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SkiOtter said:
I just need to say that I am absolutely OBSESSED with your opossum profile picture. Opossums are one of my favorites 😍
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thank you! I love them so much and definitely miss rehabbing them. I have an opossum tattoo that I adoreeee.
 
BioAg22 said:
thank you! I love them so much and definitely miss rehabbing them. I have an opossum tattoo that I adoreeee.
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I worked with our non-releasable opossum at school and I loved her so so much and miss her. I regularly get Snapchat memories of her. Life goals include an opossum sanctuary in my house 😂
 
Rave and a rant but mainly rave because Im abroad for now and its my happy place 😂

Almost everytime I travel, the harder it is to go back home.😅 no real responsibilities besides not getting super lost and missing any trains.

I really love Europe everytime we go. Yes each country is different, but overall things just move at a different pace over here and just seem more collaborative overall. Today on the train everyone in our train cubicle car said bye to us when they left in czech eventhough we don't know much czech and obviously spoke English. In Germany my husband rescued a pup from getting hit on the busy streets of Berlin and the o was so grateful. People actually help others-multiple people rushed over to help a disabled person pick up their crutch they dropped in the train station. I needed some meds from a pharmacy while in Poland and the pharmacist was so patient while we tried to figure out what I needed in Polish since they didn't speak English and I don't speak Polish. Le sigh, wishing we could do a little better in America and not the you're in America speak English type attitude I see so frequently.
 
Speaking of international travel, there's a decent chance I'll be able to fly out to meet my husband at the end of his business trip IN JAPAN at the end of January!

I'm the opposite of Mix in that I usually look forward to being in my own bed again (and I am really anxious about being that far away from my animals), but it's a once in a lifetime trip. Can't pass it up.

If anyone has gone to Japan, please send suggestions for food spots/fun stuff to do!
 
pp9 said:
Speaking of international travel, there's a decent chance I'll be able to fly out to meet my husband at the end of his business trip IN JAPAN at the end of January!

I'm the opposite of Mix in that I usually look forward to being in my own bed again (and I am really anxious about being that far away from my animals), but it's a once in a lifetime trip. Can't pass it up.

If anyone has gone to Japan, please send suggestions for food spots/fun stuff to do!
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Just got back from there in August. What part?
 
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MixedAnimals77 said:
Just got back from there in August. What part?
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He'll be in Utsonomiya (I think) for the work part, but by the time I get there I am guessing we will be mostly around Tokyo for the week. I already plan on doing at least 1 day at Disney (don't judge me). I know there's a lot to see/do so only having one week is going to make it tough.
 
pp9 said:
He'll be in Utsonomiya (I think) for the work part, but by the time I get there I am guessing we will be mostly around Tokyo for the week. I already plan on doing at least 1 day at Disney (don't judge me). I know there's a lot to see/do so only having one week is going to make it tough.
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If you're into disney def go. I don't know much about utsonomiya. For tokyo I would say depends what you're into. We met some friends and did shibuya crossing could skip in my opinion. Walked to the imperial home was cool. I like walking tours so that's my kind of thing. There's a temple I can't remember the name but if you go early or late it's not as crazy. We did several pet cafes (judge all you want). Pending your time line if weather is good you can do a day trip to kyoto that was worth it in my mind to go see all that's there. I don't really have food recommendation we just poped into side street cafes and food was good. If the sumo wrestling tournaments are happening going to one is fun but gets boring after awhile so wouldn't stay for a whole tournament. There's also like samurai experiences and such that we didn't do but looked fun.
 
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Sometimes you're having a rough stretch on ER, but then you get a student review about how a little thing that you do makes a difference and means a lot to them, and it's just what you really needed to hear that day 🥹
 
I just ran my longest distance yet and didn't want to die at the end of it. I am training for a half marathon in March and it's been tough feeling like I won't be able to go that far. But today made me feel like with some more work I will be able to! From not being able to run more than a mile in September to running almost 6 miles today, it's been a bit of a journey. And I just needed to share it somewhere haha
 
thenontraveler said:
I just ran my longest distance yet and didn't want to die at the end of it. I am training for a half marathon in March and it's been tough feeling like I won't be able to go that far. But today made me feel like with some more work I will be able to! From not being able to run more than a mile in September to running almost 6 miles today, it's been a bit of a journey. And I just needed to share it somewhere haha
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This is such an amazing feeling! I have fallen off but used to trail run and it's always the best when you realize a section used to be crazy hard and you just whipped through it, or the distance you just went would have been impossible a couple months ago. The half won't see you coming. 😉
 
