On vets not returning phone calls:
 
I'd never really had a problem with this before, I'd never really had an
emergency where I was bothered by a vet returning my phone call hours or
even a day later.  Until this May.
 
My darling boy, Cael, was very ill.  He had been quickly declining, his
kidney's had failed.  The vet said even if he made a diagnosis, the sudden
failure of his kidneys made it nearly impossible to treat him.  He didn't
think there was anything to be done to reverse the problem with the
kidneys, no matter what had caused them to fail.
 
We had been working on blood work and such, but Cael was not going to get
better.  He was obviously tired and in pain.  I hung on to him, I cryed
over him every night.  I didn't want to let go.  I begged him to stay with
me.  I was selfish.
 
Finally, after sitting at my desk crying for an hour on morning at work,
I called my vet to discuss helping Cael along.  He was unavailable when I
called, so I left a message that it was important I speak with him.  I
spent the rest of the day agonizing over my decision, and NEVER hearing
from the vet.  At 4:45, right before I left work for the day, I called
the vet's office again, wondering why he had not called me back, and was
told he was gone for the day, and it appeared he had not even GOTTEN MY
MESSAGE!
 
After all that hurt and worry and sick feeling ache of loss I had
experienced all day while waiting, the receptionist hadn't even given him
the message.  He had never known I wanted to talk to him.
 
After work, I didn't go home right away.  I was upset, and needed to do
something to keep my mind off things for a while.  My boyfriend picked me
up from work, and we went out to dinner, and then stopped at the grocery
store.  It was two hours later when we got home.
 
When I arrived, my Cael was gone.  He had died in his sleep, judging by
his body heat, less than an hour before I got there.  I have always
somewhat blamed the vet's office for my not getting to say goodbye.  If I
had spoken with the vet that day, I would have gone straight home.  But
because of a careless mistake on the receptionist's part, I was so upset
by the time I got off work that I didn't even want to go home to face my
darling boy right away.  He died alone, I wasn't there.
 
Realizing I had purposely stayed away from home so I wouldn't have to see
him suffer, and that I had sentenced him to die alone, without his mummy,
that I had insured I would not get to kiss his sweet face one last time,
and tell him I loved him, it was like a knife was stabbed through my
heart.  And this would not have happened if I had only spoken with my vet
that day.
 
Melissa Barnes
Mira, Tasha, Robin, Samuri, Nietzsche and O'Dell
Missing Cael and Booboo always
[Posted in FML issue 3672]