Russ, Sara and Shane and I decided to go from the Jones’ to the Finches’ to fish and let the kids go swimming in the lake.  We had one job – keep the kids safe.  We did that.

Well, we had two jobs, keep the kids safe and keep the dogs white.  We did a great job.  Wait, no, we did a 50% great job.  Jacy Dog stayed white.  Here is the other half of the story…

Lucy is Russ’ parents other little white dog.  See?

Lucy escaped through the gate and jumped into the lake with the kids.  I texted this to Karen, “This might have happened,” with this picture -

Since it did in fact actually happen, I let Lucy play in the lake some more.  She is quite skilled at balancing on a knee board.  But then she got out of the lake and THIS happened -

So I did this…

and this…

and texted Karen, “Now Lucy is back to this!” -

We walked back down to the Jones’ and I asked Karen, “Did you get all the pictures I sent you?”

“No!” she said, “Is everything alright??”

“Yes,” I said.

And it was.

The End

Last Monday we had more euthanasia cases than I have ever had in one day.  I love firsts.  And mosts.  The first time I did a Tru-Cut biopsy.  Yesterday.  True story.  The most cases I’ve had in a morning.  A couple months ago – 25, including phone consultations and prescription refills.  Would have gone faster if I hadn’t stopped to run to the desk and add tally marks to my notebook page all morning.  I couldn’t help it.  It was so fun.

Monday though, Monday was rough.  On the whole team.  Stephanie came up beside me while I was entering medical notes into the computer on the third euthanasia of the morning.  ”Please tell me you don’t have another terminal case for me,” I said.

“No, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Ok,” I said, “hanging in there.  You?”

“Yeah, ok,” she said, and we regrouped and had an even sadder afternoon.

As Kelly and I were standing over our last patient of the day, in her own backyard, her beautiful spirit free of pain, and her beautiful body appearing so peaceful, her friends and family left behind in shock and heartbreak, we had to be strong.  They needed us.

Euthanasias at home are even more heart wrenching than euthanasias at the hospital.  You see the layers of Real Life.

Another coworker joins her friends and you realize her late fiance was close to the family and so was she.  Everyone has gathered again to say good-bye, and your husband has come to help with carrying afterwards, and the lines between professional and family completely blur.

It happens in the hospital too, but if you need to stop and catch your breath, you can.  If you look up during a home euthanasia, you see the yard the pet loved, or a family picture on the living room table, and you just stay immersed in the grief with the family.

And you want to fall apart with them and grieve for them so it is not so heavy for them to bear.  Because there is so much sadness, you sort of absorb it like a sponge, but you have to carry the stretcher and you have to get back into your own pickup, and you have to get the pet and your team back safely and take care of the details of the body care and the rest of the things that you actually can shield her family from.

And you want to scream like you yourself have lost something so precious, but you  hold it all in – all you let through is the tears and the hugs, because they need you to be strong so that, just for this short time, they do not need to be.

Tonight my family was walking up to the building we thought our oldest’s daughter’s volleyball game was in.  I heard a scream like the one I had internally screamed at the end of that day of euthanasias.  I turned just in time to see a horrified child as her balloon floated gently up out of her reach and into the sky, becoming a pinpoint as she wailed.  The only ones in the area were her family and mine.  I caught my own sob before it became a wail to match that poor kid’s cry, and went inside.

The receptionist let us know we were at a building a block away from the game.  Hand on the door, I stopped and turned back.

This one I can fix.  I can fix this one, I thought.

In my ever eloquent manner I said, “Balloons.”  The receptionist looked up with a kind but confused smile.  ”The balloons.  Were they from an event in here?  I mean, there’s a kid…”  I stopped and pointed outside to the little girl still howling toward the sky.  ”A kid…she lost hers, I mean…”  I looked outside again.

“Oh, yes, we have more balloons!  I will call her teacher!”

“Thank you!” I said, relieved.  We left the building and headed up the block.

Mom was trying to get the screaming little girl into the car.  Her baby sister was already in her carseat, wide-eyed and wisely clutching her balloon with both hands.  Mom looked frazzled.  For the second time in the span of a few moments, ever as eloquent as I am extroverted, especially when making split-second decisions to be so, I decided talking to a stranger was more important than protecting myself from the discomfort of talking to a stranger.

