Jinx or superstition

Veterinary medicine is a scientific world that is froth with superstition. There are so many things about which we are superstitious. Never say a day doesn't look busy because it will then explode into chaos. Never say things can't get worse; TRUST ME, they can!! Never call an owner before their pet is fully awake from anesthesia or the pet will die. Never name a pet "Lucky" because it surely won't be. You get the idea.

Today, I have a perfect example of one of our common superstitions at work. Anytime an owner comes in super worried about anesthesia, something is bound to go wrong. With the large number of surgeries that I do on a monthly basis (not just routine spays and neuters, either) we have very few anesthetic deaths. They are so rare that I can name all of them from the past year and they are so few that I can count them on one hand.

This morning, an 11 month old 5 pound Chihuahua came in for a spay. I had first seen the dog when she weighed a mere 10 ounces at 4 weeks of age when her owners found themselves with a bottle baby. At that time, she presented hypoglycemic and virtually lifeless. It's easy to see why she is so very special to them but when they were telling me how concerned they were this morning, I was not a happy camper.

Needless to say, I was super careful and guess what happened...yep, she arrested. One of those stupid unexplainable anesthetic reactions. Thankfully she responded to CPR and is fine. She is now spayed and whenever another anesthetic episode is required the protocol will be altered. Hopefully she'll like a different drug combination better!

I've always wondered if this is truly a jinx or if there is some intuitive sense that warns people of a potential problem. The problem with that theory is that I am typically very intuitive and the pets with whom I have had the most reservations about anesthesia had no problems at all. Go figure!

On a separate note, I must comment that I'm less than impressed with Starbucks coffee. I've never had anything other than hot cocoa from Starbucks before today. I am not a fan of flavored coffees and typically like dark roast. (Chocolate and coffee are approached the same. No contaminants, dark; I'm a purist of sorts.). If it is a good coffee, I drink it black; if just mediocre, I add sugar. No cream and definitely none of the flavored creams. To me, Starbucks coffee was no better than your average grocery store coffee. For the price they charge, it should have been superb. No wonder I never spend my money there. Why did I have Starbucks coffee? My boss bought coffee for everyone yesterday. Now my cynical pessimistic self is still wondering why. He has done several uncharacteristic things like that lately. Not that he's not a nice person, he's just not typically the type to show appreciation by providing "treats". Makes one question the ulterior motive...