Craptastic Wednesday

8:00 am: Roll into work a couple minutes early (like 7:55) to find some guy sitting in his SUV waiting for me. He has a dog in his back seat. I couldn't figure out on my own what the dog and the guy were doing at the clinic because all of my four cat spays had been dropped off the afternoon before. I didn't have time for more. I wave at the guy to follow me in, where he then tells me that his dog still has a drain inside of it. Uhhhhhh........ He said the dog  chewed off the end of the drain that had been sticking out, but he can still see something inside this gaping hole. I had him drop the dog off and told him I'd call him when his dog was ready.

8:10 am: Finally get around to listening to the two messages on the machine. And I'm just realizing (at 5:30pm) that I forgot to call someone back..... The second message is from Dr. J telling me to "pop a cat" (meaning to anesthetize it) as he was on his way. As I'm listening to the message I heard the back door and looked up to find Dr. J standing  there. Oops.

8:15 am: Popped two kitties and a few minutes later was prepping for surgery. Took opportunity to bug doc about Libby. Update: Libby still at vet clinic in Town. Not using leg much, but is at least now setting it down while standing; he says it can easily take dogs two to three weeks before they start using leg much at all. Then its two months of healing before right knee is done. Goes to bathroom regular (which is good with all the meds she's on). Mention I'll be delivering publication to Redding this weekend; he says we'll talk about it Saturday. I hope he says Libby can go home because my mother is starting to drive me a bit nutso. (Love you tons Mom!)  :D  (please don't hit me)

8:30 am: A gal calls and says, "My neighbor trapped an extra cat, but has already taken two cats over to Town. Can you guys squeeze in an extra spay? Or well . . . we don't what the gender is." I explained to this gal that we had four spays already and that we didn't have time. She countered with, "well he won't be able to trap this cat again." Sigh. I talk to Dr. J and he just looks at me. Then he says that if I can get a spay pack autoclaved he can do it over lunch. So I tell the gal to have the cat dropped off and we will do it during our lunch hour. I kinda wished he had charged her extra. Is that wrong?

9:00 am: Second kitty is prepped and on the table, the doc doing surgery. Some guy comes in the front door:

Him: "I have two cats here for their vaccinations. I have an appointment." 

Me: I looked at the book and state, "You're an hour early. I have the doctor in surgery."

Him: "Well I have other things to do."

Me: OMG Seriously? Then why bother making the damn appointment??? "If you'd like you can drop them off and pick them up later this morning."

Him: "That will work."

9:15 am: Pop two more kitties and try to keep surgery area clean while answering the phone which has been ringing every two minutes since 8:15. People calling with their dire need to get their pets vaccinations today, even though I don't have anymore space and then we have the vet out on ranch calls 3/4 of the day.  I was double booked for 9:45, triple booked at 10:00, and so forth until 11am.

9:20 am: Third kitty on the table, doc starting surgery. I keep trying to do something productive, however that pesky phone keeps ringing and I can't ever find the stupid thing because I keep leaving it some place different. Three phones and I can't find a single one. Yet it still rings. And rings some more. I've also come to realize that though these cats are zonked, they still want to curl up into a ball, which makes trying to pre-prep them for surgery not easy.

9:40 am: Fourth kitty on the table, doc starting surgery. Our appointments start showing up. The first gal has never been to us before, so I have her fill out the contract and take down pet info. In the meantime I'm still helping Dr. J with stuff as he's finishing surgery. Dry cleaned surgery pack and quickly put it together, refill water in autoclave, put surgery pack in autoclave, and seal it up and turn it on. Second gal walks in and get her info, still helping Dr. J. Third gal walks in and she's got a dog with an abscess on its jaw but she can't bring it until the office is clear of cats. Um. Okay.

10:00 am: Surgeries are finally done, all kitties back in their carriers, surgery stuff pushed out of sight. Will clean up later. Call back first appointment, 15 minutes late. First gal with stray she picked up. Do vaccines, Dr. J pulls blood (which at 7pm just realized that I forgot to send blood over to Town with Dr. J . . . DAMMIT!), and she pays just under $200 for a stray. The CBC/Chem/T4 was altogether $160. Doc was nice and left off the $40 exam fee. I still thought she might keel over.

