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Pawcurious: With Veterinarian and Author Dr. V

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hospice

The Dying Pet’s Bill of Rights

September 28, 2016 by Dr. V

As I prepare for my third year at IAAHPC, the veterinary hospice conference, I've taken pause to reflect on this journey and how it affects the way I view veterinary medicine. Personally, I have only euthanized a personal pet in a clinic (versus at home) one time. It was Nuke, my vet school coonhound, and he was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma just a month after I graduated and came back home. The veterinarian was lovely and did as great a job as one can do in that situation, but so many ... Read more »

Filed Under: Be The Change, Daily Life, Euthanasia/Hospice, Featured Posts, Health, Musings Tagged With: end of life, hospice

California’s End of Life Option Act and How it Would have Changed Mom’s Death

October 12, 2015 by Dr. V

In 2014, a young, vibrant woman named Brittany Maynard moved from the home in California she had known all her life so that she could die on her own terms in Oregon. Diagnosed with glioblastoma, arguably one of the most monstrous forms of cancer in this world, Maynard was willing to uproot her life, put her face out into the world, and share a most intimate decision with a universe of strangers in order to help people understand why someone might make the decision to hasten their death. With ... Read more »

Filed Under: Cancer sucks, Daily Life, Musings, Picks of the Litter Tagged With: assisted death, cancer sucks, end of life, End of Life Options Act, hospice, mom

Balancing the scales in medicine

July 7, 2015 by Dr. V

I am becoming increasingly convinced the communication gap between veterinarians and clients is the number one problem we've failed to solve. We're just not on the same page a lot of the time, it seems, and it makes me sad. I can't read a single article online without coming across "veterinarians are money grubbing pigs that suck" (true blog title) and someone else saying "if you can't afford x/y/z/q you shouldn't have gotten a pet, jerk." I feel as though this is perhaps a bit extreme, but it's ... Read more »

Filed Under: Daily Life, Health, Musings, Picks of the Litter Tagged With: communication, hospice, medicine, money grubbing vets

And still we are here

May 31, 2015 by Dr. V

So here we are. I wake up every morning and do what I have to do, because that is what you do, and write articles about broken toenails and plan for the book release, and then when I pause in my activities I remember: oh yes. That. It wasn't a bad dream. I have done what I am supposed to do. We held hands and stood in the face of a futile fight, and laid down our weapons. You may come, death. We do not fear you. And yet now that we have welcomed him, he hesitates, the rotten bastard. We ... Read more »

Filed Under: Musings, Picks of the Litter Tagged With: cancer sucks, hospice

The Everything in Nothing

May 6, 2015 by Dr. V

I know I've been remiss in posting, and I wish very much I could say it's because I've been so busy creating amazing and exciting book campaigns and creating a plan to hit the NY Times Bestseller List in July. I still want to, don't get me wrong, and I still plan to at least give it ago. But that's not why I've been quiet. I guess you could say I've been doing nothing. Nothing. Let me explain. I've said to many people when I started working with as a hospice veterinarian two years ago it ... Read more »

Filed Under: Be The Change, Cancer sucks, Daily Life, Mother of the Year, Musings, Picks of the Litter Tagged With: cancer sucks, hospice

Do No Harm

April 22, 2015 by Dr. V

I always assumed my experience as a veterinarian would serve me at some point when I needed to navigate the human healthcare system. The similarities between veterinary training and medical training, after all, lend themselves to a good number of similarities: how to read scientific articles critically. How to read an MRI. When to call the office and say, this prescription doesn't seem quite right, is this what you wanted? The similarities are all well and good, but I never understood, in the ... Read more »

Filed Under: Be The Change, Cancer sucks, Daily Life, Mother of the Year, Musings, Picks of the Litter Tagged With: cancer sucks, do no harm, hospice

Two things people always say when a pet dies at home and other DeathLord lessons

March 5, 2015 by Dr. V

Life is weird in lots of way. Things happen for a reason, and you have to kind of be open to what life's going to throw at you because you certainly aren't going to expect most of it. Even the good stuff. Especially the good stuff, which is often hidden in bad stuff. When I go to a house for a euthanasia, people invariably say one of two things: 1. This must be so hard. 2. I wish we had this for people. The answer to both is "I agree." The interesting part is that they ... Read more »

Filed Under: Daily Life, Features, Musings Tagged With: angel of death, death, death fairy, euthanasia, hospice, ignite

The midwife at the end of life

October 9, 2014 by Dr. V

Like many of you, I’ve been mesmerized by the bravery of Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old woman who is dying of Stage IV brain cancer. After hearing the course of the disease progression from her doctors and considering what the end of her days were likely to be like, she made the incredibly difficult decision to move to Oregon, one of a handful of states in which assisted suicide is legal, and choose the day and manner in which she will die.   While her story is compelling and ... Read more »

Filed Under: Daily Life, Euthanasia/Hospice, Health, Picks of the Litter Tagged With: end of life care, hospice, IAAHPC

How to talk to your vet about death

October 6, 2013 by Dr. V

I'm getting Apollo's ashes back this week. I still haven't quite processed it yet, because his death lacked that months long painful preparation/ agonizing over a pet in the process of dying: The Infinite Hovering of the Big Hanging Clock. He woke up Wednesday morning, meowed for his food like always, and was dead 12 hours later. Whenever you learn of a terminal diagnosis, that invisible countdown clock that all living beings share suddenly appears. And we know that it's winding down, sooner ... Read more »

Filed Under: Daily Life, Health, Musings Tagged With: Apollo, euthanasia, hospice, quality of life, Will My Dog Hate Me

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