Half A Year

[ladysprite]

It's been six months since I saw my first hospice patient.

In six months I've gone from wondering if the phone will ever ring, if I'll ever actually have clients, to wondering some days if it'll ever stop ringing.  I've gone from wondering if I was wrong to cut back on my relief hours to wondering how on earth I'm going to fit in all of my hospice work around the relief shifts I've booked for myself, and having to remind myself that I do need at least one day a week where I'm not working.

I've gone from shaking hands and wondering how on earth I'll manage to hit a vein without a technician to teaching other vets tips for how to premedicate their euthanasia patients painlessly.  And I've gone from 'I don't know if I can do that' to 'Maybe I can do that.'  It's a tiny change, from one angle, but a huge one in the grand scheme of things.

In six months I've gone from 'I found your name on a google search' to 'my neighbor told me to call you after you took care of their pet,' or 'my vet gave me your name.'   I've had clients write reviews about me on sites I didn't know existed, and blog sites feature articles about my services.

I've gone from all-euthanasia to a week where all but one of my cases are hospice, and people are calling me specifically to request palliative care for their pets.

I've provided hospice care to a pet rat.  I've held babies while their parents held each other, I've climbed into more beds than I ever anticipated, and I've apparently become a source of neighborhood gossip as to why the spooky white van shows up in my driveway every week or so.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, I've gone from four figures in the hole to five figures of profit.

I still haven't fully organized my office - there are still crates of medical supplies arrayed across the floor, and I'll admit that while my electronic records are pristine my paper files are rather haphazardly scattered across desks and in boxes.  But I have an office, and I have files.

Next month I'm going to the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care's annual continuing education conference - and for the first time, I honestly feel like I won't be a tourist or a fraud when I go.  I'll be new, still, and learning.... but I can honestly say I'm a hospice practitioner.

Comments

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

That is just absolutely awesome! I am so glad this worked well for you, and that you are doing work that is important to you, and that you are getting the recognition for it that you deserve.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Comgratulations and very well done! I am so proud of you I can't fit it into text. *cheers you on*

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Marvelous!

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Yay! So happy for you!

[mneme]

Congrats!

+1, would read/friend again!

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

I'm really impressed and happy that your business is going well. I'm also thrilled that more people now have someone to turn to for pallitive care and hospice for their animal loved ones. Congratulations!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

You are doing well by doing good. I'm overjoyed to see it, and very happy for you.

[grum]

Congratulations! Please manage balance so you don't burn out, it sounds like you're providing a well needed service and I hope you build a niche and can work with it for the long term. My 2 geriatric pets and I wish you were local. :)

[johno.livejournal.com]

I sure your patients and their humans feel blessed to have you in their lives.

I'll bet you go to this conference and find that you are not only NOT "a tourist or a fraud" but an honored member of the group.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

This is good news. May things keep getting better.

(Five figures of profit. Not quite enough to say, "Time to hire somebody to deal with those paper files," but enough to think that someday it will be a viable plan.)

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Five figure profit? With the prospect of more profit to come, clearly? Girlfriend, you need to block out time for a nice va-cay. And hire a part-time office assistant! (Someone to come in and get you all ship-shape, and maybe one or two days a week?)

And after you stuff your IRAs full for the year, spend money on yourself. Because you earned it, did you not? Therefore you can SPEND it. Viz to wit, ipso facto. :)

I have been thinking back to your posts from years ago, and my god you have come so far! Makes me cry just thinking about how much more healthy and strong you are. So happy you have found a calling so perfect for you. And one day soon you will be *speaking* at one of those conferences. Everyone will be wanting you to autograph your book for them....;)

[mindways]

Yaaaaaaaaar! :) :) :)

[witchwestphalia.livejournal.com]

What you are doing is desperately needed. I'm glad it's working out, because I know as a pet owner how badly it can be needed. Congratulations!

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

This is fantastic news. Congratulations!

[jducoeur]

It's great to hear -- and inspirational to the rest of us who are striking down the entrepreneurial road...

[tinyplasticmeat.livejournal.com]

I just lurk here, but I am so incredibly impressed and proud that you have built something so amazing and so needed for your community. I have a friend who does something similar in Southern California, and I keep bugging her about when she will need a full-time tech so I can get in on the action too--but mostly I love to hear about the lives she is easing and the clients she is helping.

Thank you for doing this for our patients, our pets, and our families.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!

Why DOES the spooky white van show up in your driveway?

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! That's wonderful!

Here's to many more months (equaling a good many years...) and greater success!