DO ANIMALS REALLY HAVE RIGHTS?

For those of you who don't have Facebook and didn't read my status over the weekend, our cat, Attila, was admittedly killed by a veterinarian in Philadelphia this weekend and I'm pretty pissed off about it. So, time to unleash here in my Buzzkill Ramblings.

So, to give you a little background on the situation, our little guy, Attila, who used to wake us up every morning with his meowing and meowed when he wanted to eat our food and let's not forget that he terrorized every visitor we had because that's just what he did, was diagnosed with a lymphoma in his intestines only last week. In other words, he had cancer. Mind you, Attila was a 12-year-old cat, but what do you do when one has cancer? You find a way to treat them. 

Originally, our vet suggested for him to just live out his days and let him die naturally because he was such a terror when it came to vet visits. I'm not even kidding! His folder had stickers all over it saying, "Will Bite" and "Handle with Caution", which puts a smirk on my face just thinking about it. We opted to have him treated, so she referred us to an Oncologist at UPenn Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia. So, we had him brought in for what was supposed to be a quick analysis to see if he was even able to go through chemo therapy treatment, which we were going to start administering when we came back from Las Vegas. Well, apparently, while I was at work, the Oncologist told Laila that Attila would have to come once a week, but we'd have to give him pills four times a day, which would be no easy task knowing his temper, but the Oncologist said he needed to start it right away since the cancer he had was progressing. So, Laila decided to start it and have her brother give him the medication while we were away. Little did we know, we'd never see Attila again. 

I received a phone call, not even an hour later, with a panic in the administrator's voice telling me that they we sorry, but the wrong medication was injected into Attila, which has led to an overdose to our cat. They injected our little cat with a chemo treatment meant for a dog! How does this happen? I was told on the phone that the person administering the injection had two viles next to them and accidentally administered the wrong injection. Was this person drunk or high? How can they not read the label before injecting something into someone? I was then told that Attila was put into ICU and under a dialysis to get the toxins out of his blood. Now, I appreciate the fact that they tried to get the poison out, but seriously? All we got were a bunch of "I'm sorry! This should not have happened!" But the bottom line is that it did happen and they won't do anything disciplinary to the person who administered this lethal injection because they have no other history of doing this any other time. So, they are basically saying, you can make a mistake and kill someone's pet and all you will get is a slap on the wrist for it. What kind of hospital is this?

I took Laila away on our planned trip to Vegas. We never saw this coming and it cost too much to already switch our flights. The doctors stayed in touch with us throughout the trip giving us updates on Attila's status until Saturday, when we received a call saying that his lungs started to fill up with fluid. My heart sank. I didn't tell this to Laila, but I knew this was the end. After trying to put him on a ventilator for a few hours, I received another call from the doctor saying that he passed. I was furious and seeing red! My poor fiancée had her heart ripped right out from her. We were originally told that the chemo treatment was to help him live for another six to nine months, but because of this lethal accident by UPenn, our little guy left us in three days! We wanted justice!

Upon coming home, I hit the Internet scouring for a lawyer to sue for veterinary malpractice. Would believe that no lawyer will take this case because I was told by every single lawyer that by law, no matter how loved or how much a part of the family your pet is, they are viewed as just a property. Therefore, by suing, all we will get back is the value of the cat, which means the lawyer's bills will cost more than what we would get back from the hospital. So, basically, the cat that was part of Laila's family for 12 years had no rights because he was no more a piece of property than a car. That is so messed up! To be honest, we seeked a lawyer, not for monetary gain, but for justice so that no one else has this happen to their pet. It pisses me off that no one is willing to help us on this, so I'm spreading the word about it the only way I know how and that's through my blog. I hope all of you will share this story so that no one ever brings their pet to UPenn Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia because apparently, if they mess up and your pet dies, it's okay. And just know that when it comes to lawyers, your pet is just property and not worth enough for them to take you on as a client! What a greedy f'ing society we live in today!    

MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOR A 7-YEAR-OLD? WHAT????

