Patients, my dear doctor.

Contemplating what to write for my first blog post, I'm reminded of the old cliche: "write what you know". What I know right now is that I'm feeling impatient, and bored. You see I'm waiting on a bank loan. Ever done that? The hours on the phone, the miles - or in today's world, gigabytes - of paperwork, the serious, grown-up meetings. Then wait. "The bank's approved it but the SBA has to approve it." "The SBA's approved it but they need more information." " They need more information about that information.'' ''Oh, and this came a few weeks ago, but we forgot to ask. Give us the wrong answer and you'll have to wait a few more days."

Why am I bored? Because I'm a veterinarian, not a business man. When I diagnose a problem, I'm trained to rapidly prescribe a treatment plan and undertake that plan immediately. No waiting. Pills? Here you go. Ointment? Apply it like this. Surgery? Schedule it tomorrow. In, out, done. My daily routine breeds impatience. So is it any wonder that when I decided a year ago that I had found the perfect location to relocate my practice, I thought I had started in motion a bullet-train that wouldn't stop until I had my shiny new clinic? Instead, I'm on an old steam engine that spits and sputters to a stop at every little station, creating whiplash from all the fits and starts. I'm bored because I anticipated a flurry of busy-work until the project was done. And that was true, until all the planning was done. Now all I can do is just wait. Wait for the money to come through. Wait to sign on the dotted line. Wait for my world to change.

I can't really say I'm bored. I have a long list of devoted pet owners (who we call "clients") and their pets (our "patients") who continue to seek my advice on a daily basis and give me a reason to want to better my place of business. The clients and patients are the heart and soul of Hillside Small Animal Hospital. Always have been. Like the little Boston terrier "Bella" I saw today for follow-up from her second knee surgery this year. Built like a fire plug, Bella has the face of a cherub and the disposition to match. She has a condition called "medially luxating patellae" or MLP, which is a repeated dislocation of the knee caps that can lead to a painful arthritis if not corrected early. The condition is inherited, and is a big reason for not breeding dogs with even the slightest form of the disease. We operated Bella's first knee in the fall to great success. Her second surgery two weeks ago was equally routine. So, when we saw her today to remove her skin staples, it was no surprise that she was already walking on the leg. In fact, Bella's owner seemed to think she felt even better than she had after her first surgery. Amazing. The recuperative ability of my patients, coupled with their will to survive and be happy, will always astound me.

There's a lot I could learn from a patient like Bella. The patience she's shown in the face of hardship and adversity, ever confident everything was going to turn out OK, is perhaps something I could emulate. I mean, who am I kidding, there's very few quick fixes in veterinary medicine. In, out, done? Hardly. How about in, out, two months of sitting around the house, then in again, out again, and two more months of having to go pee while on a leash? Gosh, Bella how did you do it? Patience. Indeed, it's more like "Pills? Give these for two weeks, then we''ll talk about the progress. Ointment? Use this for three weeks then come back for a recheck." Diagnosis may be obvious. Prescribing the treatment may be simple. But results take time.

The diagnosis is our fifty year-old leased building has reached the end of it's usefulness to us. The prescription is to design a new practice; hire someone to build it; buy land to build it on; get someone to agree to loan you the money; ask the Federal Government to loan you some, too. And that's just the start. I guess I might have a few more months of having to go pee while on a leash. Keep your eye on the prize, Doc. The results take time. Thanks, Bella, for reminding me of that.