I turned back around and approached the car.  I said to Mom, “Wait!  Don’t leave yet.  They’re coming.  I mean, you know, they’ll be here soon.  With another balloon.”

Mom stopped.  She smiled the biggest smile I had seen in a long time, sighed and said, “Thank you.”

“You are welcome,” I said and my eyes filled with tears.  Hers did too.  Her daughter still had a great supply of tears going, but she had stopped crying and looked cautiously optimistic.

I know.

I know how hard it is to see someone lose something precious and want so badly to just fix it.  To make things right again.

As we turned, almost out of sight, I saw a teacher run out with a balloon.  This one was green!  That one had been pink!  I stopped and held my breath, watching and waiting.  The little girl squealed with delight and jumped into the car, with as tight of a hold on her new balloon as her sister had on hers.

I remember what that first moment of panic feels like when you accidentally let go of a balloon outside.  My balloon string slipped out of my fist once after a visit to Grandmother’s Restaurant as a kid.  Once.  My kids have each done it once.  Never again.  You never want to feel that loss again.  When it happens to someone you care about, you want the hurt to stop as soon as possible.

Sometimes you can make that happen, and when you can, it is the best feeling there is.

I gasped.  ”You’ll have to excuse MY gardening hands!” I said.  We smiled.

(I examined her dog.  She was healthy.)

“Doesn’t he look great?” Mom asks.

“Yeah,” I say softly.

“This season of life has been a really good one.   I thought you should know. “

The memory still makes my eyes teary.  In a good way.

The Incredible Max the Cat

I may have mentioned before what an incredible cat he is.

Max was in for his wellness care the other day.  He had lost ANOTHER pound.  He used to be twelve pounds.  Now he is 6.6 pounds.  This most recent pound was lost in the past nine months.  At Max’s age, that’s scary fast to lose weight that is not lost on purpose.

A sixteen year old cat losing weight with no explanation on examination, urinalysis or blood work is a strong suspect for cancer hiding somewhere.  Look at me being objective and doctor-y about my own cat.  I can (usually) do it when needed.

I called Dr. Krapfl, who does ultrasounds for most of Omaha and whom I work with at Gentle Doctor (one of my many favorite things about Gentle Doctor – blog post idea – write THAT list).  ”No rush…” I said calmly.  (Calm AND objective!  You know this can’t last through the whole case.  This is MAX!)  What Dr. Krapfl heard was “my cat”…”16″…”weight loss” and within SECONDS (a couple days) Max was upside down with his tummy shaved having his first abdominal ultrasound/cancer search – me praying for no cancer and Dr. Krapfl probably praying I would not cry.

I’d Love to Go to Work with You, But I am Washing My Ankle. Sorry.

In those couple days between weighing Max and reviewing his lab work and his ultrasound, I went through all the possible emotions associated with all the possible outcomes.

I diagnosed a ten year old (SO YOUNG) cat who was feeling great, eating great and losing weight with probable intestinal lymphoma, and bawled.  You are right, I would have bawled anyways.  But he is six years younger than Max!

At the doctors’ meeting, we discussed the most recent AVMA euthanasia guidelines.  Every time someone said “euthanasia,” I sniffled.

I tried to dwell on the fact that Max has been too skinny for almost a decade…and the 25 year old cat I once knew…and how great Max felt…and I spent the time I was not sleeping at night petting Max, and telling him things would be okay.  He didn’t really seem interested in what the future held, but loved the attention.  Cats are awesome like that.

Today came.  I packed Max up and headed to work.

Noodle Wanted to Know Why Max was in His Fort

The entire team rallied to support me.  Dr. Thomassen said she was going to have me help with a detail of a case but she would get it in case Max’s appointment ended sad – “Then you can just get home with him.”

Dr. Belfiore came into the appointment with me.  ”I’m going to hold him so you can just be the Mom.”

And Dr. Krapfl said my favorite thing of all.  ”Well, you could have done this on a work day after all.  I have no sad news for you.”  ”I might still cry, Bob,” I said.  ”Oh,” he said.

“I can’t promise you ten more years,” he said.  ”26!” I thought.  ”I was hoping for 25!”  And then I did cry.

