Upgrade Equipment or Save My Dog?

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by Apex Lawn & Landscape

Hedge where are you located?I can't be too far from ya I'm 20min south of Pittsburgh, it'll be my good deed for the month, I'm sure all this on your mind has made you fall behind on some jobs, I'll come out for a day, you set me up and I'll work a solid day for ya free of charge. Let me know buddy , hope it all works out.

You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

That's a heck of a gesture, but we're doing OK now. This happened in the fall and the worst part of the recovery period was during the winter.

When it happened and we found out the surgery would be around five grand, I thought "OMG, it's fall, my season is done - I'm going to have no money coming in - how will we pay for this?"

As it turned out, the timing was a blessing, as I was needed at home to care for him. My wife has a back injury and can't move/carry a 50 lb. dog, so ultimately, had this happened during the summer, I'd have ended up losing jobs and clients. I missed doing some fall cleanups, but my clients knew what was going on and seemed to understand.

As a matter of fact, I just "manned up" and walked up to a house today to apologize for a fall cleanup that I didn't get to because of this happening.
I had been approached by a neighbor of a regular client about doing a cleanup and possibly mowing the next season. I told them I'd be out to do the cleanup and never made it. With everything going on (wife in hosp/dog/death in family), I couldn't get to them, and on top of that, I lost the contact info to call them.
I felt bad, so today I apologized for it. She seemed to appreciate the apology.

[Hedgemaster]

Thought I'd post an update...


Good news/bad news.

The bad news:
Pepe went in for a follow up last week and had x-rays taken to check the surgical hardware. There was something showing that had the neurologist "concerned", but at the present, unsure as to the cause of what he was seeing. I can't even explain what the "issue" is, but they want to recheck him next month to compare films. There was something showing that would typically suggest an infection, but it's been so long since the surgery, that the consensus is that it's not an infection.
Essentially, it's not "serious", but something he wants to monitor.


Now for the good news. And it's "plural".

- Pepe is like a rock star up at PVSEC. It's SO funny.
I couldn't go this time due to work, but my wife said one of the new techs was telling her that "now she understands" as she explained that prior to his arrival, all the other girls kept saying "Pepe is coming today!!!" LOL!
After hearing his story and meeting him, Pepe has yet another member in his fan club.

- The x-ray and follow up visit were free of charge.

- Pepe is just as happy as ever and as "normal" as can be expected after having some vertebrae "fused". We say he's "wiggly" now due to the way he moves when he's trying to go fast.
The only real deficit he's left with is going down steps - he's still not willing to try it, but otherwise, he's the same, happy, face-licking dog as he was before the surgery.

- Insurance.
If you recall, we were denied any reimbursement when we initially submitted our claim. With Dr. MacKillop's assistance, that has changed.
During the previous follow up visit, we explained that they (VPI) had denied us, stating that Pep's condition was "congenital". Dr. MacKillop said he'd see what he could do to explain to them that this was not the case.
Whatever he did/wrote/said worked because all this week we received reimbursement checks for various portions of Pepe's treatment. (They broke it all down into separate claims for different portions/treatments/surgery/etc, rather than one claim.
Insurance doesn't cover payment in full, but a large portion of what we had to pay out is coming back to us now, allowing us to breathe a huge sigh of financial relief.

Prayers answered? Perhaps. I don't personally pray for "money", or specific "things", but more of a generalized "Help us find a way to get through this" type of thing. Overall, it's been a long, difficult ordeal in many ways, but we are indeed, "getting through this".

Thank you all for your thoughts, kind words, and prayers.