Anarchy in Action Part 2: Jeff Berwick and Local Community Pay Rebel's Vet Bill

I apologize for the silence here on Steemit these past few days.  Between people coming to town and Rebel dog getting sick, we've had our hands full.  Today's article is about Rebel dog's poorly timed illness and anarchy in action.  He's afflicted with a tickborn bacterial infection, similar to lime disease but not nearly as dangerous or difficult to treat. It's referred to as ehrlichosis and it's apparently pretty common here. Local famous anarchist Jeff Berwick sent over some bitcoin to over the bill, as I'm broke and out of cash as usual.  Such is the life of a young entreprenuer. 

I noticed something was up a few days before.  Rebel was more tame than usual and had less of an appetite.  We had that visit with the new family with kids and he honestly got tired way faster than he generally does.  This past weekened I noticed it seemed like he was digestively upset.  A day or so later and he was having difficulty breathing, wheezing and whining like he was in pain.  By the next morning he was having a tough time and was worrying both he and I.  

My money situation is never great, especially in the starting of these businesses.  Anyone that's really started a business understands that they cost money to get started.  We make more now than we did, but we generally don't have much money because our cash is almost always immediately reinvested in our lives.  So Rebel getting sick now was more than a little inconvenient. 

I posted a picture of his sad face, one of the one's featured in this article. I shared it on a couple of chat rooms here and on Facebook.  I got some replies, but most weren't until later that day(most people here aren't up an online before noon).  It was really early, before eight and literally the only other person in the community that seemed to be awake was none other than @dollarvigilante's Jeff Berwick.  Anyone that knows anything about Jeff knows he's got several dogs and a soft spot for them in general.  

He commented and within a few minutes sent me about 60 usd worth of bitcoin to use to take Rebel to the vet.  With that, we got ready and took him to the same vet we took him to six months ago when he almost died.  It's a mexican vet that speaks broken english, enough to have become the favorite of expats in the area.  He's relatively cheap and Rebel trusts him.

I'm always amazed by my dog.  When we showed up at the vet, he was excited because he understood where we were.  We were there early and had to come back and he was visibly disappointed at not having seen the vet.  We went around the corner and got some sopes, similar to a Mexican pizza.  Eventually we headed back, making Rebel happy.  He happily walked inside, where there was a giant german shepard too scared too. 

We got there and explained what the issue was, and he instantly seemed to understand.  After some examination, he determined that Rebel has contracted a tick borne illness, a bacterial infection to be exact.  The good news was that it was really treatable with a month of antibiotics, the bad news is it would have killed him untreated.  At the end of the day, we're glad we took him.

I had to force feed him his antibiotics, twice at this point.  The good news is he hasn't thrown them up despite the empty stomach.  Today he started drinking water and begged for breakfast, where we gave him some of our pancakes.  It would be the first thing he would eat in days, a good sign.

He moves very slowly and still wheezes, but you can get him to trot and wag his tail.  He's able to sleep now, which is good.  He's no where near well but he's a hell of a lot better than he was. 

Jeff wasn't the only one to give, just the most famous.  Several others in the community gave me varying amounts of pesos to contribute to Rebel's care.  What wasn't spent on the vet will be spent on a cheap kids drone we planned on buying, for the purpose of playing with him on the mountainside.  I appreciate the love and support, we are lucky it was something common and treatable. 

For anyone coming here with dogs, if you dog starts ending up with lots of ticks and these symptoms, they probably have this illness.  In area's where ticks are common, warm areas like Acapulco, illnesses like this are as common as anything else.  The symptoms are as follows: swollen lymph nodes, weakness, lethargy, depression, lack of appetite, difficulty breathing, joint pain and inflammation.  Chronic symptoms include: bleeding, weight loss, fever, joint pain, lack of coordination, and head tilt.  Untreated it can kill, it takes a simple fairly gentle antibiotic that seems to be only used in specific situations, like this one.  

So far, I'm pleased with the quality of vets here in Mexico.  I don't spend very much money, the most I've ever spent is 50 dollars at the vet and that was for an IV when Rebel was severely dehydrated from being sick.  The vet I do see is knowledgable and cares, clearly.  Rebel is totally at ease with him, despite the fact that he's had several shots ever time he's gone.  John's surprised at how well behaved he was, but honestly Rebel is smart and gets when something helps him. 

He's improving, slowly, just like the vet said.  He's finally drinking and eating, which I consider to be most of the battle. I'm not nearly as concerned for him as I was.  So this article has a couple points, to share information on a super common dog illness here in Acapulco and to prove you don't need governement to get people to give.  All it took was a picture and a call for help and we had people contacting us to help him. People give a shit, you've just got to be willing to ask if you need the help. 

People always are talking about what anarchy would be like in real life, what a life without government is actually like.  I did that for awhile myself but I quickly realized I was going in circles.  You can talk about it all day long but if you never try it in real life, you never know if it'll work in reality.  Once I realized that I got to living the things I was looking in to.  I moved into an off the grid house and started a farm and off grid marijuana grow.  We moved to Detroit and took over a house in the ghetto and started a garden. If there's something that you're convinced is the answer to a problem, try it out and prove it.  No one will ever believe us if we keep talking about it, try it out and see if it actually works!

So that's what a lot of us here in Anarchapulco do.  I send out a cry for help with Rebel, someone like Jeff Berwick responds and covers the bill. You don't need force or philosophication, just a cute picture and explanation.  If you care, you help.  If not, move on.  I didn't get upset that no one else responded until way later, I understood that most of this community are late risers...except for the recently health excited Jeff Berwick. So thanks Jeff and everyone else who gave to us, Rebel appreciates it.  He's in bed enjoying cuddles with John, actually able to breathe enough to sleep in our bed.  

Lots of exciting things are happening, I'll do my best to share it when I can.  I just got glassblowing tools, it's time for me to publish this article and get on the torch, as I've got orders to fill.  Tis the season for Anarchapulco, and I am busy!

Thanks for reading!