Trilt said:
This is such an amazing feeling! I have fallen off but used to trail run and it's always the best when you realize a section used to be crazy hard and you just whipped through it, or the distance you just went would have been impossible a couple months ago. The half won't see you coming. 😉
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I did cross country and trail running in high school and college but when I had my son, I just didn't get back on that wagon. I felt like I just couldn't carve out the time. Surprisingly being in vet school, I feel like I need something to get me out more so I am running again haha I am so excited for training now.
 
Our interns this year are the sweetest humans. They've started a trend amongst themselves of adopting these crunchy ass ancient strays that roll in where humane is going to euthanize them if someone doesn't just offer to take them. So several of these strays are now getting spoiled rotten for end of life care.

The most recent one I literally had the euthanasia drugs in my hand before we found a chip and I held off (ended up not being able to locate owners). She's now making biscuits and purring at one of the intern's houses. Warms my heart. I was also a sucker and every single day after admitting her despite having many reasons why I should have euthanized her I kept deciding to let her hang around for another day.
 
TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo said:
Our interns this year are the sweetest humans. They've started a trend amongst themselves of adopting these crunchy ass ancient strays that roll in where humane is going to euthanize them if someone doesn't just offer to take them. So several of these strays are now getting spoiled rotten for end of life care.

The most recent one I literally had the euthanasia drugs in my hand before we found a chip and I held off (ended up not being able to locate owners). She's now making biscuits and purring at one of the intern's houses. Warms my heart. I was also a sucker and every single day after admitting her despite having many reasons why I should have euthanized her I kept deciding to let her hang around for another day.
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I have so much respect for people who take in elderly kitties and love them through the hardest parts. That's amazing. ❤️
 
Got my acl and meniscus surgery today🥰 got a spinal block and got to watch 90% of the procedure my acl tear was gnarly and shredded it pretty good. Guess I was the first patient to watch the whole thing that the nurse Anesthetist has had 😂
#bestchristmaspresentever
Thankful for the awesome team I had that made it possible
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
Got my acl and meniscus surgery today🥰 got a spinal block and got to watch 90% of the procedure my acl tear was gnarly and shredded it pretty good. Guess I was the first patient to watch the whole thing that the nurse Anesthetist has had 😂
#bestchristmaspresentever
Thankful for the awesome team I had that made it possible
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This is so. freaking. cool. I wanna watch my own surgery.
 
Trilt said:
This is so. freaking. cool. I wanna watch my own surgery.
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Ngl it was pretty awesome. Wasnt sure I was going to be about it because I dont do people for a reason. Perks of being pregnant? Lol jk don't recommend blowing your knee esp pregnant 😂. I'm lucky they even did sx but found myself the right surgeon, advocated for myself, and happened to be in the right gestational age window.

I guess they do quite a few spinal anesthesia block sxs but most people end up needing more sedation once started and can't handle watching/hearing it. I had a touch of ephedrine at the beginning for hypotension and then Zofran and a very low propofol cri because wholly buckets I got nauseas after the spinal and hypotension but once they got my nausea under control it was pretty great. Super wierd being done and "waking up" without having to wake up from sx. Then they did a local block post op. Idk if human med doesn't have nocita but my block lasted less than 24 hours which was a bit disappointing and painful yesterday 😅
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
Idk if human med doesn't have nocita but my block lasted less than 24 hours which was a bit disappointing and painful yesterday 😅
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I've had two blocks - one worked for far too long (like, 3-5 days iirc with horrible pins/needles feeling as it wore off), one didn't work at all. I was a wee first year and couldn't tell you what they used. I think it's super dependent on the anesthesia person placing it, too.

