I didn’t realize it’s been 3 months since I created a post. It’s been a somewhat busy summer, and although I’ve thought about writing several times, I knew I just didn’t have the time right then to start and finish, meaning I never started. Busyness aside, I don’t know that my head space has been quite where it should be to compose a post to share. Too many thoughts rushing around to form anything coherent would be the best way to put it.
Back in mid-June, I made my second trip down to Florida to complete my small animal acupuncture course. I took both my practical and written exams and easily passed them both. As someone wrote to me just the other day, “the rest is all annoying paperwork,” to complete my certification. Hopefully, I’ll be sending in my case report later this week. The hardest part seems to be finding a certified veterinary acupuncturist with a schedule that works with mine to complete my internship hours.
Beyond that, my practice manager and I need to work out pricing and appointment lengths. There was some talk about appointment lengths during my acupuncture lectures, and I am currently taking an online business class through Chi University about integrating acupuncture/traditional Chinese veterinary medicine into a Western or conventional medicine practice. Everyone has said to just start offering it and to make sure to charge for my time, my knowledge and my new skillset right out of the gate because it’s valuable, and I worked hard to acquire these things. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten great feedback about what everyone else charges or what regional differences there might be.
It’s not that I haven’t used it at all. At Chi, they strongly encourage us to start needling patients right away so that we can practice our acupuncture. I started in February with Rook and Ferne. I admit that with those two, I more started sticking needles into points I thought might help their issues without really going through a full exam and determining their pattern diagnoses, which may be why I didn’t see the effects I could have for them. Ferne is currently doing great with her Western treatments (and doesn’t much love acupuncture), so I’m not forcing that on her right now. The last time I needled Rook was right before we went to Vermont for a week last month. I gave him some aquapuncture in his An shen points two days before we left with the intention of calming him some and making him less anxious during our trip. I really do think that was helpful for him.
My mom’s dog, Ramona, has been the patient for my virtual internship and case report. She’s approaching her 16th (we think) birthday, and my mom asked me if we could use acupuncture on her for a decreased appetite and hind limb weakness back in April. Turns out, she’s been a much more complicated case than I thought I was signing up for, as in May she was diagnosed with multiple liver tumors, one of which had experienced a bleed. Because of her age, my mom doesn’t want to put her through surgery, especially since she’s generally doing well, so our goal for her is to keep her comfortable and eating for as long as we can. She continues to enjoy her life so far.
I’ve also treated a couple of my technician’s dogs and one of my youngest sister’s dogs. I can say with certainty that it has been very helpful for the Pekingese with intervertebral disc disease and for the itchy Cavalier. Aquapuncture at GV-1 was also very effective for some diarrhea in another old Cavalier, although we did not see the same success for diarrhea caused by giardia in a Pittie. (Sometimes you really, really do still need your Metronidazole and Panacur.) The jury remains out on the lab with stifle arthritis and my sister’s dog’s vomiting from pancreatitis because Maya may have just gotten to a more comfortable time of year (she does better in warmer weather), and Carson may have been ready to turn the corner anyway.
In my limited experience so far, it seems like acupuncture can sometimes make a very big difference for some of these animals. It’s certainly not hurting the others, even if it’s not equally helpful for all of them. I’m glad that I took the course and learned something new that can potentially help my patients. I look forward to being able to offer it to my patients at large. The practice just hired two new full time doctors and one new part time doctor. My practice manager and I recently talked about starting to offer acupuncture once everyone is onboarded, which will hopefully be by early November. One of my colleagues spoke with me the other day about a client she has that is interested in acupuncture +/- cold laser for their old, arthritic dog, so maybe we can work on some pricing sooner than November and at least get him started prior to then. To be determined at this time.
Now, to find somewhere for those internship hours to finish all of that paperwork on my end for certification…
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” ~ Henry Ford
