June 20th, 2006

Tuesday. Another stressful day, albeit a half-day. It was my intention to be off for the entire day but the particular circumstances surrounding my caseload made this an impossibility.

I currently have far too many cases in the hospital for any R & R. In fact, I spent the weekend shuttling back and forth from home to work to check on everybody, clean their messes, change out their food and water bowls and medicate them.

Although most hospitals have weekend staff to deal with these issues, ours does not. We three veterinarians share weekend duties, often trading tasks on our cases so we don’t all have to interrupt family time to get to work in time for someone’s medication.

Imagine a human doctor (as we vets call them) interrupting his Sunday sailing schedule or Saturday on the golf course to make sure his patient gets a pill. Fiction.

When I compare my weekend to my friends` I feel in serious need of a schedule makeover.