Our Vet
And our sick dog
Many years ago, our dog Cooper (who has since passed away from old age) was in a good deal of pain, without any indication of its cause. So, we took him to the veterinarian that we’d been using for years. A really successful clinic with a beautiful building and a lot of staff.
That vet did a bunch of tests and eventually delivered bad news to us in the examination room. Cooper needed immediate surgery, lest he would die. This was quite a shock to us because Cooper was at that time a young dog, seemingly quite healthy.
We asked for options. There were none. Just immediate surgery. The need for it was explained to us, but something didn’t seem quite right. We didn’t have the specialized knowledge that the veterinarian had, but to our minds, her explanation was off somehow.
We said that we wanted to get a second opinion.
The veterinarian’s final message to us was that she hoped poor Cooper wouldn’t die while waiting for that second opinion.
Not good. I felt downright evil (and nervous as hell) as we left the clinic with Cooper.
We took Cooper to another veterinarian. Across town. In a much less fancy building, with a much smaller staff.
This new vet, a grizzled fellow ran his tests, and like the first, delivered his news.
He sold us a bag of specialized medical dog food. Told us to feed it to Cooper for a couple of weeks and all would be well.
It was. The special food cleared Cooper’s problem right up, and he was with us for a great many more years.
Needless to say, we never returned to that first veterinarian. Perhaps she made an error, perhaps she was working to get her billing as high as possible. We have no way of knowing, but we certainly learned that she was not to be trusted.
In time, we got a new dog. Not long ago actually.
This past week she got sick. Really sick.
We didn’t know what to do. It was late at night, and we feared that she could die.
We decided to drive her to the nearest 24 hour veterinary hospital, about 45 minutes away. As we were preparing to leave, I checked our current vet’s information. The vet who had saved Cooper from unneeded surgery and who had taken care of him through his infirm years. I noticed an emergency number.
It was almost 11:00 PM, but we called.
The veterinarian himself answered, and after hearing our explanation of the problem, told us how we could help the dog through the night with over the counter people medicine.
It worked, and the next morning we took the dog in.
He confirmed that she was quite sick, but would eventually be fine. He sent us home with medicines, liquids and pills. Plus a specialized bag of dog food, of course.
It took about three days, but the little dog is all better now. Although she’s got a couple more weeks of medicine to go.
Through the years, watching other people, and even these experiences with veterinarians in my little city, I’ve developed a bit of a contrary view of health care.
I have what is arguably the very best health insurance possible. But, I never use it.
In all the years I knew her, my wife’s grandmother never went to the doctor. Although I’m told that she did go some time before I met her, when she broke her knee. She also refused pills, beyond aspirin. Almost completely ignoring the health care system, she lived to just a couple months shy of her 100th birthday.
Both of my grandfathers were diagnosed with prostate cancer at about the same time. One of them treated it aggressively, doing everything his doctors told him to do. He was dead within the year. The other largely ignored it, he lived decades longer.
Are these things simply abnormalities?
Maybe, maybe not. But, I can’t help but believe that we tend to overuse health care in our society. That we take far too many drugs. That the nearly constant pushing of new medicines every time we turn on the television, and all of those advertising dollars have to be corrupting.
So, I go to the doctor here only when I absolutely know that there is something wrong. I avoid tests like the plague, and stay away from pills and potions.
I do though get fairly regular checkups while on vacation in Mexico. The doctors I see there have no fancy buildings and equipment to pay off. No crowds clamoring for the latest test or pill. Many years ago, while in the mountains of western Mexico I got very sick, if I understand things correctly, without treatment I would have died. But, the local doctor fixed me right up. That experience gave me tremendous confidence in a health care system that is radically different from our own.
I remember, when I returned home, all of my friends at work pushing me to go to a specialist here, to confirm what was done there was the right thing. I brushed aside all of that well meaning advice.
Healthcare, and the cost of healthcare is a massive political issue here in the United States. But I wonder, does it truly need to be? Are all of these costs simply a case of too much? Would we not be better off going to the doctor less often, and taking a lot fewer pills?
Sort of like old Cooper.
One vet said he needed emergency surgery. The second vet fixed him by feeding him different food for a short time. Perhaps both methods would have led to a good outcome, but it is pretty clear which method was better for the dog.
I don’t trust the modern medical system, and I’m comfortable saying that out loud. That distrust didn’t come from politics or theory. It came from watching how medicine actually works when you are inside it.
COVID made the incentives impossible to ignore. Insurance companies dictate care through reimbursement. Pharmaceutical companies shape treatment paths. Doctors, even well intentioned ones, are often boxed into protocols that prioritize liability and billing over judgment and common sense. The system rewards compliance, not outcomes.
Because of that, I pay cash whenever I can. I ask for prices up front. If a provider will not tell me what something costs before doing it, I walk away. You would be surprised how often that happens, and how uncomfortable people get when you ask.
My father died alone in a hospital during COVID. We were not allowed to see him. My mother had just recovered from the virus and still was not permitted in the room. He was kept on a heavy sedative for nearly two weeks, one intended for short term surgical use, not long term sedation. We begged the doctors to take him off it and let us be there to keep him calm. They refused. His kidneys failed. His liver shut down. All the while we were spoken to as if we were ignorant and in the way.
That experience settled something for me. I would rather die at home, in pain if necessary, than be isolated in a hospital room and handed over to a rigid protocol designed by a system that answers to insurers, lawyers, and drug companies before it answers to families.
I grew up on a farm. We treated our livestock ourselves. Many of the medicines we used were once readily available. Over time, access was locked behind licenses and signatures, and prices exploded. Now I see insurance creeping into veterinary care, and I already know where that road leads. Higher costs, less access, and more control by people who never touch the animal.
Sorry to hear Auggie Doggy wasn't feeling well, but happy she is doing better!
I wish we took a bit more of a holistic approach to health and medicine. It seems like we have become a world of extremes sometimes... It is incredible what the body is capable of when given the right materials. Though some situations may require more aggressive/drastic considerations.