Finally It's the Weekend

(Claire making a new friend

at a pumpkin patch within
a month of joining the family, Oct 2006)

Getting the denial letter from UAN yesterday took the wind out of my sails. They basically said Claire's surgery is too big for them to help. Don't they realize that if everyone did just a little Claire would have the help she needs to be all better?

I spent some time blogging yesterday and keeping up with simple housework. Sick dogs on all kinds of meds mean lots of dishes!

This morning Chance and I went to puppy school. For a couple weeks I didn't really have to worry about latching Claire's crate because she had no motivation to move anyway. Now she's distressed at being left behind when I go out with Chance, so I have been locking her into the crate, for fear she'll jump around at the baby gate and do some harm to herself. It's so hard to leave her but I know she likely settles down as soon as we are gone. I do my best to just ignore her and not play into her insecurity.

At puppy school, I gave our trainer Jacquie Hanson of Practical Dog Training, a copy of the DVD about Intervertebral Disc Disease from Doddgerslist. I hope she shares it with all her clients. Knowing what to do in case of a potential spinal injury can really minimize the damage should one occur. I wish I'd been more familiar with this disease and recognized the signs in Claire a lot sooner.

Chance and I also checked out a local thrift store in search of a doggy stroller for Claire, but no luck yet.

At PetCo today I wandered their homeopathic section. I was looking for Rescue Remedy, which they apparently don't carry. Found something similar--Claire gobbled up the pill, which had chamomile and ginger in it, then gobbled up the one Chance spit out onto the floor! Guess she likes it. At dinner we tried adding a 1/4 teaspoon of fish oil too.

I went to a friend's to print out applications for the Prince Chunk Foundation and Help-A-Pet, and sat at home this evening filling them out. I also added several affiliates to the sidebar of Claire's blog, so please check them out! If you shop after clicking through from the blog, Claire will get a portion of the sales. Even Caesar Millan is supporting Claire's surgery!

This evening Claire got all rambunctious and tried to really play with a toy for the first time since this happened. It wasn't till 1130 at night--I think sleeping the day away in the heat of summer has her sleep patterns completely messed up. And of course, I had to take the toy away immediately so that she doesn't hurt her back playing tug of war while on her strict crate rest. But it felt great to see a flash of my best girl back! It's just still really by-the-moment; for most of the day I thought she was acting like she felt pretty miserable. I'll take what we can get and end the day on a high note. Hope you're having a great weekend too ~ Claire thanks you with tail wags for all your support!

Claire's 2nd Acupuncture Treatment and the Zoom Room

Claire doesn't like camera flashes. She does like to be wiggly when getting acupuncture in front of mom, which causes the needles to fall out of her skin, which means they have to be re-secured. Mom hastily snapped a couple pictures before Claire went to the back of the clinic with the vet to get her acupuncture treatment in privacy, where she could sit calmly for the 15 minutes that the needles have to stay in. So these pictures don't show all the needles they use on her at once, but they show the size of the needles in relation to little Claire, and some of what it's like.

I expected our first visit to Dr. Grey to be a bit pricey due to the initial consultation. But I thought after we met and talked, the fee would go down since we'd be quickly in and out with only an acupuncture treatment. So I was surprised today when the fee was over a hundred bucks, and was told that though the receipt was split into office visit & acupuncture, that was simply "how the computer works" and the total was the actual price of acupuncture. Claire is supposed to have another session on Tuesday, but I left without making an appointment as I can't continue to spend this way. I'll have to call Dr. Grey tomorrow to discuss it with her directly and am hoping she can waive a portion of the fee.

I've started pulling back a bit on the pain meds. They seemed to be making Claire constipated, and that was just worsening the situation for her. I'm glad I have the prescriptions filled and at the ready, and if she starts yelping, I can react immediately. Claire's still on restricted rest, meaning I'm keeping her in the bedroom where she can't jump up on anything, and I'm trying not to pick her up. She's obviously not going on walks with Chance and me. She's eating the Dismuzyme pill Dr Grey prescribed a couple days ago, but the Traumeel, which is a dropper to be applied to the gums, isn't working well--Claire doesn't like anything to be squirted at her! I've also left Pedialyte in her crate, as I thought all the pain meds had been sapping her will to drink and leaving her a bit dehydrated.

My day started with receipts, taxes, and more receipts. I'm making progress and should finish up tomorrow, so we can start applying to private foundations for help with Claire's medical costs.

After several more phone calls, we finally figured out what's going on with PayPal & the ChipIn: I erroneously entered Claire's bank account as checking (it's savings), so the verification got rejected. It's corrected now, but we're back at the beginning of the process and have to wait another three or four days for it to go through. Ugh!

This evening to continue networking I contacted Jen's List, a Meetup Chihuahua doggy playgroup on the Westside that we've belonged to for quite a while, and my Compact listserv, which goes out to thousands of people daily. The word is getting out, and we're at 99 people on Facebook! I didn't want to waste raffle prizes when I didn't have a big group to appeal to but I think by next week I can set some of those up!