Glad to hear you're on the mend! Makes perfect sense to me to want to be fixed up and healed before the little one comes along.
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
I guess they do quite a few spinal anesthesia block sxs
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My epidural for my second labor/delivery was phenomenal and was all I needed for my salpingectomy afterwards. I asked if I could watch and they thought it was weird 🤣 Answer was no. But I was so out of it, I wouldn't have been able to anyways. I almost slept during my surgery.

pp9 said:
super dependent on the anesthesia person placing it, too.
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With having the perfect second epidural, I now know my epidural for my first pregnancy was flat trash and non-functional. I even mentioned it to my nurse anesthetist and he basically insinuated the dude who did my first one was not good at his job 😅🫠
 
pp9 said:
I've had two blocks - one worked for far too long (like, 3-5 days iirc with horrible pins/needles feeling as it wore off), one didn't work at all. I was a wee first year and couldn't tell you what they used. I think it's super dependent on the anesthesia person placing it, too.

Glad to hear you're on the mend! Makes perfect sense to me to want to be fixed up and healed before the little one comes along.
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Yeah they did iirc ropivicaine for the block it worked for about as long as they said it would but just thinking how nice nocita would've been yesterday.
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
Idk if human med doesn't have nocita but my block lasted less than 24 hours which was a bit disappointing and painful yesterday 😅
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Interesting because my mom actually had her hip replaced recently and they did use human Nocita - I geeked out a lil and her anesthesiologist was immediately questioning what medical field I was in when I whipped out the term "liposomal" lol.
 
Trilt said:
Interesting because my mom actually had her hip replaced recently and they did use human Nocita - I geeked out a lil and her anesthesiologist was immediately questioning what medical field I was in when I whipped out the term "liposomal" lol.
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Maybe this facility just didn't have it. It was a satellite hospital so my injectable meds had to get filled at the main hospital.

I was literally just there with my husband for his knee sx like 6 weeks ago and I'm guessing it was plastered all over my chart/they had discussed beforehand my profession because everyone knew I was a vet😂 so all my questions about what meds were being given and different plans were completely acceptable
 
pp9 said:
Speaking of international travel, there's a decent chance I'll be able to fly out to meet my husband at the end of his business trip IN JAPAN at the end of January!

If anyone has gone to Japan, please send suggestions for food spots/fun stuff to do!
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Trip confirmed! :barf:

I'm not thrilled about the flights (especially in light of all of the airline-related events of the past week...), but once in a lifetime chance I suppose. Maybe I'll ask my PCP for a few Ambien or something. Seriously, any other suggestions for jet lag? With how short the trip is, I'm going to need to be functional by the next morning, basically. I think Japan is currently 13 hours ahead of me.
 
pp9 said:
Maybe I'll ask my PCP for a few Ambien or something.
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I definitely had an ambien (or part of one) for a long flight to Australia a while back and I feel like it maybe helped me??? 😂 I did conveniently wake up every time they were walking down the aisle with meals and snacks though so that was v nice
 
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pp9 said:
Trip confirmed! :barf:

I'm not thrilled about the flights (especially in light of all of the airline-related events of the past week...), but once in a lifetime chance I suppose. Maybe I'll ask my PCP for a few Ambien or something. Seriously, any other suggestions for jet lag? With how short the trip is, I'm going to need to be functional by the next morning, basically. I think Japan is currently 13 hours ahead of me.
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Ik some ppl do benadryl. I just suck it up. Going there usually isn't terrible and I can adjust and be functional the next day if needed. Coming home from Asia always kicks my butt though.
 
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pp9 said:
Trip confirmed! :barf:

I'm not thrilled about the flights (especially in light of all of the airline-related events of the past week...), but once in a lifetime chance I suppose. Maybe I'll ask my PCP for a few Ambien or something. Seriously, any other suggestions for jet lag? With how short the trip is, I'm going to need to be functional by the next morning, basically. I think Japan is currently 13 hours ahead of me.
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Drink a TON of water and honestly avoid caffeine the day of the flight - helped me fall asleep (though I was just going to Europe) and then when I woke up after a very short time I chugged caffeine.
 
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Random but does anyone have a pet insurance company that they really love/had good experiences with??
 
mgosborne03 said:
Random but does anyone have a pet insurance company that they really love/had good experiences with??
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I have been happy with Trupanion. I did not have a good experience with Nationwide.

Edit with more info since others are providing more as well:
Trupanion has reportedly had some big price hikes in recent years, but (knock on wood) my premiums have remained about $55/mo/dog for five years now. I think we have a $200 per condition deductible with 90% reimbursement and unlimited coverage. And I can be my own vet. They actually slightly REDUCED my premiums a couple years ago, and my increase this year was like $1.25 more a month for both dog’s coverage. But it seems like Trupanion rates vary widely by geographical area…those that live in cities with easier access to specialty care have higher premiums than I have in a rural area, even though I’d absolutely drive the 2.5h for specialty care. But they pay out within 3 days. Admittedly we haven’t made huge claims, but we have a couple minor claims for one dog.