Clearly, I was no longer being calm or objective, so I thanked Dr. Krapfl, tucked my cat under my arm, and ran to the corner of the doctor office, set my kitty on the desk, and wrote down all the things Dr. Krapfl ACTUALLY said, and my thoughts on follow up care.

When You are Overwhelmed, Write a List!

We tested Max for feline leukemia (negative – yes!) and feline immunodeficiency virus (negative – yes!)  Over the next few weeks, we will run a few more tests, but the Big Scary Stuff that was keeping me up at night has been ruled out.  My day is TOTALLY made.

Max Contemplating…

Max Being Awesome

Max Back at Home, Resting with his Poodle – Don’t Tell Anyone He has a Poodle Friend! 

Thank you, Dr. Krapfl!  

*Mental Hugs*

]]> http://rileyandjames.com/2013/03/max-the-cat-loses-weight/feed/ 0 http://rileyandjames.com/2013/02/our-garden-plot-at-westwood-church-community-garden/ http://rileyandjames.com/2013/02/our-garden-plot-at-westwood-church-community-garden/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:28:51 +0000 Shawn Finch, DVM http://rileyandjames.com/?p=3597 In the spring of 2012, Westwood Church started a community garden.  It is among my favorite things in the whole wide world.

Russ put a Square Foot garden grid and a small trellis on our plot.  I planted seeds and plants and took pictures.  Then I planted more seeds and plants.  And took more pictures.  And rearranged.  And took more pictures.

We had a huge delicious bowl of lemon basil pesto pasta, some wonderful beets and a few onions.  Otherwise, we just admired how beautiful the plants were.  And, you know, took pictures.

We met several gardeners from the surrounding neighborhoods who came to garden with us, gardeners from our own church family we had not known before, or not known well, and one very kind man walking his dogs who came to see the garden and ended up meeting the wonderful family that is Westwood Church.  I imagine there are thirty sets of such stories from thirty gardening families…just perhaps none who found themselves in quite as obsessive of a plant-photograph-rearrange cycle as I did.

So while the only tangible things I have to share this year are pictures, I do believe Westwood’s community garden was a beautiful, understated, resounding, incredible success.

Here are my pictures…

]]> http://rileyandjames.com/2013/02/our-garden-plot-at-westwood-church-community-garden/feed/ 0 http://rileyandjames.com/2013/01/pet-blogger-challenge-2013/ http://rileyandjames.com/2013/01/pet-blogger-challenge-2013/#comments Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:44:05 +0000 Shawn Finch, DVM http://rileyandjames.com/?p=3567

Thank you again to Amy of Go Pet Friendly for hosting this, the third annual Pet Blogger Challenge!

And Dr. Edie, I miss your Frankie stories and love your new blog, Freud’s Butcher!

Here are this year’s Pet Blogger Challenge questions, and my responses…

1. How long have you been blogging?  

I have been blogging here on Riley and James since September 2006, so a little over six years.

I have a comic (a blog of sorts I suppose) called “When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet.”

I have also blogged at Wagging Tail, dvm360, Life with Dogs, Omaha.net, Smart-Pet Guide and CareFRESH and done some guest blog posts.

I am helping start a professional blog in 2013 for the veterinary hospital for which I work, Gentle Doctor Animal Hospitals, which I am very excited about!

Provide a link to your post from last year’s Pet Blogger Challenge so we can refresh our memories.

Here is my Riley and James Pet Blogger Challenge post from last year:

Pet Blogger Challenge 2012

2. What do you consider the most important goals you set out in last year’s post?

The purpose statement of Riley and James is “To Promote Preventative Care of Pets in Order to Enrich the Lives of Pets and Their People.”  THAT is still the most important goal of this blog.

3. Have you made progress toward this goal, or have your goals changed over the past year?

I HAVE made progress toward that goal – more in Real Life lately than through the blog.  I started working at Gentle Doctor part time in September 2011 and moved to full time in May 2012, and that has taken up ALL of the time I used to spend writing!  I love my job and my coworkers and the clients and patients.  I miss writing as much as I used to, but it has definitely been a very positive change.

4. How often do you post?

Currently I am only posting a couple times a month.  Life got busy!

5. Has your opinion of blogging on a schedule or as the Spirit moves you changed?

Nope, I still do not blog on a schedule, but I love reading blogs of people who do post on a schedule, especially bloggers who post daily or even more often, and I admire their organizational skills!  I will post on a schedule for the hospital blog, and have for professional assignments, but it is fun to keep Riley and James low key.