10:15 am: Call back second 9:45 appointment, quick and easy vaccines. As she's paying, 4th gal comes in for her 10:30 appointment. Dog has grown too much, so I quickly scold Petey for growing so much. He's not so easy to pick up and cuddle with anymore. Get second gal her receipt. Third gal brings most uncontrollable Weimaraner I've ever seen. Dog struggles on the table, owner has to attempt putting muzzle on because Dr. J can't do it without losing fingers. Owner asks me to hold onto dog's butt so he doesn't slide off exam table. Big mistake. Dog rounds on me, my life flashes before my eyes and I jumped back into my desk. Owner finally gets muzzle on, dog gets muzzle off. Repeat three more times. Doc suggests sedation. Owner declines. I suddenly tune them out so I have no idea what Doc suggests to owner. But they don't leave soon enough. Third gal with uncontrollable dog barely gets dog out of office before getting into a dog fight with cute Petey. Weimaraner would have had to die if he'd messed with Petey, because Petey actually behaves. It's called dog training you irresponsible pet owner.

10:30 am: Dr. J realizes he forgot cast cutter. Has a ranch call at 11am to cut cast off a calf's leg. Calls the main clinic in Town and asks one of the techs if she has time to run it 30 miles over the mountain. He then calls ranch to tell them he'll be about twenty minutes late. By this time, he's played phone tag with two people who called while he was in surgery. He's played phone tag with family as his mom was having a procedure done in SoCal today. During this time I check the autoclave and the temperature is rising. Should be done by noon - yay!

10:45 am: Call 4th gal back with Petey for his rabies shot. Visits with doc about her knee - apparently has been fighting with insurance or something for a much needed knee surgery for over a year. Hopes to be getting it soon. 5th gal comes in, for a quick shot for her cat. 

10:50 am: Send Petey on his way. Call 5th gal back. Done in two seconds. Easiest appointment of the day. I told her as such. Sent her on her way. Gal calls and says the cat that the ticks in his ears earlier needs to be seen. Something still wrong with ears. She's insistent. I finally tell her to come by at 12:30 during lunch since we will be doing surgery on lunch. Gee, what's one more freaking appointment?!

11:00 am: Grab dog from back to check on this whole 'drain left inside' thing. Doc says drain should have come out 3 days after surgery, can't believe drain could still be inside two months later. PLOP!! We just stared at each other. Both of us be damned, but that drain was still inside. Doc flushed wound, sent dog home with antibiotics. No charge for anything.

11:10 am: Tech shows up with cast cutter. Doc runs off to ranch call with it. Check autoclave, in the green zone - perfect! Let tech get her morning off her chest as apparently it was a clusterf*** over in Town as well. Must be something in the water. She runs off to grab lunch, realize I'm starving and know I won't get a real lunch today. Sigh.  Put other surgery pack in tub to soak in warm water and Nolvasan. Clean up vaccine syringes. Guy calls with questions about vaccinating cows that are aborting. Take name and number, tell him will talk to doc and call back.

11:30 am: Text K to please bring me a sandwich for lunch. Says she will. Clean up surgery area. Post on Facebook via my phone, "What a craptastic day! Stop the ride I want off!" (thanks to Average Girl, craptastic is my new favorite word)

Noon: K shows up with two sandwiches, peanuts & M&M's, a bag of Ruffles, and two Diet Pepsi's. Complete with napkins. Awesome grandmother. Shut down autoclave, open steam vent. Dr. J calls says, "on my way, pop kitty." Set trap on surgery table, draw up stuff. First attempt the syringe doesn't make it in kitty's thigh. Instead it sprays all over kitty's leg. Well damn, that's not gonna work. Draw up more, try again - success! Guy shows up to talk to doc about aborting cows. Have him wait in lobby.

