[Gpdd] MISC: Snowy Bear and Corrines letter

[warmbreath at comcast.net]

Dear Corrine,  All that is so very ironic, in a way its like Snowy Bear 
prepared the way for you with his illness, you knew lots more about it and 
no doubt were more prepared for your surgery and recovery (when you had more 
time to think about it).  Fortunately you had much better medical care than 
Snowy Bear did, we are all grateful for that. That said, I'm so terribly 
sorry either one of you had to go though it and I am eternally grateful you 
are recovering well.

I know you are still weak physically and missing your little Bear so much, 
and I know you want to put it behind you but I wonder if it would actually 
do you some good if you could locate a local Veterinary Assoc. or even the 
Better Business Bureau and find a way to lodge a complaint.  It is unlikely 
that your vet's actions would stand up to peer review and it would be good 
for your psyche to know that you did something to warn off others by making 
your story known. I dont mean to push you into something you are not ready 
for and truthfully I dont know right now how to pursue such a complaint.

Does anyone on this list know how to do it. It could be a variety of 
approaches, not necessarily legal. There is even a TV commercial in my area 
going on frequently that offers people a way to comment on local business's, 
then other people can look up under vets, for instance, and find your story. 
When doing this the tone has to be basically the telling of your story 
rather than saying things like bad vet, killed my piggy, stay away, a 
retelling of your story avoids doing something that the vet could file a 
complaint against you for interfering with her business, or telling untruths 
that harm her. This is avoided by a first person telling of a story that 
avoids judgments, but allows others to draw their own conclusions about 
whether to use this vet or not. Maybe one of us has this experience or maybe 
one of us or you know of a lawyer who could give you quick advise or pre 
read a letter to see that it doesn't put you in legal jeopardy.

I do not propose some huge action or lawsuit, just filling a report where it 
my do some good for you and for your neighbors with pets, this vet not only 
doesn't know how to care for piggies, she will do a surgery that she doesn't 
know how to do, and avoided telling you the truth and perpetrated a 
cover-up, so even a cat or dog owner would do well to avoid her. Please 
GPDDers, if there is a known way to do this, or knowledge of what not to do, 
or if any one wants to volunteer to help Corrine do this in order to keep a 
load off her  while she recovers. We want to remove stress rather than cause 
it, although it might be a bit stressy in the beginning. Also Corrine, I 
would not think less of you if choose, as you have already stated, not to 
pursue it. I would just like to facilitate in case down deep you do want to 
something.

I am so very happy to hear from you, to know that you met your own medical 
challenge and are recovering well.  And I am sure snowy Bear is and was 
there for you, its so strange how events play out.

Finally please know that we with the pirate piggies have promised a fine 
memorial, and that memorial has taken place but the reporting of it, which 
was primarily my duty, hasn't happened yet, but will, I am subject to bouts 
of procrastination and I under planned it as well as suffered from a lack of 
preparedness, as I didn't keep a list of who was on board the Black Pearl 
when the memorial took place (my printer was broken)  and I kept thinking 
those names were integral to the story. So my partner, Alge, and I have 
decided to publish the story of the memorial in arrears but the list of 
piggies helping with it may be very incomplete, however, that doesn't change 
the actual service that occurred, which Alge, agrees, was quite beautiful 
and touching. The job of finishing the reporting of the memorial is 
important to me and Alge to finish, and is why I ask others on the list if 
they can assist you, if you would like, in filing a complaint or some such 
action for the horror perpetrated on Snowy Bear. And as I said, without 
diving into it, I dont know what to do.

In this day and age of cell phones there is no reason you could not have 
been called during surgery and I dont think the vet has given you an 
explanation of how a piggy with no penis was supposed to live afterwards, 
and that is integral to good treatment and could justify her choice of 
treatment. If she could have said "here is your Piggy and I had to do this 
and this is how you care for him in this condition"  she didn't do that and 
that turns the whole thing into a botched surgery followed by a cover-up. 
How much kinder for you and Snowy Bear had she helped him to the bridge when 
she realized she couldn't perform something that would allow him to live and 
that it was too late to turn back.

I hope I haven't stressed you further, its my way to want to help, to fix 
it, and in this case you have a large body of friends and there may exist 
the will and talent to pursue this if you want to. If not we all will accept 
that and we still offer you our continued moral support and share your grief 
for the loss of little Snowy Bear.
most Sincerely, Sandy

BTW I use, and recommend to others, that you buy and use frequently, a wrist 
type blood pressure cuff. They are easy to use, and over time and frequent 
use, help you understand how your own body works in terms of BP, and even if 
used only when you feel off, it can give you an indication that something is 
actually wrong. I would probably not be here with out mine, as I have a 
schedule of meds from my doc, but as I improve my lifestyle over time, my 
need for the original amount has declined, and I would have seriously 
overmedicated myself if I had just charged ahead without question, none of 
us sees a doc often enough to discern the daily swings of BP, the excursions 
that are abnormal, and long term changes in need for meds.  Any one who want 
to discus this off line just email me. Sandy