Complete Waste of Time

[smokingboot]

The old vet had returned in time to survey the damage done by Vampirevet, the money-draining locum. He examined Surya for about 3 minutes before saying, 'Well, I think that's the ET tube down her throat during surgery that's done it... it looks more dramatic than it it is, it'll right itself in about 2 weeks. Take her home,bring her back for a check up in a week's time unless something strange happens.' And that was almost that. He was worried she was off her food, but hoped she'd eat when she was hungry. He checked the notes left by the locum, presumably about the X-Ray as it was the next thing he mentioned.

'Complete waste of time,' he said, as he gently squeezed Surya's sides and belly, 'All it would show is if she's broken a rib, and I can tell you she hasn't.'

I asked him about the massage VV had recommended, to try to move the airbubbles along to the 'blowholes.' He stared at me as if I was the worst veterinary student on the planet. 'Well, the air's in pockets and it has to make its way through fat, so how's that going to work?' He asked, and then added in case I hadn't got the idea, 'Complete waste of time.'

It may have been his phrase for the morning, but it pretty much defines my past week, with all these taxis to and from the vets, and all the panic and the bandages and the blowholes and VV's talk of x-rays and tumours and kidney failure and mysterious punctures that just turn up coincidentally at the same time as surgery , and the sheer bloody hope that concepts like Occam's Razor  by-pass the brains of terrified customers...We talked then about the ever-mounting bill,and he got his chance to lament at modern vets. 'They train at places like the Royal College where even seeing an animal costs  between £1500 and £3000,' he said, a bit reckless in his grammar. 'They don't realise that most people don't have that kind of money.'

And with that, he knocked £78 off the bill, and didn't charge me for the follow up appointment.

So it all feels a bit less horrendous than it did. 

Comments

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Good. Hurrah for decent vet, and bad cess to Vampire Vet.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Rah for decent peeps everywhere! :-)