Vets for Veterans- Just random

 

Some days I am very not smart!   I had received a phone call from the wife of a friend who was excited about the idea of Vets for Veterans.  Her name is Laura and she is a paralegal and had left a message that she would get together all the stuff that we needed for the 501 (c) and send me an email.  Well that was a week and a half ago and I am not one to bug people because I know what it is like to be busy and not have a lot of time for random stuff.    So today I decide to check my other email account and clean it out.  I never check that email and as im deleting everything, there is an email from Laura from over a week ago!  Ughh Im such a dork! I sent her a response and apologized for being a dork so hopefully we will be able to get going on the paper work part of it soon.  She had some very good suggestions about some other things that I am excited to explore and look in to!  So more to come on that.

Jenn was contacted today by her friend who is doing the logo.  She told Jenn that she would have us a quote for it by tonight.  Im excited and apprehensive all at the same time.  Im sure professional graphic designers arent cheap!  But regardless, a good logo is very very important because if one doesnt care enough to have a good logo, the care for the whole project isnt going to last very long either!  I care and I intend to get this up and going and lasting for a long time!

It is very important to me to help veterans.  Even before this thought of Vets for Veterans ever came into my mind we were doing discounted or free work for veterans.  Well we had a little chihuahua come in the other day that the owner stated had eaten a few bologna rinds and he felt like it was causing the dog to vomit.  He didnt have any money so we x rayed the dog and gave it some sq fluids and kept it over night.  The dog vomited a few times that night but not during the day.  He came in and wanted to take it home so we gave it more sq fluids and sent it home.  This morning he brought the dog  in and it was neurologic and not doing well at all.  He was of course very upset and Jenn talked at great length with him and he decided to re admit the dog for IV fluids and treatment.  He said he couldnt spend very much money but he would do what he could.  Jenn told him that it didnt look very good and we werent sure that given the dogs age and its symptoms that it would live.  He came in tonight to pick the dog up because he wants to be with it if it dies.  He was talking to Jenn and he mentioned that he was a Vietnam vet and that dog was all he had!  He told her that the dog slept with him and was his constant companion!  She came back and mentioned to me that he was Vietnam vet and I told her to not charge him anything and to tell him that we would do all that we could to help them!  She came back and said she had to leave because he was crying and she was going to start crying.  Ahhhhh it is good to help people!

Anyway, more to come in the next few days!

 

 

DoggCrapp Reloaded A-1 (round 3)

Lets see, ah yes, it is thursday.  Last night i went to the grocery store and bought me some eggs and such.  My farm fresh egg source has stopped delivering   I did an emergency bowel resection on a doberman a couple months ago and the dog did very well and the owners were bringing me in eggs several times a week and they havent been by for several weeks, im very bummed about it.

The monchers had Gracie and Tell, Billie Aprils children, spend the night.  I love it when that happens as they entertain each other and it means less bugging mamma for something to do.  They were all asleep by 8:30 and i was in bed trying to be when the dang phone rang and there was an emergency.    Poor dog had been hit, and hit hard, by a car and she had a broken back.  She had 3 week old pups and it was very sad.

Got up this morning at 4:30 and headed off to the gym about 6:30.  There is a very bad fire in Glenwood New Mexico which is only a few hours from here and we had smoke rolling in bad this morning.  It made for a cool sun.  I wish i had known that it was that smokey because i bet the early sunrise was amazing!

DoggCrapp A-1

bis and back 

 

It has been a long week, i know, i say that a lot, but it is true.  I told the boss up front that my hips and knees were bothering me and i was pretty wore down as today was dead day and i knew that i wouldnt be pulling anything very impressive.

spider curls

*40# for 10

*40# for 10

*40# for 12

 

reverse cable curls

*30# for 35

 

rack chins

*7

*7

*7

i actually did 8, kind of, on the last set but it was a pretty poor excuse for the last one so i didnt count it.

 

deads

*275# for 10

*205# for 15

Dead were not very bueno today but im ok with it as i had prepared myself mentally for it.

 

My receptionist now has thursdays off which i dont mind at all except for the fact that she does an amazing job and nobody else knows what she does nor does it as well!   For some reason today, it has been a monday on thursday.  The phone has rang and rang and it has been all sorts of crazy.

We had another emergency c section come in.  Thankfully there was only one puppy, albeit a huge one, and we spayed her at the same time so it went rather quickly.

The puppy was very happy, the mamma, not so much!  LOL first time mammas that have c sections wake up and wonder where in the heck did this thing come from!

We also had an exploratory to do on a black lab that we did a barium series on yesterday.  It had some kind of cloth material stuck in the stomach and half way through the duodenum.   We all took bets on what we thought it was.  It turned out to be a pair of panties! (why is it called a pair when there is only one?)  bleck!

