Dog of the Week...Dolly

DOG OF THE WEEK!!

DOLLY!! I'm an 8 year old female Jack Russell Terrier. Very sweet but scared of other dogs. Tri color but mostly white. Needs soft food. Almost housebroken. Needs family with no other dogs.
For information on how to adopt Dolly, or to find out how to become a volunteer at the NMDR click here.
All of us...and the humans too...thank you for your support.

Dog of the Week...ADOPTED!!!!

Liberty

Hi! My name is Liberty and I am a female Rat Terrier born in Oct of 1998. I was rescued on July 4th and my tag number is 1776. Yep, I am a liberated girl and had to have emergency surgery as I was delivering a dead baby when I arrived in Colorado rescued from a long life of have puppies. I am very sweet and get along great with other dogs. I am up to date on shots, spayed and ready to meet my forever family. JY9-61

Finally...the elusive birth certificate.

After spending $950,000 on attorneys to fend off releasing ANYTHING to prove he is a citizen of USA, Obama recently released his Hawaii birth certificate, and I hope, once and for all the matter will be dropped and I will not have five or six emails each day from all you ultra-right-wingers with a different conspiracy angle...He was elected as our president and we need to get over the fact we lost..... SO please stop stirring up things and trying to discredit him with all these stupid and groundless rumors....Attached is a copy of his birth certificate and I hope this will put the matter to rest once and for all!

I had a different blog posted but...

I had a blog posted about something I saw on GMA this morning but I'm not sure how that will sit with some of you readers. So, with that said I have one comment about the goings on of the day. As you ALL know, Michael Jackson is dead...still, and his memorial service was today. But what makes me sick is that within the last 48 hours we've lost more American troops to the war in Afghanistan as well as civilians and almost 160 people, if not more, are dead in China over protests on things that we as Americans take for granted. Yet, for 10 days straight now we've done nothing but cover MJ's untimely and unexplained death. He's dominated every headline in every city nationwide as well as the world as we've dedicated a mere 5 minutes per newscast to what's really going on outside of 'Neverland'.

Good thing is KVOR hasn't been feeding into that frenzy and you're going to get up to the minute, breaking headline news every morning and all day. Yes, we do maybe one story an hour about the KOP but until he gets up and moonwalks again, that's about all you'll get from us.

Now please, don't get me wrong. I LOVED Michael Jackson. I know every move to Thriller and the entire Off The Wall album by rote but seriously...too much of anything is never a good thing. I'm not being heartless by any means...I'm just more concerned with the world and not just one person. It just amazes me where our focus lies. No wonder there's still homeless in America.

Thanks for reading.

Healthcare...health'scare'?

So my dad is an avid bowler. Has been since I can remember. It's one of his favorite hobbies next to his garden and he's damn good too. Unfortunately, last week he had an incident at the bowling alley and it looks as if he may not get to play for the rest of the season. Now, you may be saying...why is she telling us this? Well, I want you to read this because of the events that took place after the incident.

He's on the boards, focused and set on the strike zone...he makes the approach, pulls the ball down for the swing through when a sharp paralyzing pain runs down his left arm. Dropping the ball and writhing in pain, he barely makes it off the lane to the chairs behind him. It's at that moment the ambulance is called for fear that a man in his mid 60's is having a heart attack.

My mother is there to comfort him while they await the paramedics arrival. I was 60 miles away in the mountains when my mother notified me of the accident. It was 7pm when I got the call and according to my mom, the paramedics took their time getting to the alley to assess the situation. The clock is ticking in a possible heart attack situation and it seemed that is wasn't that big of a deal to the emergency crew. Once they got there and did their initial overview they determined it could be either a mild heart attack or a pulled bicep. They threw on the oxygen mask, stuck an IV drip in his good arm then loaded him up on the gurney. By this time my brother had made the 15 minute trip to the alley from his home which has now extended the wait time my father needed to get to the hospital to over 20 minutes. All I can say at this point is...if it is a heart attack...my dad's going to die.