If you don’t publish on a schedule, why not?

I think my attitude online mirrors how I deal with Real Life – I don’t talk much, but I will if I have an important thing to say, or a fun story, or a picture I want to show someone!

As far as sharing on a schedule, I do great sharing pet specific and general veterinary information with clients every 20 minutes all day, and I love it, but it exhausts me!

Likewise, I am capable of blogging on a rigid schedule, and working hard no matter how I am feeling, but it takes much more energy!  Still rewarding – both in Real Life interactions and online writing –  but a different feel.

How do you think your decision affects your audience? 

Without a schedule, it is probably difficult for readers to know when to check back.  I announce posts on facebook and twitter, and send an email to my Dad whenever I write something, so I know what I write is being read by people I care about :)

How do you know when a topic is “post-worthy?”

My loose and informal post-worthy tests:

• Do I feel strongly about this?
• Is this an important pet topic?
• Do I have a different take on this topic (whether or not it is pet related) than others?
• Is this a fun or pretty or cute picture? :)

7. How do you measure the success of a post and of your blog in general (comments, shares, traffic)?  Do you look strictly at the numbers, or do you have a way of assessing the quality of those interactions?

I have not checked Riley and James statistics over a year, and have loved having this site as an escape of sorts.

When I return to blogging professionally as a part of my work, I will measure blog visits, interactions and learn how to measure return on investment somehow, maybe by new client visits?

Some aspects of blogging – affecting people’s attitudes towards pets, causing someone to think, making someone smile with a cute picture, shaping my reputation online, meeting and getting to know great people – are not measurable but are some of the most rewarding parts about blogging, so…short answer…I don’t know!

8. If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one issue you’re having with your blog, what would it be?

You guys post great stuff, you show up and support me, you send me fun projects and include me in fun group projects.  You love your own pets, you support other people and their pets and you rescue the pets who are not yet to their forever homes.  You are the best of the best and you already help me more than you could ever know.  So that.  THANK YOU.

9. What goals do you have for your blog in 2013?

This year, I would like to continue to promote preventative care of pets in order to enrich the lives of pets and their people.  Oh, and home every Omaha cat.  And also shut down puppy mills.

Awesome.

This time around, coming up with New Year’s Resolutions has been difficult.

I’ve got Prove the Cute Vet Wrong in 2013, but you knew that one.  I thought only Dad and Russ knew that the best way to get me to do something is to tell me I can’t.  Even before this article came out – which I actually think is very, very good – I have had an all consuming obsession with the Gentle Doctor blog-to-be.  I have a year’s worth of weekly posts written.  Oh yeah, I am crazy.  In a good way.

On a related subject (online work projects) I would like to continue to manage and grow Gentle Doctor’s Twitter presence with the help of Dr. Krapfl and Angie and our new Breed of the Month thing.

Also, I meant to lose a Standard Poodle in 2012, and I lost a medium sized Poodle mix, which is still something.  So, next year, I would like to regroup, refocus and lose another medium sized Poodle mix!

3000 more followers on Twitter.  I don’t talk about follower count on Twitter much.  First of all, it isn’t up to me, it’s up to you.  And second of all, it seems like shouting about it would ruin things, and NOT shouting would allow things to keep going well, like being really quiet when you see a butterfly, and now I am in a beautiful swarm.  Only I do not know if butterflies have ears.

It is a common misconception that veterinarians know every little thing like that about every animal.  Mostly we know about dogs.  (Kidding!  Mostly.)

I do know that I am only “ahead” of the next veterinarian/hospital on Twitter by a couple thousand followers, and if we were a comic they would be my arch enemy, and they advertise like crazy for followers, and so that’s fun for me.  Even so, if I only had the tiniest group of friends on Twitter, and you were in that group, it would be as fun for me as it is now.

I have loved working with the dvm360 team, and would love to do more writing projects together.  That breaks about 60% of the S-M-A-R-T goal setting rules, but there it is.  It is what I want, even if I am not sure what it is yet!

Same goes for the Square Foot Gardening team.

There’s Penelope Dog. She will be in the December 2013 Veterinary Economics edition, so there’s that.  That matches up better to specific, measurable and all that, huh?

