Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

We are now over 101,000,000 shots; 2.9 million administered yesterday. We are getting there. Connecticut and New Mexico have vaccinated more than 27% of their population.

 

My wife and I are both on board with not using extraordinary measures to keep a pet alive. As in, we're not spending thousands of dollars on a dog or cat. It's sad to put them down, but all the money you'd spend isn't really for the benefit of the animal. It's for you.

Fire away.

 

It is a difficult call. We were able to obtain two quality years with a life-saving surgery. But it is a true “roll of the dice.”

 

No argument from me. Routine care is one thing. Putting your pet through the trauma of sticks and pokes and stitches is something the pet and the owner know better than anyone else.

 

No reason to apologize. We live in an area where the vets believe that people will say, "Anything to save little Fluffy." We have had to put up a stop sign a few times.

 

All depends on your view of "extraordinary measures." Like I said earlier, we gave insulin to a cat for seven years. There was nothing extraordinary about that. We had a dog survive two kinds of cancer -- those were highly treatable and he was just fine after. I would think less of anyone who didn't do what we did.

But, like, lymphoma? Nope. Fought that once and learned a lesson (that unfortunately we faced again, repeatedly, with other dogs). We'll do what we can to make things comfortable, but I'm never again going through the treatment process hoping to eke out a few extra months.

 

My eye docs offer a $40 (not covered, of course) thingy called Optomap where you look into a machine with no dilation needed.

I tried to balance things with my fibrosarcoma cat. Paid $1,700 for surgery but was warned afterward, "we still detect some cancerous cells" on the edges of what they removed. I declined the three-times-a-week for seven weeks radiation followup offered. Just didn't want to put her through it. Sure enough, a few months later, the tumor came back. Second-guessed myself like crazy afterward.

 

OCB, the eye doctor monopoly of Boston, doesn't offer that. Or maybe it does. I am still doing visits for the aftermath of detached retina surgery (don't ever have this) in 2019 and it's an intrusive examination (hand pressure, instrument pressure and very bright lights on your eye) for which that machine might not cut it.

 

My eye doc has an eyeball scanner-like device where you shove your head in there. I recall it being like a microfiche machine, but it’s been a while. Apparently they also don’t get all the way around to the back of the eye? Almost but not quite.

 

Got my first dose of the vaccine on Tuesday.
Today I went to Walgreens and noticed they were giving out vaccines. Just to make conversation, I said to the pharmacy clerk, "I see you're giving out vaccines." She said, "Yeah, just for people over age 65, so you're not eligible." I looked at her and said, "That's OK. I got my first shot across the street earlier in the week. Have a good day."

 

I trust my vet. I consider him a friend. If he tells me it's over then we walk that path, and have.

I had a very old dog who went blind and was bumping into things for a few days. I know it was the right call to put her down because it was awful to watch, but I second-guess myself on that one. I just couldn't be with the dog 24/7, which is what keeping her alive (solely for my comfort) would have required.