Harley's still weak, laying there at my feet. Her breathing is shallow then it gets heavy at times... She can barely walk. All she does is lift her head up, looks at me and wags her tail. She's now on a medicated diet that she barely eats. As I was laying there beside her, consoling her, telling her that everything is going to be alright-knowing that it isn't true. I know what I have to do, but I can't bring up the strength in my heart to do it....My heart is in pain...
My mind drifts off to how the hell I can up with the cash needed to possibly save her life. An ultrasound just to see what's going on inside of her-$4oo. Exploratory surgery just to see if the masses are benign or cancerous-$3000. None of that it guaranteed to work. That's the tip of the iceberg.
As I'm shuffling around bills to figure out a way to cover all this, the prognosis doesn't look good....I have fallen behind in bills to pay for a car I desperately needed to get to work. I don't think the utilities are going are to care about my problems nor my dying dog. They just want my money also.
It's not fair!!!!
I know, I know... I'm paying for the services of a trained professional...they earned it. As the deeper I think about things, the more I realize certain things. Have you ever noticed getting prescriptions for antibiotics and similar type medicine are cheap, while the necessary medicine for heart conditions and other life threatening conditions are sky high? Are the costs to manufacture them more expensive? I highly doubt it. I think it's knowing people need this forces greed. Personally, I think it's the same way all around.
So, if a loved one is laying in a coma, costing you a fortune to keep alive, will you pull the plug? This is how I feel about Harley...
7 comments:
Sorry to hear about the agony your going through with your dog. That's kinda of a tough question. About 12 years ago, we have to put down my favorite companion Pepper, she was about 14 and alas her hind legs simply gave out and had to do it.
Our dogs in our family live a long time (folks spoil them rotten) and even the doggie across the street is around 11 years old too but I treat her as one of my own.
Kinda hard to let them go when they get that way. It's never easy.
You're right Crabb, it's not easy. I'm just wishing somehow, someway she'll get better.
Drew: I left a note on Facebook. Hopefully other will also.
My heart aches for you, and Harley.
Mike
Regarding your question on perscriptions-- I've heard that this has something to do with the age of the drugs (as in how long they've been on the market).
When a pharmaceutical company introduces a new drug and it gets FDA approved there's a patent on that drug. As long as that patent is active the pharmaceutical company has exclusivity on that drug. As soon as the patent expires other companies can make the drug and a generic form can be made. I could be wrong but I believe that different classes of drugs have renewable patents, others do not (or the term of the patent may vary by class of drug).
At any rate when the patent expires the drug loses its profitability and the pharmaceutical company loses its profit margin on that drug. So what a lot of pharmaceutical companies have started doing is putting a huge mark-up on their drugs for the duration of the patent because they know the gravy train will end as soon as that patent expires they want to make as much money on the drug as possible before that patent expires.
That's why drugs that don't have generic alternatives are so damned expensive.
Some employers offer veterinary insurance plans. Usually these plans are not that well publicized and often many of the employees of those companies don't even realize their company offers such a thing. It might be worth inquiring about.
This just breaks my heart. When we lost our Chelsea on New Years Day 2007 (yeah happy friggen New Year)I cried more than I did when my mom died.
I will say this Drew, with Harley wagging her tail when you're talking to her, that is always a good sign.
We are all thinking of you and Harley.
Thanks Toad and Mary for your kind thoughts.
That makes sense to me Perplexo. Thanks for the info. It just doesn't seem fair that greed has taken a place over humanity when it comes to medicine
Drew: I think the whole shift with the pharmaceutical industry started when they were allowed to start advertising in print and on the TV and radio.
It's not ALL bad as a lot of this extra revenue does go towards research & development of new drugs. But the inherent profit motive and markup are downright obscene.
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