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.

Monday--Banks and Blogs

(Claire sleeping with a smile April 2011)

I went to sleep last night knowing Monday would be a better day, and woke up to find $120 had been deposited to Claire's ChipIn fund! Unfortunately, the ChipIn still says $0 donated, and I think it's because I've been unable to claim the funds so far. The final step in the ChipIn setup requires a Paypal account linked to a bank account. Since I have paypal for my Etsy shop, I kept getting error messages when trying to set up something for Claire. So this morning started with another trip to the bank, to close the account I'd just opened on Friday (that was linked to my own) and establish an entirely separate one that I could link up to Paypal. I also deposited everything raised yesterday at Nuts for Mutts, bringing the total raised so far (including the ChipIn funds) to $616.86.

We had a follow-up phone call this afternoon with Dr. Gorgi, Claire's surgeon. He didn't have much to add but did say he'll give us 20% off on the surgery when we've met our goal.

After researching a few more, I chose a therapist to use for Claire--at least to start. She has an appointment tomorrow (Tues 6/28) afternoon with Dr. Jackie Grey at Limehouse Vetrinary in Toluca Lake. It's close to the house, and she was recommended by another dog owner in the neighborhood. Claire's surgeon, Dr. Gorgi, said he's had a couple clients go to her in the past with positive results. But he also spoke strongly against chiropractic care for Claire's condition, recommending accupuncture instead. I ordered Claire's records and will pick up a copy of the MRI images before seeing the new vet. I feel like I'm getting a second opinion tomorrow and can only judge as I go--at this moment, I'm not convinced by anyone.

I ran out of pain meds for Claire over the weekend, when all pharmacies were closed. I finally found a compounding pharmacy in my neighborhood today, but filled another prescription that did not need to be compounded at Costco, for fear that the compounding place would be much more expensive. When I compared their pricing, they were about 33% more than Costco, so I was glad I'd split them up, though it took nearly two hours to get both errands done. But to their credit, the compounding pharmacy told me in future they would match the Costco pricing for me to save me an additional trip. So for anyone in a similar position, it's worth it to do your research--then ask to price match. The worst that can happen is being turned down.

The majority of the day was all about Claire's blog. I want a site independent of Facebook for those who aren't on it. I'll use the blog to encourage donations and allow donors to track Claire's progress and recovery, as a journal to help me track whom I have approached and the responses, and as a resource for others who face difficulties (monetary or otherwise) in caring for their pet's medical conditions. I'm hoping the sidebars and resources will be useful to others long after we've been through this process and that some good will come of our story. Not to mention, on a blog we can use affiliate opportunities to raise funds through click-throughs and online purchasing, as well as administer raffles and other giveaways.

While I was blogging, a kind friend helped me begin to pull together my financials. I should be current by the end of the week, which will enable me to apply to more private foundations.

Goodnight kisses from Claire~

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.