Hello.  My name is Beth and I'm biased.  Dr. Weiss is our vet, and does not
know that I'm writing this.  I wanted to mention a couple of things, but
had been out of town and then immersed in nursing for and worrying about
a sick ferret.
 
Over the last couple of months Dr. Weiss has talked about the best way to
handle giving a discount to FMLers for his
insulinoma/adrenal/cryo/exploratory/post-op/etc. video.  I think he's been
in a bind - he's a one person shop, since the video is not being done
through the hospital (which he does not own).  And it's been created for
veterinarians and priced accordingly.  If he had given an ongoing (and
probably smaller) discount to FMLers, just the administrative work could
have become unworkably cumbersome.  Just one small example - people who
would have ordered the tape at full price, found out later they could have
qualified for the discount, written or faxed him for a refund, etc., which
would warrant gong back through orders and more paperwork.
 
We're not talking about a corporation here, just one man with a baby,
toddler, wife, dog, extraordinarily busy practice (not just ferrets),
ongoing research, articles to write, talks to give, phone calls from around
the country, and a few hours of sleep each night.  He has truly dedicated
his life to trying to find answers to help ferrets, both in terms of his
actions and the astonishing number of hours he puts in, month after month,
year after year.
 
Let me tell you a little story, and hope Dr. Weiss doesn't get mad for my
telling tales out of school.  A couple of months ago I called his office.
I was told he was taken to the hospital, possibly for an emergency
appendectomy.  It turned out to be a kidney stone.  (Ouch.)
 
Pop quiz: (Dr. Weiss clients can't participate.) After spending the morning
at the hospital in agony, and passing the stone, he (choose one):
A) Went home to rest for a few days.     B) Went home to rest for a day.
C) Went home to rest for a few minutes.  D) None of the above.
The answer is D for Dumb quiz - of course he went right back to his
4-footed patients.
 
I've almost never visited him without discussion about what he's working on
for ferrets, or what he's hoping to find out, or what help may be coming,
or how to get the word out to vets.  On a personal level, he generously
gives me his time via phone or email when I need clarification of medical
points so I can help explain something on the AOL ferret medical board or
in an email.  He's taken the time to review and make suggestions for my
Insulinoma Info Sheet.  He's always so excited about possibilites, and
there is a sense of urgency that we need to make strides now.  (BTW, he
doesn't just focus on medical and surgical treatment - I believe that
acupuncture will soon be offered at the hospital for certain conditions.)
He's generous, not only with time, but tries to help in other ways too.
And despite an almost ferocious energy directed toward finding answers,
doing surgeries, etc., he is remarkably gentle and soft-spoken with with
his patients and their people.
 
So - I'd like to put in my 3 1/2 cents that the new video is the
culmination of years of work combined with the desire to help veterinarians
and veterinary students who want to gain skills so they can better learn
about and perform surgeries.  It's a veterinary tool, and priced very well
for such a resource.
 
There are vets who still do not use iso as an anesthetic, who do not do
right-sided or bilateral adrenalectomies (or who do unsuccessfully), who
keep ferrets under anesthesia too long, who can't find right adrenal
tumors, who still do tumor removal rather than partial pancreatectomies,
and on an on.  There are vets who are good surgeons but who are
uncomfortable with right adrenal tumors or partials or excellent surgeons
who want to see cryo surgery.  There are new vets who are hungry to learn
and established vets who have not had available to them up-to-date
resources since ferret medicine is changing.  The video may help any of
them, and thus, any ferrets, our ferrets.
 
I don't remember where I'm going with this, except I would jump on any
bandwagon to honor him in any way, as Linda Iroff suggested.
 
Last, I would like to thank Dick Bossart and Dr. Weiss - Dick for allowing
our special Gabby to grace our lives with her gentle presence for 2 years,
and to Dr. Weiss for fighting for her life and at the same time treating
her with the utmost gentleness, like she was his ferret.  For a tiny
animal, she has left a huge space.  I feel off-balance without her.
 
All the best -
Beth
[Posted in FML issue 2853]