Doreen - you are a real good egg!

Doreen,

Thank you very much for what you have done to help Max. Members helping members is what this board is about. Many of us here will help pitch in to pay for a vet visit if need be.

Thank you so much Doreen for all you've done for Ruby!

thank you for the thanks yous *(mom said never to thank a thank you.. but I HAVE TO !!). But you don't NEED to thank me. I know everyone here has the same goal- to help, educate, nurture etc. If "WE" don't do it- who will? Someone who doesn't know how to? and mess it up? How much bad advice is out there? TONS !! We need to work together as a group of bird lovers and help all that come in our view...

I go back MANY years with birds, I got Ghandie, our first bird in 1976 (OK, just aged myself somemore... LOL). I will tell a story later of being 17, having an egg bound bird and NO vet around...... THAT IS A FEATHER RAISING TALE !!! LOL..

more later.. LOL.

doreen

Max, if you can afford it, best to go to Doreen's vet, as the person I was thinking of in Brooklyn is not as experienced. Doreen has taken care of birds for so many years. I am sure if she says her vet is great, it's true!

Dear HomeTweet, Sweet Marie, FeathersNFur8 and all other contributing and reading board members:

I would just like to say to all of you that I am "gladisimo" (so, so very glad) (no, that is not a real word in another language ; ) that in my online research for Ruby I encountered this board and made a note to check it out when I had the time. It is refreshing to find a group of like-minded, kind, loving (or at least bird-loving), generous-of-spirit people in this sea of greed, indifference (many times even outright cruelty) and self-absorbed humanity that is our world. Thank you all so very much for your love, good wishes and kind offices for, and on behalf of, my little Ruby!

HomeTweet: The only thing that exists for Ruby are X-rays, which show small metallic particles in his ventriculus (gizzard). For budgetary reasons, blood testing was not done as I could not afford the cost of treatment anyway, and taking into account his history, symptoms and X-ray results reasonably leads to the conclusion of heavy metal toxicosis, most likely lead. However, his last X-rays are over two weeks old, and it is both desired and possible that at this point he may have passed some, most or all of the metallic particles, so it would be best for Dr. Hoeffer to start from scratch and see what's going on with him now. The X-rays are at the Vet's office. I'd have to go get them if she feels she really needs them. In terms of medication, all I have is a 10mg/ml, oral Pencillamine (d-penicillamine to be precise) suspension. The vet gave me a prescription for the Penicillamine suspension as the one thing I could do to treat Ruby whilst I find a way to come up with the money needed for the full-course in-clinic treatment.

Regarding "scrounging", please do not worry so much. The sense in which I meant it is not as in scrounging off anybody else, but simply myself. For example, if I have to delay paying certain bills or making certain purchases that are not utterly essential right now, I will do that in order to "scrounge up" the money to treat Ruby, within reason. By "within reason" I mean in the low-to-mid hundreds, certainly not in the low thousand(s).

Finally, just out of curiosity, are you a Rudy fan? ; )

Sweet, Sweet Marie: Certainly, I will explore HomeTweet's veterinary delights. However, as I've explained before in this thread, the course of treatment for cases such as Ruby's is well established and sufficiently described in veterinary school papers found online (and veterinary literature as well; I just haven't been able to spend a day at a good library) that someone like myself can successfully administer it if given access to the meds and the necessary knowledge to inject one's bird subcutaneously. As I've said above, the only missing piece for me at this point is the detailed knowledge on how to safely inject my Ruby subcutaneously twice daily for 5 days max. So if, for whatever reason, Dr. Hoeffer doesn't work out for us, I am extremely grateful that you have given me another very reasonable avenue to pursue. Thank you ever so much!

Sincerely,

Max

Max, why don't you give Heidi, Dr. H, a call later and we can talk afterwards... it will be much easier with you having spoken with her. As I said, her staff knows about Rudy and is waiting for your call.

now sure what you mean "Finally, just out of curiosity, are you a Rudy fan? ; )" But I can say I like the bird already cause his "family" seems to love him so much, that impresses me. I also love conures.. noisy little buggers !!!

doreen

Dear HomeTweet:

Well, Ruby's name is actually "Ruby", not Rudy. Was just wondering if that might be a Freudian slip... ; )

Yours,

Max
HelpingRuby@MaxDreamer.com

Sorry Max AND Ruby... , it is just my brain or lack of proper use or it. LOL. We have a Rudy here (Quaker) so my brain saw Ru_y and put in the "d" instead of a "b"... LOL

SORRY !!!!

Doreen

Dear fellow thread contributors and readers:

Perhaps at least some of you have, in an idle moment over the past couple of days, wondered about my little Ruby's fate.

"Did Max actually do IT?!?!?!?"

"Is Ruby still ALIVE???"

"Did Max POKE HIS EYE OUT whilst trying to inject him?"

"What about HomeTweet's DVM: did Max check that out first?" ...

Then again, perhaps not.

Well, my fellow Parrot Chatters, settle in and buckle up, because, ready or not, it's time for a RUBY UPDATE! : )

Here it is in a nutshell: I called and spoke with Doreen's Exotics DVM, the highly accomplished Dr. Heidi Hoefer, who so far seems to be every bit as wonderful as Doreen has stated. I subsequently made an appointment for her to see Ruby. This happened last Thursday evening (May 1st). Initially, in a moment of slightly irrational exuberance*, I made the appointment for today, Friday, May 2nd, but, in the end, wasn't able to keep the commitment, so I rescheduled for Monday, May 5th.

Basing myself on what the good doctor told me, it seems safe to assume that the visit and therapies will not be costing me an arm and a leg. In fact, not even just one limb! She is sensitive to her clients' financial situation, and is able to tailor, within reason, examinations, treatments and therapies to fit one's budgetary constraints, without leaving her patients out in the cold.

So, I have high hopes that after slightly more than a month since Ruby first fell ill, he'll receive the treatment he needs and, I pray, will regain full use of his still-paralyzed right foot.

According to Doreen, Dr. Hoefer's offices are about five minutes driving distance from the Huntington train station, and even though there is a cab company that lives right at the train station, she has insisted that she will take time out of her busy schedule to ferry me to the doctor's office and then back again to the train station afterwards. This, she is willing to do for a stranger she has never even laid her eyes on.

...

I must mention that Randi (Sweet Marie), has also reached out to Ruby and I with amazing and extraordinary love, kindness, compassion and grace.

...

I'd like to express my gratitude to all participating board members for their concern, love, good wishes and advise, but, most effusively and emphatically, I must thank Doreen (HomeTweet) and Randi (Sweet Marie), for their proactive outreach to a fellow bird parent. I am truly honored to make their acquaintance, and hope that someday I may be able to repay their tender kindness many times over. Their loving, selfless spirit and devotion have touched me deeply and, I fear, indelibly. I am grateful and, indeed, privileged, to have the opportunity to interact with such pure, majestic beings!

...

I will post another update on Ruby's saga after our visit with Dr. Hoefer on Monday.

Once again, thanks to all of you for such kindness, caring and love. We are so glad to have found you!

Yours sincerely,

Max
HelpingRuby@MaxDreamer.com

*The phrase "irrational exuberance" courtesy of Mr. Alan Greenspan, Economist, former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States.