What's upsetting you today?

[Griff]

I have a participant whose had 3 hips done.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I had three knee replacements in less than a year, I imagine it's the same pain.

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Christ man, how many knees do you have?

Left knee, right knee, wienee.

[lumberjim]

Lolee

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Okay, now you guys are funny. In the face of adversities.

Lumberjim: penes. Really loooong ones, peeeeeneeeeessss.
Like in Beeeeeethoven.

[DanaC]

Every time I seem to be doing ok and the month ahead looks ok and I am more or less straight financially - I get fucked up by a vet bill. So then I have to borrow to get through the month so the next month I start on the back foot - sometimes for a couple of months - get straight, all paid up and looking like I won' have to borrow to get through the month .....bang - vet bill

So - I started out today with an ok bank balance - we got our xmas bonus, not much but not nothing (£180 after tax) - I have bought most of the pressies and not gone mad, got carrot a new dog bed, looking ok for the rest o fthe month, even though it's always a longer month (early Dec payday means a 5 week month)

Was meeting mum down at the vets with me going straight from work and her bringing Carrot from her house - it was a follow up appt only - just how's he doing on his new meds and here's another month supply: 5 mins, £30 - £40 max....

Mum arrived at the vets with carrot and told me that while she was in the bathroom, he'd gone int her bedroom and stolen her hearing aid off her side table - chewed the fuck out of it and some of the pieces she couldnt find including the tiny battery.

So instead of a simple followup visit it was a 40 minute, induce vomiting visit that cost £156

The hearing aid is NHS but even so is £80 replacement (not that mum can get it replaced this side of new year, so she is going to spend the entire season struggling to hear)

I've gone from 'I'm ok, comfortable and can even maybe afford to go for a nice meal with friends over xmas' to ' I have less than £70 a week after bills for the next 5 weeks and no leeway for anything'

I dont know how he does it. Every goddamn time.

Last month on payday I treated myself to a new vacuum cleaner (after a year of borrowing mums at weekends) as I made the payment I thought - I know what's going to happen.... ' and yes - 2 days later we had to go to the vets and I spent the rest of the month penny pinching to try to limp my way to payday

I got paid this month 4 days ago. I bought the presents, went to the hairdressers for the first time in almost a year and then I ordered his new dog bed (£40 - not the cheapest but by no ,means an expensive one) and treated myself to a takeout meal - and as I did it, I thought, I know what's going to happen next...


Every. Fucking. Time.



*takes deep breath*

OK - am feeling somewhat calmer and less upset. Thank you for listening.

Also Carrot is now a very sad doggy. Poor poor Carrot. He doesnt know he did it to himself.

[fargon]

We Cat proof everything so the only vet bills we get are dental. They are usually around $700.00, usually Bootsy sometimes Chloe, sometimes both.

[DanaC]

A further update ...

When I ordered his dog bed it said expected delivery 27th Dec.

I then get an email telling me it will arrive today - and then this evening I got an email telling me it had been delivered to my address and 'handed to resident'

I am the only resident human at this address so unless Carrot somehow took delivery of his new bed and then ate it, we have a problem.

[monster]

We used to get pet health insurance when we lived there. Do Carrot's pre-existing conditions prevent that? Is it something you could ask for as a birthday gift (assuming it's too late for Christmas) ...and if not, at least you'd have a fixed amount each month to deal with?

[DanaC]

He is insured = but there is a life time limit per condition and the first 15 months after he was diagnosed with hip dysplasia I had to claim about a third of that limit.

So,anything to do with his hips I dont claim for in order to keep the remainder of that per condition cover available for if his hip fully fails and he has to have an op.

So that just then leaves the non-hip related stuff to claim for -which is a much smaller cost across the year. With the excess (£90) and the age related copay (I think 20 per cent but it might be up to 30 now he is 8) it basically means it is not worth claiming for anything under £300 - £400

If he had needed an xray and sedation after eating the hearing aid, I'd have claimed and got some of it covered but would have been out of pocket by about £180-£200

And if this was the start of something that required ongoing treatment over several weeks I would possibly claim if costs looked like they would go above £300 across the year for that particular injury or condition (the policy year that is,which runs march to march), but I'd still have to cover a significant chunk out of pocket.

I daren't end the policy - because then he would have no cover for anything to do with his hips. The premiums are quite high because of the early treatment and physio he had when he was young - so,I pay his insurance premiums each month and also pay his regular pain meds, blood tests and hip checks to avoid whittling down the rest of the cover for that stuff, and all the other stuff that occasionally affects dogs and leads them to the vets tends to stay just below a claimable cost in any one insurance year.

Basically, the insurance (£55 per month) is there in case he gets hit by a car, requires surgery or has to go through several xrays or tests to diagnose something major

[DanaC]

Its fine - I am fine - just needed to vent until I put it back in perspective

[monster]

bummer re the insurance. I figured being in the industry ish you would, but then they say doctors make the worst patients....

[DanaC]

Tbf I don't have home contents insurance so, fair cop

I'd probably have let Carrot's insurance lapse duriing the time I was unemployed a few years back had he not already been diagnosed with something by then. knowing he could at any point in his life need new hips is a fairly strong incentive to keep the policy live.

[xoxoxoBruce]

£55($71) is a big nut every month. X 12 = $852 X 8 = $6,816

[Griff]

Sorry D.

[Gravdigr]

Carrot is eight yrs old?! 8?!

Damn.