Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Follow-up vet thoughts

I was all set to rag on the vet a little bit. Not because they weren't good about the whole Saturday experience: they were! But I looked at the bill again later, and I have to admit, I found the line item, though well-meaning, a touch ... what the word? Macabre? Tacky?


(Though I do find the idea of "witness" euthanasia kind of funny. And for those who choose not to witness, what do you suppose they call it?) (I'm leaning toward "ostrich".)

Anyway, I was going to make fun of them a little, but now I can't. I got a lovely note today from the vet we saw on Saturday.

"I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss of Pan. You were clearly dedicated to keeping him comfortable for as long as you could. It is never easy to say goodbye to our pets; you're in my thoughts at this difficult time."
Sniffle. So for any who would think they don't know what to say, it doesn't have to be profound. Saying it is what matters.

Edited to add: I hope no one thinks I meant just here! I love all your comments, especially now, but if you don't comment, that's fine too. I was thinking of bereavement in general. I never feel like I know what to say, so I just say all the trite, true things. Because those things tell the person that you're thinking of them, and that helps. End of sermon. Love you all.

4 comments:

  1. Ohhh, what a nice letter. (And it was handwritten, no less.)

    I'm so sorry for your loss, and I can only imagine how sad you must be. :( I didn't have a chance to comment earlier and then felt weird jumping in after the fact.

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  2. At some point when you visit with Harold you might want to mention the "We're so sorry" line on the computer generated form; it's "just a bit" tacky.

    The note was lovely though. As I said before, Veterinary medicine has improved the way it handles these things in the past 20 years.

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  3. Oh man. I'm still catching up on blogs post-honeymoon, and I only just saw this. I'm so sorry about your loss. And I'm glad the vet took steps to make up for the auto-sympathy thing.

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