In celebration of National Vet Tech week right here in our hospital, we ordered up a big staff lunch catered by South of the Border for all to enjoy: yummy chicken, beef & roasted veggie fajitas & all the sides from queso dip thru sopapillas. It arrived close to noon. Hannah, Diane, Yadi, Steph, & I were really looking forward to some rare & precious down time to enjoy it!

But here's how that rolls in small animal medicine: 3 of our morning "well pet exams" were actually sick & in need of workups, our cat with the bladder infection emptied her bladder before arrival, a senior dog with a lung fungal infection wasn't eating and had lost weight, the kitty scheduled for a chest ultrasound also needed X-rays & bloodwork, and two vomiting dogs from the same family had entirely different health issues so needed entirely different treatment plans.

And, since we always provide our patients with fully completed medical exam reports, the documentation took time, too. We moved all that lovely food to our Quiet Room and got back to work. We finally got to bring back out and enjoy our lunch at 2:37 - stone cold, except for the queso sauce! Still, as we took turns using our single tiny microwave to warm up our food choices from the buffet, we laughingly admitted that we would not have recognized what we were eating as food if it had been warm, though...that's how often we ever get to enjoy a normal lunch!

Our first afternoon patient arrived at 3pm...one last bite of a half-eaten fajita, a spoonful of rice & beans, and off we went, Diane into an exam rooms to collect prelims, Hannah to x-ray to scan and store images taken earlier in the day, Yadi back to the front desk to take calls and schedule appointments, Steph to the Quiet Room to return emails and phone calls. and Dr M to start again on her mountain of call-backs.

When you’re next in our office, won’t you please join Dr. M in thanking these amazing women for all they do, each and every day?