Hi, Ganga Jal here. First, I would like to thank you for all the prayers and good wishes for my recovery. What started as a pain in the bottom turned out to be skin cancer caused by the sun. A biopsy returned a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma with surgical removal as the recommended treatment. Thus, my adventure began.
Delivered in style by a real Florida cowboy (complete with an authentic Florida Cracker horse)
My surgery was scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, at the University of Florida in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The folks at Save the Cow tracked down a local Florida cowboy, Billy Ray Hunter, to transport me from New Raman Reti farm to the veterinary hospital. Billy Ray brought along his young son and a beagle dog, as well as an authentic Florida Cracker horse. Of course, I kind of cooperated so the horse and dog didn’t have to get involved, thank you very much.
Veterinary Medical Center (VMC) at the University of Florida
What’s up with all the orange and blue signs?
The patient patiently waiting in the waiting room
Here I am in the waiting room before my operation. At least they could have provided some magazines to eat, I mean read. I can’t tell you too much about the surgery since I couldn’t see anything. And they did give me a shot so I only felt a little discomfort while they were poking around back there.
Post-op recovery
I spent a couple of days resting after the operation. Just kind of lying around daydreaming about my mom Gauri and my friend Molly, oh and the tasty green grass in the pasture back home.
Waiting for the ride home
On Friday, they let me out to wait for Billy Ray and his truck.
Ready to go
Here’s Billy Ray and his boy helping me through the chute onto the trailer.
On the road
On the road again . . .
- Almost home
Are we there yet?
* * *
Now I’m home and healing, but there is a possibility that I may need some kind of bovine chemotherapy injections if the cancer returns. I’ll keep you posted.
As you know, there are millions of Americans without health insurance. Well, guess what? I’m one of them. So far, Save the Cow has spent about $1500 on my treatment—money that was saved up for fertilizing pastures. Hint, hint . . . you know what to do.
