Bridge by David McCullough

The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

Brave Companions by David McCullough

John Adams by David McCullough

1776 by David McCullough (Thanks Cathy-Friend!)

In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story by David McCullough

The Greater Journey by David McCullough (comes out May 24, 2011)

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Built to Last by Jim Collins

Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine by Dr. Suzanne Kurtz, Dr. Jonathan Silverman and Dr. Juliet Draper

1812 by David Nevin (Thanks Cathy-Friend!)

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (Thanks Bryan!)

So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore (Thanks Mom-Karen!)

Heaven by Lisa Miller (Thanks Karen-Friend!)

Chicken Soup for the Soul - Power Moms

The Divine Life of Animals by Ptolemy Tompkins (Thanks Mom-Karen!)

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (Thanks Cara-I-Love!)

Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor (Thanks Cara-I-Love!)

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef (Thanks Sara-I-Love!)

The Dental Radiography book at work

The Five Minute Veterinary Something by Someone and Dr. Tilley - I will write it down and fix this entry!  (I have always loved this book, but I have never read it from cover to cover)

The Hill’s Veterinary Nutrition Book

The rest of the Marvin, The Golf Caddy Dog series by Harold R. Mann (This was to be an entire Marvin series, but I am not entirely sure the rest of the series yet exists in Real Life - I hope so or that it will exist soon as it was a fun book!)

Your Dog, The Owner’s Manual by Dr. Marty Becker

um.

This may be a longer reading project than the previous one.

Also, I need more suggestions from you.

I have always loved to read.  So has Russ.  It has been fun to see this trait passed down to both of our daughters.  Our oldest has been told at least once every school year that recess is not for reading, it is for playing.

Once at a party I picked up my friend’s JAVMA (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association), and he said “Seriously?  It’s Friday night!”  I said something super cool along the lines of “Um, I hadn’t gotten my mail yet…I didn’t know this issue was out…I…um…” and then joined the party like a Normal Person.  I love reading. : )

In the July 2010 edition of Veterinary Economics, Tom McFerson wrote an AWESOME article called 25 Books for Your Summer Reading List.  I have finished the list!  Woo!  What a fun project.

I decided to take the project one step further and review the books I loved.  It is much easier to criticize a book than invest several months or years into actually writing one, so that is why I decided to only review the ones I loved and could give…

Five Stars!

✩✩✩✩✩

Here are links to the reviews of my favorites…

Freakonomics

Blink

Start-Up Nation

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Truman

Switch

Good to Great

Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic

Skills for Communicating with Patients, Second Edition

And some “update posts” about the project…

What I am Reading This Week:  Veterinary Economics

What I am Reading This Week:  Big Important Books

What I am Reading This Week:  The Same Big Important Books

Coming Soon on Riley and James

And some other books my daughter Abby and I reviewed during the year of the book-reading-and-reviewing kick…

Houdini Was…

Speaking for Spot

Marvin the Golf Caddy Dog

Anesthesia for the Pet Practitioner, Third Edition

The Complete Cat’s Meow

And HERE is a super-cool book shelf graphic from Shelfari.  I had seen it on friends’ websites, and NEEDED it for this post!  How cool is this book shelf??

So now I need a new project!

I have been keeping track of the books YOU have recommended this year and plan on reading all of them!  The ones you have recommended and I have read, I have loved.  What other books would you recommend?  I like almost everything!

Next Up on Riley and James…

Book Project Bunny Trails

Liz Marsh wrote a very nice article “Top 5 Veterinary Blogs” on dvm360 in February 2011 and included Riley and James! Woo!  Thank you so much!!  I guess that great news goes here.  Wasn’t sure where exactly to put it!

The other bloggers are Dr. Marty Becker (Pet Connection), Kyle Palmer, CVT (who blogs on dvm360), Brenda Tassava (Veterinary Manager Advisor) and Generation Vet (by Hillary Israeli, VMD and Phil Barnes)…all super awesome.  I am very complimented to be included in such a great group.