Thanks to a Facebook friend, I headed this evening to meet with David Essex, the owner at Zoom Room Culver City. Zoom Room offers itself as a space for dog training & canine social club. David kindly placed a collection jar for Claire at Zoom Room and is brainstorming how to help further. I wish Chance was a little bit calmer so he could enjoy agility! The dogs involved clearly loved it, and the handlers looked like they were having fun too.

Grant Sources, Pet Stores, and Homeopathic Meds

(Claire with her ornament mini-me, Christmas 2010)

Started the day early Wednesday morning at the LA Breakfast Club meeting in Los Feliz. Since Claire is a therapy dog serving the community, I thought I might have a chance at a grant from the Rotary-like organization. They reaffirmed that I'd have a good shot, but unfortunately, they don't fund individuals. So I'd have to find a nonprofit or rescue group under whose guise I can complete the application. I left with a copy of the application to complete at home, then spent a couple hours after I got home extending feelers to rescue groups, to no avail. Since I left a lot of messages I'm hoping one will get back to me soon.

This was Claire's first day on homeopathic meds. I was worried about the Dismuzyme pill because it is so big--too big to be dropped down Claire's throat--and she has food allergies making hiding the pill difficult. But she gulped it right down along with her regular food, no problem. The Traumeel, on the other hand, did not go over well. It's to be sprayed by dropper onto her gums and absorbed through her mucous membranes three times a day, but Claire does Not like anything sprayed at her. I'll keep trying to get her used to it.

I was just leaving the house when I got a phone call from Annie over at Pet Haven. I'd placed a donation jar just the day before, and she was calling to let me know that her first customer of the day had dropped in $10! It was the encouragement I needed to give me confidence to approach the next business.

Jennifer at C&C Pet Food on 3820 W. Verdugo Ave in Burbank is our newest sponsoring business! She placed a donation jar at the register for me in the afternoon. Please shop at all our sponsors--they are Claire's guardian angels!

MRI Films, Acupuncture, Another Collection Jar, and Insurance Claim Forms

(Claire & Chance at puppy school, Jan. 2011)

This morning I followed up on the ChipIn. Though folks have contributed, it's still reading $0 because my PayPal account is not verified and thus not linked up to the ChipIn. Unfortunately it looks like I'll be waiting a couple of days to verify the PayPal account--right now, the ball's in their court. The good news is that once that step is complete, the transfer of funds is easy.

I picked up Claire's MRI films and records from Dr. Gorgi today before picking up Claire and heading to yet another new vet--we met Dr. Jackie Grey at Limehouse Vet in Toluca Lake this afternoon, and Claire had her first ever acupuncture treatment. She was quite excited to be out of the house after being trapped in her boring crate for the last several weeks! Though she seemed to like Dr. Grey just fine, she definitely didn't like the needles being stuck in her back. The idea with the acupuncture was to have the needles in for about fifteen minutes. The vet had to take her out of the room to the back once the needles were in because she was so wiggly around me that the needles were falling out. We sat around the waiting room for quite a while after the appointment too waiting for medications and an insurance claim form. It was nice to get a feel for the vet by watching other clients come and go, and Claire got a bit more adjusted to the noises, sites, and smells.

I was so nervous about the appointment that it didn't occur to me to bring a camera and take a photo. We have our second treatment this Thursday, so I'll take one then. I had no idea what the needles would look like, where they would be placed on an animal, or how many of them there would be. I'm sure there are other people who wouldn't know what to expect either, so I'll try to show it.

Dr. Grey specializes in homeopathic medicine, and she put Claire on two new meds: an antioxidant enzyme pill called Dismuzyme and an anti-inflammatory liquid called Traumeel. I feel like I have at least five things to research each day of this process; tonight I'm looking up the meds.

After taking Claire home from the vet, I took a collection jar to our favorite neighborhood pet store, Pet Haven in Burbank. Chance and Claire go there monthly for non-anesthetic dental cleaning, and we order our pet food through them. They're generously doing what they can for Claire.

Oh, and my homework tonight is filling out insurance claim forms for all that's happened this month....that will pretty much vacate the cap on the category.

Dog Is Good

Shop Dog Is Good using the link on this blog, and a percentage of sales will go towards Claire's medical expenses! They have some awesome t-shirts that I was admiring at Nuts for Mutts. Check out their site by clicking on the logo above, or on the banner in the right-hand sidebar.

Advanced Compounding Pharmacy

I never knew what a compounding pharmacy was until Claire. Because she's so tiny, weighing only seven pounds, certain medications have to be formulated specifically for her: there's no way to cut some pills into tiny enough fragments for the appropriate dosage for her weight.

So today I found myself at Advanced Compounding Pharmacy. Of course, I'm spilling Claire's story each time I pick up something for her, so within five minutes the folks there knew our predicament. They've kindly agreed to place a collection jar for Claire near their register.

Thanks for being a supportive business, Advanced Compounding Pharmacy! Hopefully Claire can send you some customers in return.