It was a scene from the Keystone Kops, according to my dad, as the paramedics wheeled him out the bowling alley doors to the awaiting ambulance. It seemed the only thing the emergency workers did right was open the door to the vehicle. Once opened, they shoved the gurney into the back with such force the oxygen mask ended up being disconnected from the bottle and his IV was ripped out of his arm leaving him bleeding and the juice just spraying all over him and the back of the truck. Heart attack or not, I'm thinking he was wishing my mother had just dropped him off at the emergency room because it's not looking like he's going to make it there alive anyway.

At this point almost an hour had passed before he even made it to the emergency room. Maybe this is the way the paramedics tested him to see if it was actually a heart attack or a muscle tear. If he dies before we get there...heart attack. If not...muscle pull. And I think the emergency room personnel felt the same way based on the events of the next hour.

He's admitted and stuck in a room where a nurse hooked him up to a heart monitor, took a reading and that was the last anyone saw of any official health care worker for the next hour. No doctor came in to assess him until well after 9pm. So, he too must have been under the 'not dead, not heart attack' theory as well cause there was no alacrity in any one's actions. Oh, wait...except to get every last bit of his insurance information, copies of his cards and ID's, signature, next of kin, name of general practitioner and of course...did I mention...every last bit of his insurance information? I doubt they even took his temperature but I'll be damned if they miss who's going to pay for all of the 'Muppet Show' medical procedures.

At this point Dr. Honeydew and his sidekick Beeker still haven't made their presence known so, with boredom setting in for my brother he grabs his cell phone and starts Google-ing and WebMd-ing everything he can about bicep pulls and tendon tears and starts evaluating my dad himself. Within 10 minutes my brother, the IT Tech, had determined he tore his bicep off the bone at the tendon. He would need to contact his primary care physician and schedule a follow up to see what the rehabilitation is going to take. It was then the Doc decided to show up for work. He came in, noticed my dad was still alive so he knew it wasn't his heart so the next obvious choice was his arm. Much to no one's surprise he tore his bicep off the bone and needed to contact his primary care physician to set up a follow up for rehabilitation. Wow, de ja vu. So, with outrageous medical bills in hand, he was discharged and sent home for the extended holiday weekend.

He called his PCP the very next morning and was told by Dr. Doofus that he could see him if he could be in the office in five minutes. We live off Research Pkwy and his doc is off San Miguel and Academy. At least a 15 minute drive without any traffic. Ok, not a possibility so my dad asked when the next time available would be. Once again Dr. Dorkus said he could see him at five-o'clock the next morning or he wouldn't be able to see him until start of business on Monday. At that point my dad just asked Dr. Don't-Know-What-I'm-Doing-Here what the procedure may be to repair a torn tendon. It was then that my dad finally realized his doc is a quack and most likely shouldn't be in the practice anymore when Dr. Wiggity-Whack said 'you can't do surgery on a tendon'. With that response my dad retorted...really, so you're saying I'm stuck with a muscle off the bone, balled up in my arm for the rest of my life. And the ducks response was 'yep'.

Now, my brother...the IT Tech, looked up the next step for a muscle tear as severe as my fathers online and found that not only CAN you do surgery for this it's a very unobtrusive surgery that can be done as an outpatient procedure!! I even questioned Dr. Death's answer to my father about not being able to perform surgery because what do they do for the athlete's that this happens to? They're in and out of surgery and back on the ball field in no time. So, just because my dad's last name isn't Favre, or Elway or Woods, his absolutely incompetent doctor just shoved him to the side.

Good thing is, my dad's in great spirits after his painful ordeal and has learned a lot about the medical world. They don't call it 'practicing' medicine for nothing after all. But more than that I got some clarity too. I used to wonder what actually happened to those people's family members that stand on the corners of intersections claiming that our local hospitals killed their loved ones. You've seen them. They hold signs about how their mom went in for a simple headache and landed in the morgue because Ibuprofin was prescribed for a brain tumor. Or they've gone in for a muscle ache and it turned out to be a heart attack but they assumed since the person wasn't dead yet that all will be fine till they get back in from their smoke break. Now I know. I know that unless you're bleeding profusely from you eyes you're not an emergency. I've learned that no matter how bad off I am...don't put me in the hands of some 19 year old paramedic straight out of Goofy's School for Ambulance Drivers. Take me there yourself. And I've learned not to be afraid to speak your mind. When your life or the life of someone you love is in the hands of these people that claim helping others is what they're meant to do, then speak up and out loud. Heart attack or not you're being charged out the ass for these procedures so get your money's worth. Make them do their jobs and call them out on it when your IT Tech son has diagnosed and healed you before the doctor even finds out your name.