We just finished with surgeries and the afternoon appointments are already coming in.  I keep saying im not going to say im tired, but damn, im tired!

Good Morning God!

Thank you my Jesus for a good nights sleep!  Thank you for two amazing monchers that bless me and bring me great joy every single day!  Help me to be a godly mother.  Help me to raise them according to your word and to teach them your statutes and your ways and not make exceptions for the way the world is today!   Place your wall of fire around them today and keep them safe.  Thank you for your blessings upon the clinic.  Let your Holy Spirit fill the clinic right now and bring great refreshing and healing to all that happens there today!  May all i do bring joy and glory to you!  Thank you for David and his patience and perfect love!  I love you LORD!

Rest day?

Last night D and I took the monchers down to the river so that i could take some pictures of the sunset and the river.  The monchers played in the river and had a blast.  I did not have a blast trying to get them into the car!  They were covered in mud and sand and i made them strip off ALL their clothes before they got in the car and use large color sheets to cover themselves.  They thought it was pretty silly and kept yelling out the window that the other one was naked!

They had a good time so the disgusting mess in my car is worth it, i think

The sunset was beautiful and im glad we went.  I think i will have to do this more often but i need to get the dirt cleaned out of my lens because it causes odd spots on many of the pics.

Went to bed around 8:30 and slept alright.  Rolled out of bed about 4:40, slowly.   Today is supposed to be run the dreaded stairs day but the boss said he was ok with me not doing it since it had been a long couple of days and since i had to go wrangle wild horses today.

The girls and I got on the road by 7:30 amazingly enough!  Thank the Lord that Sammy, Devris husband, got back in time to go with us!  I was so glad when Devri said she wanted to go and that she would ask Sammy!  Sammy is a hand and a half or two and we couldnt have done what we did in the time we did without him!

 

sometimes there were wrecks that were barely avoided!

head and heel and pull them down.

takes some quick hands to get to them and on them so the ropes can be let lose.

giving the injections.

cutting the huevos!

Sammy made everything go smooth!  Thanks Sammy!

it was a dusty dirty mess most of the time!  But the help was good and we got 23 head done in an hour and a half!  Never in a million years would i have thought we could do it that fast and with no persons or horses getting hurt!  Thank you Jesus for the help!

Billie April managed to get a good video of one of the smoothest ones!

 

It wasnt hard work parse but one was constantly tense while everything was happening.  I had to be close enough to get there so that i could give them the shots but be able to run out of the way if they came around the circle.  The whole time your muscles are tense and you are on alert.  There were a couple of times that things got a bit close but nobody got mucked out and other than some very tired indian ponies all the help looked pretty darn perky afterwards!

 

Good Morning God!

Thank you Jesus for some good rest last night and for your perfect renewal this morning!  Thank you for teaching me that you just want me to obey and not sacrifice or suffer!  Thank you that it isnt about me but rather it is all about YOU!   Thank you for healing Emmas ear.   I ask for your protection today as we go out to castrate the reservation horses.  Keep all people and horses from injury!  Help us to get done in a timely fashion.  I ask for your healing touch to be upon Posa today.  Let her not have reintessusepted her bowel but rather just have some irritation!  Thank you that you care for the animals and not one bird falls from the sky without you knowing it!  I love you LORD!

DoggCrapp Reloaded C-3 (round 2)

Yesterday was a very long day!  Since the monchers are out for summer vacation i was able to get to the gym and back and to work before 8.  We worked all day and didnt get done until dang near 7 pm!  I was beat.  We had two c-sections and 2 orthopedic surgeries and the usual monday craziness!  I was so tired that i didnt sleep very well.  I got up at 4:30 because i knew i would never get up if i didnt do it right then.

Thankfully Emma was feeling much better this morning and Zac had come into my bed sometime last night but had stayed on his side so it was all good.  I just had red who was stealing all my side of the bed!

Off to the gym early with no interruptions.  I called the boss on the way there and he said it was going to be an easy day since i wasnt well rested and yesterday had been so long.  I actually believed him until he told me he wanted me to use 30# db for my widow set of lunges!  Really?!  70 walking lunges with 60# extra is an easy day??  :rolleyes:

DoggCrapp A-3

seated leg curls

*75# for 15

*75# for 15

*75# for 15

leg press

*500# for 15

*500# for 15

lunges

*30# db for 35 each leg

Hanging leg raises

*40

leg press

*500# for 15

The boss told me that i was a good girl for listening to him on the leg press and not doing more.  Well i couldnt let him think that i was that good of a girl so after i made sure that i was alive after the lunges, i did one more set of 15

Thankfully today was pretty sparse on the books.  We needed it as for some reason surgical packs and such from yesterday had not been finished the place was a disaster!  We only had 2 surgeries and one was a pound dog spay that started leaking bloody diarrhea as i was spaying it and so we tested it and sure enough, she has parvo!  ughhh!!