Thank you Liz for the nice things you said about Riley and James!  And thank you too Kyle and My Imaginary Best Friend (Dr. Amanda Brown) for saying such nice things!

UPDATE: Dr. Wittler had her March Firstline Magazine open on her desk when I came in to work the other day, and there was the print version of this article!  I did not realize it was going to be in print too - how fun!

Losing Ebony has been difficult.  I am going to take a few weeks in Real Life and just deal with that.  And by deal with that I mean sleep.  And mope.  And take turns saying to Russ “Are you ok?” and “Do I look ok?” and bugging the girls about how they are doing.

Saturday I will post another short story about the human-animal bond.  These have been fun.  I think I will try to write them more often.  The Saturday Blog Hop is a great time to fit them in cuz they just take a second to read and you can hop to the next blog.

This one has Russ in it so I am going to get his permission before I post it.  I rarely ask his permission for anything, but I do try to ask people or at least give them a heads up if I am going to say anything other than “This person is super awesome,” which he is, by the way.  I figured I could at least extend him the same professional courtesy I extend to others.  And also, I try not to do anything Important without running it by Russ first.

We are a good team.  The hitch comes when we are both going through the same difficult time.  Still, it has been so good to have someone who loved Ebony like I did to be with.

Next up after the Short Story is that series of leadership articles written for veterinarians.  I am going to try to fit them all in before March.  I posted the first and my favorite at dvm360 today…

A Dramatic Wellness Exam

I will put the other seven here on Riley and James.

Then March 1 - Heartworm Free Celebration and hopefully by then I will be done with the Veterinary Economics 25 Leadership Books Series and can tell ya what I thought.  (So far I love it!  Less than two books to finish and the last one JUST came in the mail a few minutes ago - woo!)

Then hopefully I will be back to random celebration of preventative care in real time.  It’s what I love best about this site.  But when real life hits, you kind of get dragged through the hard times with me.  I love that you are here, but I do not want to share to the point of discouraging you.  Fuzzy and Wuzzy and Piggy and Ebony were such wonderful pets.  Losing them as little individual family members has been horrible, but having them pass away one after another in a matter of three months has been staggering.  I SO hope I have no news for you when I come back to sharing in real time mid-March.

Here is what I plan to say:

*yawn*  Well, that’s better.  Gotta plant garlic and potatoes, then I will be back to write some super helpful veterinary preventative care information and stories for you…

Happy End of Winter…

Hope it is boring for you and your pets in the best possible ways.

Ebony Dog was recently diagnosed with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), actually by the numbers, a pretty mild case.  A visiting doctor even said, “She can’t be too sick, her tail is still wagging.”  I said that that was not a sign of the severity of her disease, it was a sign that she was awake.  That’s Eb.  She has always been happy.  She started out nine years ago as Russ’ puppy, but she has been my anchor ever since.

Before she could say “Hey, Cardiff, guess what?  Me too!“ she developed respiratory complications - some difficulty breathing  - from the IMHA or an as yet undiagnosed underlying cause or an unrelated disease - yesterday.  She is scheduled for thoracic radiographs - chest x-rays - at 7:30 am.  I woke up just now and thought “Oh, good!  She made it through the night,” and got up to get ready to take her in.  *sigh*  It was 1:00 am.

She seems to be doing much better right now.  yay.  I have no idea if I should post this.  This is supposed to be a fun gathering space for pet lovers, not a place to balance a great week with depressing stories.  That has been my theme this fall and winter, and I do not like it.

So here is my “The Best of Weeks…” part of the post.  Liz Marsh of Firstline wrote an article…

Top 5 Veterinary Blogs

…and included the Riley and James Website.  Thank you Liz!  Thank you Firstline!  Thank you DVM360!  Thank you Other Bloggers.  I think you are all awesome.  That was my bright spot of the day yesterday.

Oh, and here is another short story…

I hate mortatity.  I love my dog.

And…I WILL post this, AND my Valentine’s Day post.  I can already sense people getting depressed about Valentine’s Day.  You sure didn’t need my sickie dog story on top of this weekend making it worse.  Here’s to a happy Valentine’s weekend.  And here’s to Eb’s happily ever after.  We are both going back to bed, and I will let you know in the morning what we find out.

