This week marked a monumental, life changing event for me.
No, I didn’t have a birthday, neither of my kids graduated and I did not change
jobs. Dr. Jim Hildebrand, DVM, retired. Dr. Hildebrand was my vet, or more
specifically my animals’ vet. Oh sure, we had used other vets, when Doc was
fishing or otherwise detained, but that was a very, very rare event. He is right at the top of my speed dial list.
To say that I had a long standing doctor/client relationship
with Dr. Hildebrand would be an understatement. Jim and Callie moved to Wamego
when I was two or three and my parents quickly became friends with the
Hildebrands. Their son Gus and I were the same age and he was one of my oldest and
best friends. We also went to church together, and I am absolutely certain some of the older
members of our church went to their graves not knowing for sure which one of us
was which.
Many of my earliest 4-H memories include Jim. He had a
gentle, comforting way of breaking the worst news in the kindest way. Little
things like don’t give your Grand Champion rabbit penicillin because rabbits
are deathly allergic (advise we should have sought out before the shot). Over
the years he helped my 4-H projects overcome everything from warts to chronic
bloating. I learned a lot about animal health and husbandry from him.
He, Gus, Dad and I spent many afternoons hunting or fishing
and those were some of my greatest outdoor memories. Did I mention how patient
Doc is? When Gus and I were in our early teens he decided to teach us how to
fly fish. Teaching a teenage boy anything is difficult and teaching them how to
fly fish should get you sainted. His success rate was 50% on that endeavor, Gus
ended up being an avid fly fisherman and I got good at untangling knots.
My junior year of high school I acquired a bird dog. I was
so proud of Dot that I took her everywhere with me. Then, suddenly she got
sick. I made a frantic call to Dr. Hildebrand and took the comatose body of my
puppy to him. He reassured me that he would do all he could and kept her at the
clinic. The next morning he called me to tell me that she had made it through
the night and might survive. She did survive and lived to the ripe old age of
thirteen. Dr. Hildebrand was my hero.
Remember how I said he had a way of reassuring you and
making everything seem OK. Well, there was one phone call that was different.
The night he called me to tell me Gus had passed away and asked me to be a
pallbearer was hard on both of us. Even then he and Callie helped all of us
close to Gus deal with a loss like we had never experienced and move on with
grace and dignity.
As a young rancher Jim helped me understand how to take care
of my animals. No matter how frantic or stupid (most often both at the same
time) my questions were, he gave me the answer using the wisdom of a country
vet who had seen it all. Jim knew when to keep trying with a sick animal and
when to show them mercy.
In recent years, my kids have leaned on Dr. Hildebrand for
their 4-H projects and corresponding emergencies. He has guided them through
broken legs, prolapses, nutritional issues and various other maladies that
befall pampered 4-H show animals. He passed along bad news and good news in the
same calm, soothing manner.
He has even inspired my son, Isaac, to want to be a vet.
Isaac has spent many hours over the years working on vet science projects for
4-H with Dr. Hildebrand. Dr. Hildebrand always took just a little extra time to
show Isaac what he was doing and how to do it. I am sure Isaac will be a big
animal vet just like Jim; however, we are probably still 10 years or so away
from that day.
Dr. Hildebrand has more than earned the right to spend his
days doing anything but roping cows out of the back of pickups and delivering
their calves out in the pasture. Maybe he will even have the time to re-teach a
40 something the fine art of fly fishing. I am sure the patient is still there
and I am also sure the kind, down-to-earth advice is still there when I need
it. However, in the meantime I just have
to figure out what I am going to do for veterinary emergencies between now and
Isaac’s graduation.
No comments:
Post a Comment