The day has been pretty decent and not too busy and im glad because im exhausted still from yesterday and tomorrow i have to go to the indian reservation and castrate 25 head of wild horses of all ages that have never been touched by a human!  Great!  They say they will have lots of help and that they will head and heal them so i can give them the drugs.  It is going to be a complete wreck!  If i or anyone else doesnt get killed or hurt, it will be a miracle.  Devri and Billie April are going with me and Devri is trying to get her husband to go and Sammy is a very good hand so that would be awesome!

Good Morning God!

 

Thank you for some good sleep last night!  Thank you that despite the fact that i am still tired this morning that you will carry me through this day!  Strengthen me and show me your ways!   Thank you for being with Emma and helping her to sleep well last night!  Thank you for healing her ear/throat.  Place your wall of fire around Emma and Zac and protect them!   Thank you for David and his love.  Thank you for your blessings upon the clinic!  Prepare a veterinarian to desire to more to smallville and work for me   Help me to step out in faith in all things!  I love you LORD!

DoggCrapp Reloaded B-3 (round 2)

Wow, where to start.  The weekend was long long long.   I had to work the rodeo friday night and all day saturday and saturday night.  I am not a night person and being at the rodeo until 10 pm  is not a good thing for me.    It makes me very crabby.  I did get up at 6 the following morning and go and run stairs like a good girl.  Then came home and made pancakes and headed back to the rodeo for slack from 8-2.  Crazy amount of slack that they had this year.  Devri redid my nails, i love them.  It is the best job she has done for me!  The only bad thing is it took her 4 1/2 hours and i had 2 mins to shower and 2 mins to get ready and grab some dinner and head out the door to make it to the evening rodeo performance!  I didnt get to bed until after 10 that night as well.

Sunday morning i had an emergency call at 5:30 from someone in a town 2 hours away.  I looked at the clock and thought, hmmmmm if i get up now i can go and run stairs and be back and showered before they get here, or i can stay in bed for another hour and a half.  I was a very bad girl and stayed in bed.  I was so tired.  They got in with the dog about 8 and it made me have to rush around to get things ready for church but i managed to get everything done before and the dish for the potluck in the oven.  After church i had a client pull in with 4 horses, she was only supposed to bring one!  Ended up doing hock injections on 2 horses, blood work on 2 horse and floating teeth on one.  It took an hour and a half!  blah

I made it to the potluck by 2 and we stayed there until 4.  Came home and took an hour nap, i need one and would have like to stay in bed longer but was afraid that i wouldnt be able to sleep at night if i did.  I was glad for it as this rescue organization, Animal Rescue, was in town taking possession of 18 bull mastiffs.  They called me at 6:45 and said that they were leaving property in route to the fair grounds and could i please meet them there and assess one of the females as they thought she had bloat.  Well, first, i was glad to hear that they were there as it was going to save me and the sheriff dept a lot of trouble but holy moly, i didnt want to go any where at 7pm as that is when i start getting ready for bed!  But i called jenn and made her go with  me and we went out to check out the dog.

Now to make a long story short, one of my clients had an issue with the owner of these dogs and she stated that all the dogs were emaciated and she had pics of one dog that was thin and had a big mammary tumor.  She got all these rescue organizations involved and started all this stuff on facebook about what horrible shape these poor dogs were in blah blah blah.  So i am expecting walking skeletons when i get there but no, no not at all.  They are actually all obese minus the one that has mammary cancer and she was very happy just thin.  The rescue guy said that she had greatly mislead everybody but that they went ahead and took the dogs because the woman agreed to  give them up and they could find good homes for them.   Im glad for the dogs that they get to hopefully find homes but it irritates me that the woman lied so badly!!

The dogs are all very fat, very happy and very well socialized.  We went by there tonight and rabies vaccinated the ones that were leaving the state.  Im just happy that the deal is done and i dont have to worry about it any more!

All of that meant late to bed and i woke up at 4:30 and really wanted to go back to sleep but knew if i did i probably wouldnt wake up again until way too late.   Blah, thankfully the monchers are out of school and i was able to just get ready for the gym after taking care of emma who is sick.

DoggCrapp B-3

chest, shoulders and tris 

3s are supposed to be three sets of 15, lighter weight, more reps

 

Bench press

*75# for 15

*85# for 15

*90# for 15

75 was light, as was 85.  the 90 would have been probably just perfect.

 

OHP

*65# for 15

*65# for 12

*65# for 8

these were tough!

 

Reverse grip bench

*85# for 15

*85# for 15

*85# for 11

not quite what i should have gotten!

The day has been literally non stop all dang day!  We had an emergency c section first thing for someone who had absolutely zero money but cant let the dog suffer.  Then we had six regular surgeries and a femoral head and neck osteotomy and leg amputation from the weekend.    It was one of those days where if something was going to go wrong, it did.