Nationwide was horrible for a patient with preexisting conditions. They blamed every new issue on something preexisting and denied every claim. I had to fight them and escalate every claim up the chain. I will say that they did pay for everything they should have in the end when I finally got to talk to a real vet in the chain of command, but it would always take nearly two months to get my reimbursements because of how long the escalations took. Even the first denials would take them almost an entire month to come in. They’d even randomly start denying stuff they’d previously covered…my dog was receiving an extremely tiny dose of prednisone to keep his blood sugar up when he had an insulinoma, and after covering it for 6 months, the next refill they denied it because prednisone is for allergies and that was a preexisting condition. I had to write letters and explain that the dose he was on was literally 1/10th of the dose you’d use for allergies and he had no active allergy signs on his specialist exam anyway and it was for the cancer, and they finally covered it again. It was just dumb and they only denied it just because they could. It would have been a lot harder for a layperson to fight. And more recently, they’re just dropping existing clients because they say it’s too expensive and they’re losing money, which really screws people over because now things Nationwide used to cover will be preexisting at a new insurer. So don’t recommend Nationwide.
 
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I was happy with Embrace w/ the one claim I made - they paid out quickly and actually sent me a higher % of the bill than I think they were technically supposed to?

I did finally cancel it this year because they doubled my dog's premium once again -it went from $30ish/mo for the first couple years to $60ish/mo for the next couple years and then this year they wanted $123/month and I finally said enough. I enrolled my dog as a puppy and only ever made 1 claim when she was 1. This premium was for 80% reimbursement, $500 deductible (which went down by $50 every year I didn't make a claim), $5000 annual max, no wellness benefits. So originally it felt like it was worth it, but now that I'm a Dr and can do most basic things myself at-cost.... not so sure.
 
mgosborne03 said:
Random but does anyone have a pet insurance company that they really love/had good experiences with??
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I have pets best for my 3. Grandfathered into the being your own vet era. Considering dropping it for my old lady-shes 14 and short of like imha probably wouldn't do much heroics for her at this point and would focus on palliative care esp because her premium is going so be almost $100/mo but I'm still torn. But worth it for my mal who I'm convinced is going to either get out and hbc or jump my fence and need a tplo. Her monthly premium is like $15 but she's 3. I think 90% coverage after a 1500 deduct(don't quote me 100%) for accident/illness only.
 
I have pets best as well but new plans in most states you cannot be your pets own vet for claimed things. They just paid for my dachshund’s $7k hemilam no problem and reimbursement was very quick (10 days from submitting to them emailing that they were finished and reimbursing, but took about 3-4 more business days for the reimbursement to hit my account). We’ll see how much her insurance goes up in March though. Her insurance did take a big jump last year though because she turned 7 and went up a couple hundred for the year (it was something like 450 vs 750 for the year for $500 deductible and 90% reimbursement with unlimited yearly limit).

My sister also has pets best (not a vet) and her cat had 4(?) MRIs, a double myringotomy, a single myringotomy, chemo, multiple ER visits, at least 1 multi-day ICU stay, multiple specialist visits (neuro, derm, ophtho, onco) all within like a 14 month span (and the insurance year reset after the first few months and MRI 1 with double myringotomy) and they had 0 issues reimbursing her visits (after deductible of course). I believe that she said the premium didn’t go up too much after that first expensive visit.
 
+1 to trupanion. They are just as difficult with any insurance company when it comes to nickel and diming you on 'preexisting conditions,' but otherwise everything has been good. I do think their premiums are on the expensive side, but I'm also too afraid to switch out now and lose covering for certain things they've covered thus far. I pay $230/month now (recently bumped up by $20ish) to cover 1 senior cat, 1 middle aged dog, 1 middle aged cat, and 1 young cat. Trupanion also works pretty seamlessly with Bluepearl. They may have other ERs they work well with too, but seeing many clients get preapproved coverage in desperate times was really encouraging.

Trupanion also lets you be your own vet iirc, but I haven't actually tried that yet.
 