Ebony Dog

Ebony Update 2/12/11:

Thoracic radiographs were taken (right lateral, ventral-dorsal, left lateral if needed-it was not)

My radiographic interpretation:  Oh wow.  This sucks.

Ebony had evidence of metastatic neoplasia throughout every lung field - cancer that had spread from a still undiagnosed primary lesion.  Russ met the girls and I and we had her euthanized.  She could not breathe, but her tail was still wagging.

Yeah, it was that fast.

Dr. Wittler reviewed the radiographs with me and euthanized Ebony for us.  I could have done it.  I am grateful she swooped in to take care of us though.  The veterinary team rallied around us also.  And now our family and friends have as well.  In the day since we lost Eb, my radiographic interpretation has been confirmed.  This sucks.

I posted an article about conflict resolution on dvm360…

Conflict Resolution within the Veterinary Team:

Facilitating an Atmosphere of Respect

I wrote this article early last year.  Thus all the references to my awesome former coworkers!  It was written at the request of Banfield as a part of a leadership series they were doing.  The format of the Banfield Journal was changed, and this, the third of the three leadership articles I wrote focusing on interpersonal relationships, was not needed.  Soon after, I quit Oakview Banfield and started at Papillion Banfield.  Oh, the irony…

I am waiting to see what three of my favorite companies have in mind for future projects.  I am hoping for a lifetime partnership of regular writing assignments, with cute pictures of my pets scattered throughout the publications.

That reminds me of one of my favorite lines in August Rush.  Evan’s friend asks him “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” and Evan replies, “No, I’m thinking something else.” Perhaps they are thinking something else.  Who knows?  It could be even better than what I am thinking.  Though, as you know, there is nothing better than cute pictures of my pets.

I am waiting to read another leadership book that I can add to the “What I am Reading” series here.  As you know, I will only review books to which I can give five stars.  So I am getting through the list, but not falling in love with the books.  Seriously, it seems as if the books were all chosen by men!  (They were…not that there’s anything wrong with that.)  Let’s skip the sports and war illustrations guys!  Then we can whip through these life lessons a little faster.

I am waiting to see how my fall work schedule pans out.  I struggle with the same pull with which every mother struggles. Should I stay home more?  Should I work more? However, a normal mother makes the very difficult decision that balances her life and family dynamics best, and then adjusts her schedule based on the changing circumstances of her family.  I do that and then obsess.  And second guess.  For a decade.  Literally.  Still, I am blessed to have the choice over which to obsess and second guess. Lately I have become a tiny bit better at enjoying the ride.  See?  I named this post “Waiting.”  Not “Fretting.”  Or “Obsessing.”  Or “Flip-flopping.”  Yay, me.  I’m progressing slowly, but I am progressing.

That reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses:

“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

I am waiting for the smell of my perm to dissipate.

I am waiting for my kids’ friend to wake up from her nap so they can all play together.

I am waiting to see how well the Heartworm Disease and Omaha Pets article does on Omaha.net.  Is everyone sick of discussing heartworm, or is it still an attractive topic in its (unfortunate) timelessness?  Maybe I just needed to write it to remind myself to continue to be a strong advocate for my patients’ health.

I am waiting to see how some important things turn out.  Russ, you always proof-read my rough drafts for me.  Thank you for that.  And I don’t write rough drafts of my posts on this website.  I just write what I am thinking.  Since the rough draft step gets skipped here, you may never see this.  If you do, remember that I love you more than writing.  I love you more than being a veterinarian.  I love you more than my (un)naturally curly hair.

Now I am waiting to hear back from only TWO of my favorite companies - check off Banfield!  While I was writing this, I received an email from Nina Silberstein, the editor of The Banfield Journal and The Wagging Tail Blog.  She said that she forgot to tell me that the post she had asked me to write a while back is due TOMORROW.