I had to go back and examine and vaccinate some of the mastiffs and then after we closed we had a bulldog that needed a c section.  We just barely finished her and there is still a horse that needs to be laid down and a bad laceration on its back leg taken care of.  Im tired

Good Morning God!

Thank you Jesus for a good nights sleep with no interruptions.  Thank you for a great service yesterday at church and some great fellowship afterwards.    I ask that you touch and heal Emmas ear and throat that she may be happy and healthy today.   Be with the monchers today and keep them within your wall of fire today keeping them safe.  Help me to raise them according to your word.  Help me to be a godly mother and an example before them that they may not depart from your ways!  Help David get stuff ready at the church and let everything come together for next weeks first service in the new building.  I love you Lord!

Vets for Veterans- Letter From Luis

The whole idea for this came to me as i was reading a book called Until Tuesday.   It is a story about a soldier, Luis Carlos Montalvan who served two tours in Afghanistan and had post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when he came home.   He was given the opportunity to have a service dog to help him.  The dog he got was named “Tuesday” hence the name of the book, Until Tuesday.  It is a great book!

http://www.amazon.com/Until-Tuesday-Wounded-Warrior-Retriever (sorry cant seem to get the link link to work grrrr)

My grandfather was in WWII and all my uncles and my dad and several cousins are/were in the military but i have never really been involved or interested in the military.  We have many many Vietnam veterans as clients and have done much discounted or free work for them depending on their need.  As i was reading the book and i was taken aback at the severity of PTSD and the difficulty that these soldiers who voluntarily go and fight for our freedom have when they get back.  Not just with the PTSD but with getting it appropriately recognized and treated.

About a year and a half ago, one of our Vietnam vets brought in his puppy that was sick on emergency.  He told my tech right up front that he didnt have much money but he wanted to do all that he could to save the dog.  All he said he could spend was about $200 or so which for us here in smallville will go a long ways.  We hospitalized the dog and it got sicker and sicker.  We told him that we really needed to do exploratory surgery on the dog and he said he just couldnt pay for it and asked us to put the dog to sleep.  I looked at the dog and decided that it wasnt ready to die and we did the surgery and treated the dog and it lived.  Now we didnt tell him which i know isnt right per se but i didnt want to get his hopes up and then have the dog end up dying.  Anyway, the dog lived and when he came in to pay the bill that he thought he had for his dead dog, we brought up Rawhide and told him there was no charge!  Even as i type this it brings tears to my eyes.  Such heartfelt gratitude!

Several months later one of the employees from the VA came in for her cat and she thanked me for saving the dog and told me how much the dog  meant to him and how much it helped with his PTSD.  We have several veterans that can not afford their pets care and we take care of them at no charge.   It brings me great joy to be able to help them.

While i was reading i got the idea for Vets for Veterans.  The idea is to provide free or low cost veterinary care to Veterans and their service animals and personal pets as well.   I would like to get participating vets all over the country so that those who need the help can go to a site and have a list that they can check to see if there is a vet near them.  I would also like to start a fund so that those who need to take their dogs to a specialist or dont live in an area where there is a participating veterinarian can get money to help pay for the care.

All of my staff is very excited about the idea and everybody is on board to help in any way they can.  I have sent out letters to different people and programs just trying to see if this is something that is needed and would be supported.  I have a friend in florida who is in the military who thought it was a grand idea and his wife is a paralegal and has offered to help with the legal junk.   My lead tech knows a graphic designer who i am hoping will give us a good deal on designing a logo.  I was most happy today to check my email and find a response from Luis himself to an email that i sent him!  I have to say that i am beyond amazed that he responded because my email was very unorganized and random as is most of my writing.

Dear Debbie ~

Thank you for your thoughtful note. Moreover, thank you for your eagerness to support veterans and their families through providing veterinary care. I think your concept is outstanding and we know of some other veterinarians who similarly offer free animal care to the pets and/or service dogs of service members, veterans, and their families.

As you know by now, Until Tuesday was written with the intention of helping service members and veterans, their families, and people with disabilities. Additionally, we hope it will inform the general public of a number of key issues facing these groups. It’s heartening to know that it touched you so.

Would you post a short review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble? Your feelings would really be helpful to others.

Please feel free to send some questions and thoughts.

With blessings and light,
Luis & Tuesday
p.s. — We hope the messages of the book and forthcoming major motion picture continue to offer healing and hope to others.
http://www.until-tuesday.com  

 

I am going to try and keep in touch with him and others to keep myself motivated while this goes from conception through its pregnancy and at some point in the future is actually birthed into reality!   I am a want it now person so i am preparing myself for the lengthy process!

Thank you all for reading!