Scary and true...thanks for reading.

This weekend is Springs Spree...a Colorado Springs tradition and we hope you'll join all of us from Citadel Broadcasting. As always, KVOR is heavily involved in the community and one of the organizations we have chosen to help is C.H.O.A., Childhood Hematology and Oncology Associates. A non-profit that treats children with cancer and blood disorders. This amazing place makes the treatments for these kids, that should be out enjoying their time as a child, a little more tolerable as they endure their sessions. They give them soda and candy and puzzles and games to help distract them from the process but something we here at Citadel noticed is, these kids care about their appearance too and sometimes the stares and whispers of a stranger can be the most painful treatment of all.


That is why we are asking you to help us out this weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday, KVOR will be taking donations of hats, bonnetts, scarfs, beanies, etc., to donate to these children so when they go out to enjoy the Colorado sun they can do it with a little more confidence...maybe just that push they need to feel a little more back to the kid they deserve to be. Growing up is painful enough.


So come by and donate and while they last, KVOR will give you tickets to the Sky Sox for every donation made. Citadel Broadcasting and the kids thank you!

I want to tell you about the National Mill Dog Rescue. It's an incredible foundation dedicated to responsible breeding and helping the dogs that have fallen victim to selfish breeders who misuse and abuse these fantastic creatures.

It just amazes me sometimes how cruel human beings can be when you look at a mill dog like Lily who was the inspiration behind this organization. Lily's story is sad but not uncommon in the world of mill breeders. Below is her story and more on how my daughter and I are working on helping to find more homes for the dogs and doing our part to educate the public about the need for responsible breeding.

lily's story
by - rich strader
Lily is the love and the light of my life. If you've ever had a special dog like Lily, then you will understand right away what I'm talking about. If you haven't... read on.
Lily was born, raised and perhaps had 13 litters of puppies at the Reedgate Kennels before we were able to buy her at auction. Her time there was spent in a wire cage with a board to sleep on and a rabbit waterer to drink from. While in the mill she received little or no vet care and because of this she lost all her teeth and her lower jaw rotted off, which is not unusual for the smaller breeds in the puppy mills. Everything that was precious to her was taken away (her puppies). The human hand brought only misery.
When she came to me I took her to work everyday and she slept in the warmth of my Irish Wolfhounds stomach. She slowly learned to trust and in 7 months she would come to me to get on my lap! She now loves all humans as no one will ever hurt her again. As you can see from the picture on the right she has her silly moments and keeps a lookout so she won't get caught!
Lily is my inspiration. She can teach anyone about love, courage and the ability to forgive. Unfortunately the cancer she aquired through years of neglect is now close to ending her life. I have promised her she will never be alone again and I will be with her at the end. To date she is responsible for saving over1100 dogs as she is the inspiration and founder of MDRN.Lily died in my arms May 13, 2008. She will be missed.
Two of Lily's friends have written poetry for her, please read it here.

My daughter is a volunteer at the rescue and she goes with my friend Gina Kavali from 98.1 KKFM...(CLICK HERE for more on her blog and additional rescue information)...where my girl fell in love with a 2 year old female Pomeranian named Sugar. Now, Sugar has some health issues from being a mill dog like bad teeth, as you read above is common in the smaller breeds, and she's narcoleptic. We're prepared for the challenge financially as she's going to be on medication for the rest of her life but now we need to make sure the timing is right for all parties. I will be getting by there this weekend to see Sugar and the other babies that need some human interaction and I think it will be good for me to put time into something that I do believe in.
If you can help in any way...monetary donations, food, toys, treats, blankets, dishes, or even your time then please, contact the National Mill Dog Rescue by clicking HERE.