Sometimes it’s good to wait patiently, and sometimes it’s good to get busy.  The genius is in knowing when to do what. I am going to go start on this Wagging Tail Blog post…

Have a great week.

Russ…

I love you more than chocolate.

I just wrote a blog post for dvm360 at the invitation of Veterinary Economics Editor Kristi Reimer.  Ok, so it was not a direct invitation, it was the introduction to the June issue of Veterinary Economics, sort of a “Draw This Turtle” for veterinarians.

I opened my June Veterinary Economics and read it from cover to cover like I always do.  The last thing I read (It was on the front page - I read magazines and journals from back to front - I think it’s a lefty thing) made me space off and dream for the rest of my lunch break.  Kristi said (to me!) “We’re on the lookout for user-generated content.”

Earlier in the year, Charity, who I work for at Carefresh, suggested I write a list of every company I would like to write with.  I already have my dream Mom-Veterinarian-Writer career.  Really, could it get any better??

I write HERE (which I LOVE - thanks Dave!!) and for Omaha.net (which I also love - thanks Jordy and Morgan!), Banfield occasionally asks for my input for their blog and journal (Thanks Nina!) and I had just accidently landed my dream job with Carefresh (Thanks Charity and Tom!)  Was it even OK to dream bigger?

But I do everything Charity tells me to do.  So I started writing out my dream list.  And at the very top of my list was dvm360-Advanstar Communications.  They are the team behind most of my favorite veterinary journals, behind DogFancy and CatFancy, even, I just learned, some automotive, dental and sports publications!  I knew it was just a dream, but sometimes dreams can become Real Life.  And writing lists is fun.

Thank YOU for coming with me on this crazy (good-crazy) adventure.  It has been fun, hasn’t it? : )

And look, they let me post this…Twitter for Veterinarians

It had to be said - When the world of veterinary medicine (eighty thousand+ veterinarians) intersects with the world of twitter (six million+ tweeters), it is such an amazing thing.  It just is SO uncommon!  (Four hundred sixty-two veterinarians/hospitals on twitter by my count)  I wanted to make jumping into twitter easier for vets.  So I hope it does.  If you don’t see more veterinarians posting on twitter in the next month or so, assume they are, as always, busy preserving and saving lives, not that they are unable to figure out twitter, because now I hope they will be!

Here is a working list of stuff I have written located places OTHER THAN RileyandJames…

dvm360

• twitter
• Conflict Resolution
• Season of Joy (the Puppy)
• A Dramatic Wellness Exam
• Do Pets Mourn?

Veterinary Economics Journal

• December 2010 Conflict Resolution (and in print)
• March 2011  A picture in reference to Liz Marsh’s February 2011 Firstline article, “5 Top Veterinary Blogs”

Firstline Veterinary Technician Journal

• Joy the Puppy

Omaha.net-The Wuzzy Chronicles

• new article every four weeks, January 2010 - present

Carefresh

• “Ask a Vet”, May 2010 - present

#dogtalk (now #barkoutloud)

• “Cosmetic Surgery and Pets” (no link - you had to be there!  I will try to get something posted!)
• “Heartworm Disease”
• “Fleas and Ticks”

Banfield Journal

• September/October 2009 pp. 6-7:  Overcoming Team Conflict - Learning From Our Canine Friends (and in print)
• November/December 2009, pp. 9-10: Seeing Our Favorite Clients - How to Create a Win-Win Situation for All (and in print)

The Wagging Tail Blog

• Recommending a High Level Standard of Care is Still the Best Idea
• Self Evaluation
• Changing Times
• Effective Communication Strategies for Veterinarians
• A Great Year for Veterinary Medicine

Dancing Dog Blog

• Debarking:  How would you like to be debarked?  A vet speaks out
• Dangerous Dog Laws Keep Dogs and People Safe?

Shadow Lake Towne Center Newsletter

• Monthly Pet Tips since May 2010 (Also on the Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion facebook page)

Dog Time

• This site has a copy of all of the blog entries here at Riley and James.

Pug Partners of Nebraska

• A 2010 series on Pug Health for new adoptive families - also published on Riley and James