12:10 pm: Doc shows up, I start prepping kitty for surgery. Check kitty for balls, hoping for a neuter, no such luck. Doc talks to guy, gets him squared away with proper vaccines. I write up ticket, send guy on his way. Gal shows up with cat with bad ears. Tell her to wait. I start eating lunch, tell Doc that K made a second sandwich if he wants it. Doc begins surgery, can't find uterine horns, tells me to check for balls - still none. Tells me to check ears for notching - ears are whole. We both stare inside and whoop! finally grabs a uterine horn. Would have high-fived, but he was in surgery.

12:30 pm: Doc finishes surgery on cat. Call in 6th gal to check cats ears. Left ear good. Right ear bad. Cat keeps shaking head, liquid flying all over. Figure it's slobber. Look down at smock, see blood spatter. What the hell? Find out cat had been in fight had scab on left ear, we had broken scab while looking in ear. All blood got on me, table and wall. None on doc or owner. Yay. Give owner medicine for cat's ear which has a ruptured ear drum. Wants to leave cat at clinic for couple of hours to make sure left ear doesn't bleed again. Owner leaves, I have bloody mess. Spend time in bathroom wiping off my face. GROSS. Change smock (fortunately there are extras at clinic).

1:00 pm: Doc heads out to afternoon ranch calls, running off with second sandwich and a water. Call dog's owner to pick up dog. Gal comes in for fluids on her dog. Guy shows up to work on electrical in back room. Doc calls while on road, having suddenly forgotten where he was going. I tell him.

1:20 pm: People are finally gone, except for electrical guy. Re-clean surgery after lunchtime spay. Finish putting away supplies unloaded from doc's truck at 8:15am. Put second surgery pack in another tub to soak in warm water and Nolvasan. Guy comes in to pick up dog. Send him home with antibiotics for dog. Decide not to tell him that drain should have come out two months ago.

2:00 pm: Finally get to sit down to clean up the disaster that is the front desk. Realize two minutes in I have prescriptions to refill, owners will be in soon. Stand back up to refill prescriptions.

2:10 pm: Sit back down to actually work on disaster desk. Write-up receipts for all surgeries. Write in charts for morning appointments, transcribe money onto cash/balance sheet. Fax credit card slips to main clinic in Town. Fax over new client/patient info. Have to keep waiting for fax machine to redial, evidently Town's fax machine is overwhelmed. I'm not helping.

3:00 pm: Doc shows back up, makes me clean bull ejaculator which is covered in bull shit. Literally. Yay. Guy shows up for prescription refill. Send doc off to final ranch call with clean bull ejaculator. Gal shows up to pick up kitty with bad ears.

3:15 pm: Gal comes in to pick up noon surgery kitty in trap. She gets all talkative, and I start running out of patience. Charge her, hand over kitty. Fax over her credit card slip.

3:30 pm: Gather up all the trashes. They are exceptionally full today. Finally realized phone hasn't been ringing off hook since before lunch. Yay! Guy comes in to get two surgery cats. Billed to Humane Society, send him home with cats.

3:50 pm: Trash done. Start doing money. Gal comes in to get last of surgery cats. She used to work at this clinic, sympathizes, so I complain about my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Take her money and send her home with cats.

4:10 pm: Finally get back to money, get it all squared away. Electrical guy leaves, will be back the next day - should be done then.

4:20 pm: Get wish-list, money, etc. back in box to back to Town with doc. Doc shows up with not one, but two dirty bull ejaculators. Yay. Bleh.

4:30 pm: Send him back to main clinic with two clean bull ejaculators, two bags of trash, and the box of stuff. Fist bump, and say, "see you Saturday". Go to close back door, and realize the neighbor was watching us through kitchen window. Creepy. Go back inside, scrub both surgery packs. Fax over new appointments made for future Wednesdays to main clinic.

4:45 pm: Start shutting off lights, turn signs to "closed", grab my stuff, and get the hell outta there.

5:00 pm: Have kicked off shoes, taken two Advil, fed cat, and sat down on couch. Holy shit, I'm exhausted!