I never get sick. I have worked years in pneumonia traps, been cut with filthy hoof knives and had my partner suture me, kicked, bitten and stapled myself up, fallen on, stepped on and squished by 1500 pound animals. The last two days my head is so full, water is coming out my eyes and someone left the tap on in my nose. I’ve been sneezing and coughing like old faithful, every 5 minutes. I have the cold that has been going around our clinic. Two of our veterinarians are gone for the next 5 days, so not going in to work is not an option. I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning with a throbbing headache so I got dressed and went in to the clinic to check on the animals, visit with our night watchman and do some paper work. I thought today, I would just be lucky to survive it. But once in the doors, there was no time to feel sorry for myself or lick my wounds. Work jumped at me and there was nowhere to go. At the conclusion of the morning, a couple my age came in with their dog. After treating their buddy, I learned that the wife had just retired from teaching. She taught religious studies in elementary school. I explained that all of our children attended a scripture study class every morning for an hour from 6-7 AM at our church before going to school, all four years that they attended high school. I thought that it was the most important hour of each of their days. The world taught them its ways all day long, and we only had that one hour to show them another side of things, with unconditional love. It brought to mind years of memories of waking them at 5 AM and getting them ready, and driving them in, then waiting for them in the parking lot, and then taking them back. Judy was often their driver, so I could get in to work. As this couple prepared to leave, I took them in to our preparation room at the clinic and showed them two of my favorite pictures. One was a drawing given to me by a friend, of Jesus, laughing. The other was a print of a painting of a lamb and a lion together. She understood the significance of both of them. I thanked her for her career and expressed my admiration for her great work with our youth. What a fulfilling career she must have had and a feeling of satisfaction as she now moves forward. The last call of the day at 7 PM was from a man and his son who found an old Labrador up to his chest in mud somewhere above Oriskany Falls. He called to see what he should do. I told him to bring him in and then call the police to tell them of his find and where the dog was in case someone called looking for him. The old dog came in weak, cold, shaking and with 2 inches of heavy mud from head to toe. Our staff took charge, and went to work giving him a warm bath and cleaning him up. I started him on antibiotics, and they put him on a pile of warm towels in a cage, with some canned food and water. He was the dog who came in from the cold. It’s midnight and I’m going up to check on him. My cold is still here, but miraculously, I feel good. It was a great day.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 04:06:45 +0000