Well, it has been a long haul with Lizzie, but I think we are BOTH finally convinced that she is not going to flop over and die anytime soon! These past few months have been a fresh reminder of what it feels like to be a pet owner instead of just a veterinarian. Terrified that your beloved pet is going to die. Wanting to do everything possible and sometimes being ashamed to admit that it is so exhausting to do just that. And then doing it anyway, day after day after 24-hour-day. Hiding the tears, and the fears, from everyone around you. And then, finally - FINALLY! - realizing that it all has paid off, seeing those first few days of perked up ears and interest in food and interest in toys again.
It really humbles me to realize how many of my clients have done exactly this - and sometimes have NOT even enjoyed the reward of what I was privileged to see. They didn't get to see it, because even with everything they did, their pet wasn't strong enough to survive. And yet I see them again and again, with new pets and old pets. Still trying. Still loving and caring and wanting the best for their remaining canine and feline companions. I really do think that "animal people" - those of us who would not want to live without our animal friends - are the best kind of people to know and the best kind of clients for whom to work. And my bias is that they are nicer human beings, too!
I went off to three veterinary meetings this fall with a glad heart, glad that Lizzie was well enough to be left in the care of several of my fabulous hospital staff. A glad heart makes for a much more accepting mind, and I have to say that I both learned and brought home a lot from these meetings, even in some areas where I had previously been a skeptic. I first attended the annual American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association meeting in mid-October. For the first time in 10 years, I was going to be attending as a regular vet instead of one of the lecturers. Finally, no pressure. Just an opportunity to learn, I thought.
Until the day before I left, when I got a panicked call at work from the head of the Conference Committee for this meeting. I had actually never heard a panicked southern Alabama drawl before, so it was interesting to hear someone speak reeeeaaally slowly about their distress, as Dr. Twila informed me that one of the speakers had canceled for the meeting. Could I do two lectures? One on veterinary chiropractic and one on Bach Flower remedies? Lectures for which there was no powerpoint ready yet? And no notes available to see what exactly I was supposed to talk about, until I got to the conference hotel? And could I be ready to do them in about 40 hours from now?
Well, I worked on powerpoint presentations at the airport, all the way to Reno, in the bus on the way to the hotel, and then ran down to the conference center to see what the notes looked like for the topics on which I was supposed to lecture the following morning. To my great relief, they pretty well matched what I felt comfortable talking about, so I finished the powerpoint presentations that night, collapsed into bed, and delivered the lectures the next day.
Wow! Everyone in the humongous audience liked them. And I was able to relax, and spent the rest of the conference learning a great deal about how the pet food industry has been trying to respond to last year's health crisis involving so many tainted foods. I discovered that there ARE good, committed people in the industry who are working hard to change the limited regulation of pet foods and nutritional supplements, and that they were as capable and committed to what they were doing as were the presenters who were representing the case for home-made diets and fresh raw diets. I wasn't expecting that, and while the industry folks had a difficult audience in the extremely skeptical and somewhat hostile holistic veterinarians in attendance, they made a very effective case for the continued use of dry and canned pet food diets as well as some of the newer "whole meal" diets. Dr. Michael Fox made an equally effective case for the use of the new and innovative dehydrated, raw, and European pet food diets. And Dr. Susan Wynn made an excellent case for the use of a balanced approach utilizing foods from both groups. In a final panel presentation, all the speakers agreed that ROTATING the diet was in the best interest of most pets - that a healthy pet would most benefit from a diet that changed about every two to three months and that included elements from ALL of these types of pet foods.
Next, at the tail end of October during the final session of the osteopathic indirect manipulative techniques course that I've been taking all year long, I learned how to assess dogs and cats for gluten sensitivity and how to adjust the ribcage and diaphragm of dogs. It was astounding to me to learn - and then to see over and over, in all the dogs that we tested during this session - that an allergy to gluten causes characteristic spinal and ribcage changes that can profoundly affect the performance of agility dogs and other working and performance dogs. Even our house pets who do nothing more strenuous than jumping up on the couch for a nap and taking an occasional jog around the block can be severely affected if they are gluten-intolerant! Under the instruction of Patrice Kortekaas, our Dutch instructor, we learned an incredible amount about hands-on manipulative healing throughout this course. I will definitely be back for more sessions next year!
One of the first things I did upon returning from this course was to THANK the client whose incredibly generous donation to Knollwood made it possible for me to attend all of Patrice's course offerings in 2008. The second thing I did was to resume work on getting our therapy room set up with the new table I now use for chiropractic and osteopathic care.
My final educational session this fall was shared with Dr. Papacek. We drove together to the Quad Cities to hear Dr. Ron Bagley, one of the nation's foremost neurology lecturers, speak for a day on neurological disorders of dogs and cats. On the way across Illinois, we mused over how quickly the two years have passed since Dr. Papacek joined our staff in fall of 2006. We talked about the wonderful improvements she's made since taking over as our Chief Surgeon, handling all of Knollwood's surgery and dental case load. By encouraging me to purchase a new digital dental x-ray unit, to upgrade all of our dental equipment, and to more rigorously train our Surgical Nurses, she's taken our ability to provide a safe, high-quality surgical and dental experience for all of our patients to new heights. And her business and accounting skills have proved invaluable to this "computer-clueless" veterinarian. (I try to forget that Dr. Papacek is my age and STILL knows all this computer stuff!) Under her direction, we have significantly upgraded all of our computer equipment and are well on our way to going paperless.
During Dr. Bagley's seminar, Dr. Papacek and I learned a lot about the significance of specific, simple to perform, inexpensive neurologic tests that can be done right in the office. We also learned how to use these tests as good indicators of both the presence of neurologic disease and how rapidly it was progressing. Finally, we learned about some of the new treatments that are possible even in severe conditions such as brain and spinal cord tumors, seizures that don't respond to the usual medications, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. On the way home from this seminar, we discussed the realization that we had spent as much time driving to and from the seminar as we did while enjoying Dr. Bagley's lecture!
What's new at Knollwood? Well, as we move into the end of the year, we hope to complete the renovation of at least ONE of our exam rooms. Our grand plan early in the year to renovate them all, as well as the reception area and to replace all of the hospital's flooring, fell victim to changing economic times. Our business has slowed down, just as many of our clients’ jobs and businesses have slowed down, and we're feeling the pinch just like many of you are. But we're determined to keep all of our wonderful staff, to have NO layoffs, and to keep our extended business hours so that we can continue to remain available when you need us. And, as always - we look for your suggestions as to how we can improve our service to you. By year's end, we hope you'll have had an opportunity to check out our new exam room, ask us about what else we learned at our seminars this year, check out the latest KPR pets who need homes for the holidays, and enjoy a cup of hot cider or herbal tea with us!
Dr. Mitchell