Penelope, we love your face!

Here’s another nebulous goal – continued success at work.

And another – continued healing.  Oo that’s kind of serious.  Things are good and getting better.

Family time.

Garden time.

Poodle time.

And cat and puppy time…This will be the Year of the Old Pet.  Joy the Puppy is only three, and just needs a disproportionate amount of attention.  Max the Cat (16) and Noodle the Poodle (13) though are really starting to show their age, and just are going to need lots more care than before, if things continue to move in the direction they are.  Stupid mortality.  Actually they are doing quite well.  We have a carpenter to build ramps all over and a vet to fret over their health and kids to help with pet care.  We should be set!

I hope 2013 is the best year yet for you and your family!

Happy New Year!!

Anyway, pictures.  I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season filled with family, friends, food and fun!

For the third of four years, we have gotten our Christmas tree (real tree!) flocked with purple from Cirian’s Garden Center in Midtown Omaha.  This year, we were put on a waiting list because apparently Omaha is full of weirdos, and apparently word is getting out that Cirian’s will flock trees purple (any color, really).

This beautiful kitty is being fostered by our good friends the Babcocks.  SHE NEEDS A HOME!  Is this your kitty??  She is very sweet!  Her name is Kitty.

When I was three, Mom made me a Winnie the Pooh birthday cake with this mold.  I guess I have ALWAYS been in love with Winnie the Pooh and friends.  Mom had to have Grandma Rasmussen cut the cake because she had worked so hard on it she couldn’t cut it.  THAT part I just learned.  THANK YOU MOM!!  The eyes and nose of my Winnie the Pooh cake were made of three big chocolate disks.  My cousin Robby got one, my friend Lana got one and I got one.  THAT is from the memory of a three year old, people.  YES, it made my third birthday that awesome.  It is one of my best memories as a kid.  So I used the same cake mold to make my panda-obsessed twelve year old this cake for her birthday.  Fun.  And yes, that is a VERY OLD cake pan!

DrawSomething.  PETSHOP.

Gary II wishing he had a hat like all of his friends.  Thank you for the Piggy, Allison!  I love him!!

Decorations on the Recycle Bike Shop building in Midtown Omaha.  This made me happy all season.

Hello Snowman!

This tree in Midtown Omaha also made me happy all season.  If you drove by too fast, you would miss it.

Gary II got his hat!  Thank you Becky!  Since we have taken away the source of Gary II’s anxiety, he will probably no longer need that bottle of DAP spray that is almost as big as he is!

For the first time in YEARS, we did not make Baby Peanut Jesus in preschool Sunday School.  Aunt Jeannine sent me THIS.  I love it as much as the craft itself.

TWO VIDEOS I LOVE THIS SEASON:

1

Missio Dei Community SLC – Advent Conspiracy – Way, Truth and Life from Missio Dei Community on Vimeo.

Courtesy of Adrian Fry

2

Phoebe The Super Dog!

Courtesy of the Muller Family

I also took pictures like normal people take, ones that show that MY KIDS ARE CUTE and of our family at the Christmas Eve Service and at the Finch and Nelson Christmases and that show in kinda an abstract but definite way that we have the most wonderful family imaginable and have been blessed beyond measure in 2012.

They are.

And we do.  And we have been.

I hope that you have been blessed beyond measure this year as well.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

“NO, ” Shelly said. “Sit down and hot glue these feathers onto these masks.” So I did. Shelly put them together with fishbowls and light sticks and things and used them for the centerpieces, which were absolutely gorgeous. Shelly is awesome at things like that.

Russ and I decided that since the theme was creepy, we would go all out and make our masks as creepy as possible. Here they are. When I quit whining about the theme, we had a very fun time making them. I really liked how they turned out. Also, I got rid of them as soon as possible, because having them in my house was making me cry.

As we did last year (Theme – Hats!), we had a very fun party. I was a very good sport. Actually, I was not. I walked into the party room and said, “Can I take off this mask?” and Pete, being a kind and benevolent boss, laughed and said, “yeah.” Then we had a very fun evening with some of our very favorite people.

~THE END~

Coming soon…the remainder of my (non-creepy) pictures from the season…

It just seemed fitting the masks should stand alone, being a bit darker-themed than Peanut Baby Jesus and the Purple Christmas Tree and all!