A bit of a departure this morning as Thanksgiving is coming up in a few days. We had a bit of a scare in the Nusbaum household the last week or so. Two of our dogs have had seizures in the last couple of weeks the latest being Trixie this past Monday right before we headed out of town.Dogs have seizures, a previous dog of ours had a couple of them before our then-Vet put her on phenobarb, and sometimes it is a big deal and sometimes not (so says our current Vet). We live very close to an old mine (the Sheldon Mine whose heyday was a little over 100 years ago). One things that causes seizures in dogs and is also nearby as a byproduct of the mountain's history (and elsewhere on the mountain that we know of) is lead. Given our situation, testing the dogs' blood for lead became prudent. If the dogs had lead problems then we too could have lead problems which could be quite serious for our health and our finances.
A high enough lead level in our soil could require that we move from a newly worthless house (or close to worthless)--who would buy a house with a lead problem? A less severe solution, if the lead level was not too high, could involve having a lot of dirt hauled in and put down to reduce the direct exposure (not sure how viable this is) but of course we'd still worry about it.
Every so often people are forced to move in this fashion and the impact financially can be devastating. I'm not sure if insurance can help here but it could be a dealbreaker if you have to move from a worthless house that has a mortgage and want to move to a house you would own.
Fortunately the lead levels came back at zero so we are thankful for that but we still have a bit of a mystery on our hands--the blood work for both dogs came back as being "perfect." We paid off our little cabin five years ago thinking that no more mortgage would offer a lot of flexibility for who-knows-what in the future not expecting that we might be forced to move (again this turns out not the be the case).
We bought the cabin for a very low price, had to put a lot down and so paying it off quickly became easy and logical and could have turned out to be crucial in terms of avoiding a financial deathblow. While I do not know if we truly would have had to move if this had played out differently we could have done it which is a long winded argument/example of why living below your means is so important. Had we bought what we could afford as opposed to what we needed we'd still be mortgaged up and a forced move as described above could have been ruinous.
So we are thankful we don't have to move and thankful we could have absorbed the loss had it come to that. One does not have to have a lot of money to be well off. If all you pay for each month are various insurances, utilities and groceries (ie low overhead) then you have a much better chance of absorbing really big financial shocks.
The picture shows Ko'olawe off in the distance and Molokini a little closer.
16 comments:
Have a nice Thanksgiving Roger...
glad your life hasn't been turned
upside down. Maybe your dogs have
separation anxiety...sometimes
shelter dogs have problems in that area. Are you having a turkey
luau? :-)
Oh, have you commented on how this
health care thing will impact the market??
Not to get too political, but I think we should spend $$$ improving
veterans hospitals and build government run clinics through out the country = get rid of Medicade/Medicare. It would create
jobs etc.
Yes even the most conservative plan can go awry but it does improve the odds of pulling through.
Good news about the lead but it does sound like it might be something the dogs are picking up in the environment: How's the coyote situation in Prescott? Poisoned coyote bait used to a popular item when I lived in the intermountain region (and damn near any fool could get their hands on it).
Good point about the mining ecological disaster that is looming on all of our very doorsteps to damage all of our health and wellbeing because so little is done to stop the polluting companies that are invading and looting every corner of our once green planet at every opportunity until they have cornered all the wealth and sanity of the populations and then will strart wars so they can steal each others commodities and subjugate the other populations to work for poverty pay and keep the elites supplied with their stuff they consume all the time but don't really need.
Geoff, eatin'a some'a pasta and'a lovin'a the Italian'a way of'a life'a since'a ma wife'a went off'a with the pool boy'a !!
we are flying back Tuesday night to be home for the holiday. as far as separation anxiety only if they knew ahead of time we were leaving, LOL. along those lines we half wondered whether Trixie had a seizure in sympathy with Tater.
as far as the healthcare stuff I have touched on it previously. Before even getting to the right and wrong of the concept it seems to me that the numbers (those that have been talked about) don't work as a long term solution, they instead seem to offer a change that won't blow up before the next election cycle; great.
