06/19/2025
This is a little bit different post than we usually make as it contains some information about Dr. Whalin's and my (Andy's) personal life, but I promise it pertains to the business toward the end of the post. Last Friday June 13th, go figure if you're of the superstitious nature, our 2.5 year old daughter went in for an ophthalmologist appointment and it was discovered that she had abnormal pressure on the nerve behind her left eye. We were informed that we would now be heading over to Mott Children's Hospital immediately as there was strong concern for issues with her brain at this point, including a probability of a tumor. Casey, our daughter, and I were only a couple of blocks away from the hospital after receiving this news and were accepted into the ER while trying to get answers for her. We were eventually admitted into a room very early Saturday morning. On Saturday we got a full scan MRI, and it revealed that our daughter thankfully did not have a tumor or bleeding, but did have excessive cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of her brain. A series of tests and surgeries to help resolve this issue were done by the neurosurgery team at Mott. Those procedures took place on Sunday and unexpectedly Tuesday midafternoon. We are happy to report that our daughter is doing well and as of the afternoon of Wednesday June 18th, Casey is recovering at home. Although we were very fortunate on the news received and for the fact that she is home, we are not totally out of the woods yet. If the surgery performed for her doesn't help, we will be back in the hospital going over options for another surgery. Friday was a complete shock and lead us down a path we did not expect to go as parents, and that unfortunately meant contacting some of our clients and having to reschedule your appointments. The surprise timing of her surgery on Tuesday also forced us to do the same to some of you. We first of all want to apologize for any kind of inconvenience this may have caused you on both of those days. We also hope that you would understand the nature of this emergency and find it in your heart to forgive the cancelations. Moving forward and with fingers crossed, we are not expecting any more sudden surprises, and we shouldn't have to reach out to anyone and reschedule appointments for the foreseeable future. My daughter had so many people reaching out to support her and praying for her during this journey, and Erin and I had so many people doing the same and helping handle the business here and helping us with our pets at home, and the list goes on. We are forever grateful and will continue to be grateful to all who said a prayer or took a minute out of their day to send some positive vibes our daughter's way. We hope, especially over the next month or so that you keep her in your prayers and thoughts as we spend the next month or so hoping that this surgery was a success and we don't need to go in for anymore. I would also like to take the time to say thank you to our beloved staff who took the weight of calling everyone on their shoulders so Dr. Whalin could get to the hospital to be with me and Casey. You wonderful ladies are amazing, and we are blessed each and every day to have you in our lives. Also, the fine folks that work at Mott Children's Hospital are amazing people, that do amazing things. Although we had no intentions of meeting any of you this past week, it was an honor to get to know all of you, and please continue to be amazing at what you do. Lastly, thank you to our clients for being patient with us and know you and pets mean the world to us even when we had to make tough decisions like this and ask you to reschedule your life around because ours got turned upside down.
