1114. The baby-boomer generation and urinary stones

Today, Saturday Sep 22, 2012, I was at the Surgery at 7.30 am as Min has to go to get his permit personally from Tanjong Pagar as instructed in the government's letter. I told him to take a taxi and come back after lunch as Dr Daniel and Dr Jason and Ms Chong will be on duty. They don't come so early. 

At 8.34 am, a young lady phoned me to make an appointment at 3.30 pm to 4 pm.
"What's happened to your dog?" I asked.
"He has bladder stones."
"How do you know?" I was then told that she had been to a vet who took the X-rays and there was one stone initially. But now there are three.
"Should the stones be removed?" she asked.
"That depends on what type and size of the stones," I replied. "Did the vet tell you?"
"No," she had no clue and so I asked her to get the vet reports and X-rays from the vet to save on costs.
"Why didn't you get the vet to remove the stone when there was only one?"
"My dog is 12 years old," she said. "My father does not believe in surgery."
"Why?" I asked.
"Once, a vet told him that surgery was needed for the dog's arthritis. He got glucosamine from another vet and the dog is OK. Therefore no surgery is ever needed."
"Arthritis cannot be compared to bladder stones," I said. "Dogs usually don't die from arthritis, but in bladder stones, the bladder may get infected and the bacteria and toxins may travel via the blood stream and to the kidneys. The dog may become septic. Kidneys may fail and the blood is full of waste products, since the kidneys cannot filter them away. This leads to  nausea and vomiting.

"I mean you can't compare oranges to apples. You compare bladder stones to bladder stones in deciding on surgery or not. Is your dog vomiting?"

"Once in a while," she said.
"Unfortunately, the older baby boomer generation is not in favour of surgery. This leads to delays and worsening of the dog's health. By then,  Is there a financial reason?" I asked.