RW the Vet said that something from plants is unlikley for the current time of year. Obviously we have coyotes--do you mean the dogs eating coyote poop? Very possible they could have done that, we'll ask the Vet TY.
9:39, I thought my comments were heavy, wow. I hope it doesn't come to that.
Roger, I was thinking of unconsumed poisoned baits: I worked as a ranch hand briefly in my younger days and some folks spread the baits around to kill coyotes. I saw or heard of several pets killed by the stuff along with the occasional magpie, raven, skunk or raccoon. Different poisons used in the baits I think but, IIRC, at least one did cause convulsions. FWIW
RW, ok that we did ask about. The Vet said that along those lines they would be much much sicker than a couple of minutes of seizing. Eating that type of poison could be deadly or at least require much medical attention. You'd never know to look that either dog had had a seizure even ten minutes ago.
An old girlfriend had a dog which was very unfortunately run down by a car. Ever since then the poor pup had the odd siezure but lived a long and happy life.
I myself also had a spell of seizures after surgery on my brain, although these faded after a couple of years and seemed to have left me just as clueless as I've always been!
Roger, you may want to cheack the radon levels in your soil. This is being done in conjunction with some property sales, and deals have been voided by "high" (parts per billion) radon levels in the soil. There is a national standard for this.
T
http://www.canineseizuresbreakthroughs.com/
This is an interesting but graphic link that makes sense about the relationship between seizures and dog food. Can't comment on the quality of the information, however. I work in mining, and was researching for any residual mining reagents for lead that could be present in your ground water which would impact your health. I'm still looking. If I find anything meaningful, I'll leave it in the comments.
Sam
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/c0957.htm
The most likely contaminant in the ground water from reagents used in lead flotation would be a decomposition product from xanthates, a chemical called carbon disulfide. This chemical, when formed, could accumulate in ground water. I have copied the address for a MSDS above. The MSDS lists neurological effects from chronic exposure. This chemical, if present in the ground water, would be easily identified by a decent analytical laboratory in the water.
Sam
Also, as I was pondering your dogs' situation, you may want to do an arsenic test on the soil as well.
Arsenic tests are also being used by environmentally sensitive individuals during the purchase of real estate to assess potential health risks.
I initially viewed the exterior radon and arsenic tests just another way to knock down the price of real estate during negotiations. Granted, that may be true, but I have learned to respect the science behind the concerns.
T
Obviously you need to do what is best for you and your family's health because getting sick and dying is the ultimate bear market from which you can't come back..
Hello Roger,
About a year ago or so, the Chicago Tribune did a feature article on the latest edition of the book written by Ann N. Martin, entitled: Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-Shocking-Facts/dp/0939165562/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
You may find this book very interesting reading. What the unethical pet food manufacturers (even the "major brands")put into the pet food is disgusting to say the least, downright criminal to say more.
This book triggered recall of an incident I observed years ago with one of my parent's dogs.
Mom put the dog food in Freckles bowl and walked away. Freckles walked up, sniffed the food, immediately turned around and w/ her paws proceeded to cover the dog food bowl w/ the throw rug.
At the time, I thought it was very funny. However, years later after reading this book, I understand that the dog's reaction was really her way of communicating that this "pet food" was not suitable for canine consumption.
She developed epilepsy....after reading this book, I can't help wondering about a cause/effect relationship.
Wishing you and dogs all the best!
Roger,
Our adopted dog had a seizure 3 years ago when we took him to our summer home in Maine. Vet found nothing wrong and he never had another. Question, what do you do with the dogs when you travel?
we have a dog sitter stay at our house with the dogs.
Even though this health-care reform will cost taxpayers trillions...I have yet to see a report on what healthcare will costs us as consumers if we make no changes over the next 10 years. I have a suspicion it will be more.
There are some groups that are very vocal concerning government mandates in medicine. My physician ordered several tests for me that the insurance would not cover. I would call THAT rationing!
Post a Comment