Some quick background, I work at several veterinary clinics. Normally, I work in back assisting the veterinarians but due to an injury, I was confined to reception until it healed. One of the clinics lost a lot of receptionists recently so now I'm helping out up front until they can find and train some new people. At that clinic, we have a client I'll call Lunatic Lady (LL). Her dog (LLD) has cancer. It's terminal, surgery is not possible, and LLD is not a good candidate for chemo. About a month ago, we saw LL and LLD and it was not looking good. Euthanasia was basically the only option. The veterinarian wanted to try upping LLD's steroid to see if that would help as a last ditch effort to save LLD. Honestly, no one expected anything drastic to come of it but LL and the doctors wanted to try everything before doing euthanasia.
Fast forward to today, LL calls. She reminds me that LLD was put on a higher dose of steroids a while back and told me they are working amazingly. LLD is eating, drinking, playing, and acting like she used to. LLD is no longer lethargic, her gums pinked up, she enjoys attention and walks again, and she doesn't seem to be in any pain. The only "complaint" LL ha was that there is a small sore on LLD's side but LLD isn't licking at it and it doesn't seem to be infected, bothering her, painful, anything. LL emphasized how shocked she was at the change in LLD from a few months ago. Here, I thought LL was just calling to let us know about LLD's miraculous recovery and to thank us for not giving up on her. Not so.
LL said she was doing some research on the long term side effects of steroids and was a bit concerned.
Here are some potential side effects of long-term steroid use in dogs:
-skin problems
-urinary tract infections
-obesity
-susceptibility to infections
Of course LL has a reason to be concerned, but since the side effects of untreated terminal cancer are severe pain, lethargy, malnutrition, and death, I expected LL to ask about tweaking LLD's medications to reduce the chance of these side effects. I did not expect this:
LL: I was thinking about taking LLD off of all her medications and asking god to cure her. Call me crazy, but I know god will cure my dog if I ask.
I was floored. Call you crazy? I'd call you crazy, but I'd get fired for it. I could not for the life of me understand why LL wanted to take LLD off of a medication that is literally keeping her alive. I have nothing against religious people. Many of my family and friends are religious, but if they break a leg, they go see a doctor and get it fixed; Not one of them would lay there, bleeding and it pain with a mangled leg, waiting for a miracle.
I was able to go to convince LL to let me have a doctor call her back to talk about different medications and alternative treatments but in the meantime, I urged her to keep LLD on the medication emphasizing that I would have a doctor call her later TODAY to discuss the matter. After I hing up, I just stared off into space for a moment, not sure whether I should laugh or smash my head into the desk. I started wondering if I fell into a worm hole or if I had a complete mental break and was actually in a padded cell, just me and my thoughts.
I'm not sure how far the doctor got with LL, but I'm hoping she was able to convince LL to not let LLD die a horrible and painful death.
Fast forward to today, LL calls. She reminds me that LLD was put on a higher dose of steroids a while back and told me they are working amazingly. LLD is eating, drinking, playing, and acting like she used to. LLD is no longer lethargic, her gums pinked up, she enjoys attention and walks again, and she doesn't seem to be in any pain. The only "complaint" LL ha was that there is a small sore on LLD's side but LLD isn't licking at it and it doesn't seem to be infected, bothering her, painful, anything. LL emphasized how shocked she was at the change in LLD from a few months ago. Here, I thought LL was just calling to let us know about LLD's miraculous recovery and to thank us for not giving up on her. Not so.
LL said she was doing some research on the long term side effects of steroids and was a bit concerned.
Here are some potential side effects of long-term steroid use in dogs:
-skin problems
-urinary tract infections
-obesity
-susceptibility to infections
Of course LL has a reason to be concerned, but since the side effects of untreated terminal cancer are severe pain, lethargy, malnutrition, and death, I expected LL to ask about tweaking LLD's medications to reduce the chance of these side effects. I did not expect this:
LL: I was thinking about taking LLD off of all her medications and asking god to cure her. Call me crazy, but I know god will cure my dog if I ask.
I was floored. Call you crazy? I'd call you crazy, but I'd get fired for it. I could not for the life of me understand why LL wanted to take LLD off of a medication that is literally keeping her alive. I have nothing against religious people. Many of my family and friends are religious, but if they break a leg, they go see a doctor and get it fixed; Not one of them would lay there, bleeding and it pain with a mangled leg, waiting for a miracle.
I was able to go to convince LL to let me have a doctor call her back to talk about different medications and alternative treatments but in the meantime, I urged her to keep LLD on the medication emphasizing that I would have a doctor call her later TODAY to discuss the matter. After I hing up, I just stared off into space for a moment, not sure whether I should laugh or smash my head into the desk. I started wondering if I fell into a worm hole or if I had a complete mental break and was actually in a padded cell, just me and my thoughts.
I'm not sure how far the doctor got with LL, but I'm hoping she was able to convince LL to not let LLD die a horrible and painful death.
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