Sunday Salute - Our Vets!

This week, our Sunday Salute goes to the men and women at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine - commonly referred to here as our vets! In saying "our vets", we'd like to make it clear that in this we also include the ladies at the Small Animal Desk and the Discharge Desk, the Pharmacy bipeds, all the technicians (especially our wonderful vet tech Beth!), the students and the veterinarians! We hope we haven't left anyone out.

We know some of you readers don't share our sentiments about your own vets, but we really like ours! As we've said, they're always incredibly kind to us, and not only give us the best care possible, but some mighty tasty cookies, great tummy rubs and ear scratchies, too! We've told you tales about Dave's visit to see the Tooth Fairy (Zim and Stormy have also seen him!). Amber has shared pictures of one of her trips to the vet's - it's as though they designed the whole place to put us at ease! No claustrophobic exam rooms or anything! Very nice! We try to eat right, get plenty of exercise and take other precautions here at home so we stay nice and healthy, but it's good to know that for our routine care as well as emergencies, we can always count on our vets! We are all very grateful to have such wonderful care available to us. Take a few weeks ago, for example....

Stormy was due for her Senior Health Care exam. Mom had noticed a couple new lumps on her (remember, Storm is 11-ish) so she wanted to be sure to have those checked out. The vet had the student do a FNA (fine needle aspiration) of each new lump; one was nothing to worry about, a tiny one was "questionable", and the third, one that Mom said was fast-growing, had cells that "displayed cancerous properties". Woo. The Senior Care appointment was on a Tuesday (1 May), and the vet who saw her was able to get her an appointment (a consultation) with the surgeon on Thursday. He and one of his students examined Storm and agreed that the fast-growing lump needed to come off now and it wouldn't be a bad idea to remove the other one while they were at it since it was questionable. Storm met with the Anesthesiology team, then they scheduled her surgery for the next DAY! Where else can you get such fast care? Specialized care?!!?

Mom and Dad were scared to death, of course, as were the rest of us. When Mom took her in, all the ladies at Discharge were just as reassuring and sweet as can be to both Mom and Storm; that really helped make them feel a bit better. Stormy's senior student was great, and promised to take good care of her and to call with updates when he could. To make a long, long story not as long... Stormy's surgery went really well, her recovery went well, and even though she couldn't come home that night and we ALL missed her like crazy, we knew she was where she would be safe and have 24-hour care. Her student called several times that day with updates for us. That was really kind. Storm was able to come home the next day!

She was really drugged up, shaved up, and stitched up, but she was home! We later got the incredible news that the surgeons had a clean margin, meaning they got all the nasty cancer cells! (Oh... and the other lump was benign!) She needed a lot of extra care, especially for the first 2 weeks after surgery, but she is doing GREAT! Mom and Dad took turns watching her - and had her umbilical corded to help keep Storm from jumping or running or hurting herself, and to send a signal to everypup that there was to be no "horsing around". (No, Marvin... we don't know what horses they're talking about either! Ha roo roo roo!) Mom put a big quilt on the living room floor for Storm - along with a huge puppy bed. Mom slept out there with Storm, with the leash around her wrist. She only slept if Stormy slept, so she could watch over her. Dad took lots of turns, too. The rest of us tried very hard to be good and not to disturb Stormy. Mom and Dad kept telling us what good, good puppies we are. :)

After several days had passed, Dad was out and Stormy was sleeping and Mom needed a potty break. We were all off in other parts of the house snoozing, so Mom thought she could just drop the lead, go do what she needed to do, and Storm would be fine. Want to know what she found when she returned? Dave. Holding Stormy's leash. (Editor's note: That's a hyperlink to our Flickr photo site - a picture of the scene we just told you about. One of Stormy's incision areas is quite visible. Even though the surgical team did an outstanding job, some readers may find it troubling to see. We wanted you to be prepared before you saw it!) Anyroo, as we've also told you, we may joke back and forth, but we ARE a tight, loving pack!

Again, due to the superb care Storm received from our vets and the entire team, she is now up and raring to GO! Here is a picture of her from the 2-weeks after surgery mark.

She wasn't allowed to jump or run or go on walkies for those first 2 weeks, but she was finally able to play with Mom a little! On the Flickr site, there are two other pictures of her playing in the yard; they show the two incision sites - see how much better she looks!!??!! We are all totally amazed at her progress. We are so thankful to our friends who joined us in prayer and who sent good thoughts Storm's way - AND realize how blessed we are to have this marvelous KSU Vet Med Teaching Hospital so close by and available to us.

Stormy wants to reassure everypup that even though the surgery was just over 3 weeks ago, she feels REALLY good. She's still not allowed to rough-house, but is doing everything else just like before! Her progress has been incredible to watch!

I'm ready to PLAY!

We were holding off on posting about this, but thought we would share it now, as an example of the fabulous care we receive from our vets. If anyone from the KSU vet school is out there reading ... thank you for all you do for us and all of our fellow "animals". You can see how great Stormy is doing now -- the perfect pairing of prayers and good health care. What a great team! You can see the smile on Stormy's face - that picture was taken after her play session in the yard!

To our vets and all who help care for us at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, we salute you!

The Army of Four