So, when they first passed the law to make medical marijuana legal, I was all for it! The problem is that I never saw this coming, and I'm not really sure how I feel about it. Personally, I'd love to see what you guys think about this. It turns out; a seven-year-old girl who is suffering from leukemia is one of Oregon’s youngest medical marijuana patients. That's right! Now, she doesn't smoke the marijuana like most of 'you' do. Her mother says that she gives her daughter marijuana pills to combat her side effects of chemotherapy, but her father, who lives in North Dakota, worries about the effects of the drug on her brain development, and at her age, he might have a point. 

Mykayla Comstock was diagnosed with leukemia last spring. Her mother treats her with a gram of cannabis oil daily. She also credits the drug for the leukemia's remission and says she will try anything help her daughter. Mykayla says the drug helps her eat and sleep, but also makes her feel "funny." Her father, who is divorced from her mother, was so disturbed by his daughter's marijuana intake that he contacted child welfare officials, police and her oncologist. His concerns prompted a visit with Mykayla in August, where he says she was stoned out her mind, and all she wanted to do was lie on the bed and play video games. 

The father, Jesse Comstock, who works in a North Dakota oil field, pays child support to Mykayla's mother and covers Mykayla's health insurance. He said that he noticed strange behavior during an August visit and took Mykayla to a private lab, where technicians detected THC levels of an adult daily marijuana user. Gladstone police contacted Mykayla's mother, examined the little girl's medical marijuana paperwork, and told Mr. Comstock that there was little that they can do. Comstock, who admitted to using pot in the past, said he doesn't object to people over 16 using medical marijuana, but worries about his daughter's well-being and the potential for addiction. 

 Orgeon law requires no monitoring of a child's medical marijuana use by a pediatrician. The law instead invests authority in parents to decide the dosage, frequency and manner of a child's marijuana consumption. Yeah, I don't know about this. I'm all for people who are responsible adults smoking or using marijuana, but I'm not sure that I am okay with a 7-year-old using it. At that age, are their brains really fully developed? I don't even believe a 13-year-old's brain is fully developed. Then again she is only taking it in pill form and it's to combat her chemo side effects. This is why I am torn and am not really sure how I feel about this? I'd really like to hear from you parents out there......Who is right here? The mother or the father?  

KELLIE PICKLER IS MY NEW AMERICAN IDOL

No, this is not a photo of two lesbians holding hands. In fact, it's former American Idol contestant and current country singer Kellie Pickler and her best friend Summer Holt Miller. I saw this posted on Facebook yesterday, and it actually put a smile on my face because I recently lost my beautiful aunt to uterine cancer, and right before she passed, she too lost all of her hair. Anyone who knew my aunt knew that she was always a very vain person. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. She just always liked to look good, so I can only imagine what she was going through, in her head, when she lost all of her hair. Today is no buzzkill story. Today I have a very nice story to tell.

So, Kellie Pickler exhibited the definition of a real friend by buzzing off her normally beautiful long blonde locks in support of her best friend, Summer Holt Miller, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June and started her chemotherapy treatments this week. 26-year-old Pickler debuted her new look with a video clip on "Good Morning America" yesterday in which Miller, who's 36, also went under the buzzer to rid her tresses. Miller, who recently underwent a double mastectomy, said, "If this compels even one person to change their mentality toward waiting until the age of 40 for their mammogram, then it will be worth it. Miller has a history of breast cancer in her family and had always been cautious about self-examinations. The mother of two asked her doctor for a mammogram, which is when her tumor was detected in its early stage. She was declared cancer-free this past August, and continues her chemo treatment to help ensure that it doesn't return. 

Miss Pickler, whom I met back in 2008 during a radio tour, always seemed like a kindhearted woman, so it was no surprise that she did this. Who cares if she didn't know what sushi was! If I would've thought of this sooner, I would've asked my whole family to shave their heads as a family to make my aunt feel better about losing her hair. Kudos to you Kellie Pickler!