Some years ago, I took my dog Boogie, a lab/retriever mix, to the vet for a checkup. In the course of the exam, the vet warned me about an area in the back of his right eye and instructed me to watch it closely. I didn’t exactly “watch it closely”, but I did remember its location. Some years later, my husband and I were in Rome, our animals at home cared for by a live-in babysitter. Boogie had developed pinkeye, for which he was being treated–but after days of medication , the condition had not resolved, and our dog was in significant discomfort. I remembered what the earlier vet had told me and attempted to track her down, but she was not longer at the clinic where we had seen her. However, because she was Indian and had been pregnant at the time we’d seen her, she was not difficult to track down.
Now Dr. Vani (for it was she) saw our dog right away, diagnosing the cancer she had warned about in precsisely the same location, and we began treating him for this right away. He had to have his eye removed, which was very traumatic for us, still in in Rome and worrrying, but Dr. Vani and the babysitter and various pain medications relieved Boogie after his surgery, and by the time I got home, he was on his way to being well again, albeit with one eye. He lived for many, many years after this happened .
Since that time, Dr. Vani has taken care of all our animals, which are many; she has advised on the many kinds of rescue situations we have taken on; she has cried with us when our animals have had to be put down; and she has recommended specialists for situations that require them, all of whom have been most helpful.
But Dr. Vani performed her most remarkable act in August of last year, when she called me, obviously upset, asking if I could foster a dog. The dog’s mother, very sick, had died on the way to the hospital, leaving behind one middle-aged and one quite old large-breed dogs. The 7-year-old had been placed; the 11-year-old was living in a kennel, seemingly too old for placement. Since I am a freak for large-breeds and I could not stand the thought of any dog living in a kennel without a family, I agreed to foster him.; but all involved knew that “foster” was really a euphemism for “keep”. I am most grateful to Dr. Vani for introducing me to one of the most beloved of dogs I’ve ever owned, but most of all, I am grateful to her for taking the time and exhibiting the personal commitment to find this most worthy and loving dog a home of his home, where he may spend his last days or years or months with a loving family. I do not know of any other vet who would have done this, and I am tremendously flattered and grateful that it was me she called with her request.
Though her practice is far away way from where our family lives, it is well worth the trip. We consider ourselves very lucky that Dr. Vani crossed our path all those years ago.
Candace L.