SkiOtter said:
I have pets best as well but new plans in most states you cannot be your pets own vet for claimed things. They just paid for my dachshund’s $7k hemilam no problem and reimbursement was very quick (10 days from submitting to them emailing that they were finished and reimbursing, but took about 3-4 more business days for the reimbursement to hit my account). We’ll see how much her insurance goes up in March though. Her insurance did take a big jump last year though because she turned 7 and went up a couple hundred for the year (it was something like 450 vs 750 for the year for $500 deductible and 90% reimbursement with unlimited yearly limit).

My sister also has pets best (not a vet) and her cat had 4(?) MRIs, a double myringotomy, a single myringotomy, chemo, multiple ER visits, at least 1 multi-day ICU stay, multiple specialist visits (neuro, derm, ophtho, onco) all within like a 14 month span (and the insurance year reset after the first few months and MRI 1 with double myringotomy) and they had 0 issues reimbursing her visits (after deductible of course). I believe that she said the premium didn’t go up too much after that first expensive visit.
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Sorry to hear about her hemilam but I am glad she had everything covered! Where does PetsBest state that we cannot be the vet for our own pets? As in, which document might have it? I looked a few months ago at my pets' and didn't see them, but now I worry I was looking in the wrong place.
 
alleycat03 said:
Sorry to hear about her hemilam but I am glad she had everything covered! Where does PetsBest state that we cannot be the vet for our own pets? As in, which document might have it? I looked a few months ago at my pets' and didn't see them, but now I worry I was looking in the wrong place.
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If you had a policy before sometime in 2023, you should be grandfathered in. My second dachshund’s policy who I got in 2022 does not have this clause but my mom’s younger papillon (who for all intents and purposes is my dog since I pay for all routine medical care and such so she’s on my insurance policy) who we got in October 2023 has this clause. They switched underwriters at some point and this is part of their new policies unless you’re in a state that does not allow them to disallow a vet to treat their own animals. I get things at work at cost so currently not an issue bc I never end up submitting for anything minor illness, but I like to make others aware of it so if they only get a ~20% discount and not a bigger one and they ARE planning on submitting minor illness claims, they can make sure a different vet is the one actually treating their pet so it doesn’t get kicked back.

This document (sent with your yearly stuff or at least the initial “thanks for signing up”):
IMG_3104.png
This section:
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This actual bullet:
IMG_3107.jpeg
 
SkiOtter said:
If you had a policy before sometime in 2023, you should be grandfathered in. My second dachshund’s policy who I got in 2022 does not have this clause but my mom’s younger papillon (who for all intents and purposes is my dog since I pay for all routine medical care and such so she’s on my insurance policy) who we got in October 2023 has this clause. They switched underwriters at some point and this is part of their new policies unless you’re in a state that does not allow them to disallow a vet to treat their own animals. I get things at work at cost so currently not an issue bc I never end up submitting for anything minor illness, but I like to make others aware of it so if they only get a ~20% discount and not a bigger one and they ARE planning on submitting minor illness claims, they can make sure a different vet is the one actually treating their pet so it doesn’t get kicked back.

This document (sent with your yearly stuff or at least the initial “thanks for signing up”):
View attachment 396916
This section:
View attachment 396917
This actual bullet:
View attachment 396918
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Thank you, that is very helpful! When I checked, it looks like 3 of mine are "grandfathered in" on the older policy with the prior underwriter and 3 are on the newer policy. That's good to know for the future since I graduate in May. I might consider cancelling or changing my policies for the newer kids since I will get a significant discount at the clinic I'll be working at.
 
alleycat03 said:
Thank you, that is very helpful! When I checked, it looks like 3 of mine are "grandfathered in" on the older policy with the prior underwriter and 3 are on the newer policy. That's good to know for the future since I graduate in May. I might consider cancelling or changing my policies for the newer kids since I will get a significant discount at the clinic I'll be working at.
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If you do cancel the younger ones policies, definitely tell them that you’re cancelling because they don’t allow vets to treat their own pets. Hopefully if they get enough pushback, they’ll eventually change it back. I did send them an email myself when I found this out a year ago about it
 
It’s supposed to snow tomorrow (in FLORIDA!) So basically every county that’s expected to receive any including ours has cancelled school because us Floridians do not know how to act or drive when it gets cold 😂 Exam postponed!!!
 
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