Category: Lori’s Corner

On Memorial Day weekend, Lori Birdsong and her husband, Dr. Mark Bussan, founders of Linens for Animals, were going to take a three day weekend off and enjoy their “kids”–their dogs–and boat, when one of the dogs started acting like something was wrong. 

Thankfully, acting on a gut feeling that something was really wrong, they rushed their dog, Shawnee, to get help–and the way they handled the emergency drive was brilliant–and something I thought we could all learn from.

Shawnee had life-saving surgery and is thankfully, back home with her family and recovering. 

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Lori Birdsong and Mark Bussan, with BB and Sophie, show off their trailer that hauls thousands of pounds of donated (and laundered) hospital linens each week to give to rescues, shelters, fosters…They have been a tremendous blessing to the Rescue Ranch.

Beautiful Shawnee and her best boyfriend, Lakoda, were inseparable until he passed away two years ago from cancer. Lakoda was instrumental in bringing Lori and Mark together!

from an email…

Dr. Mark and my Memorial Day weekend was really more like the 4th of July. Picture my car with flames and hazard lights flying down the freeway at 100 mph on Sunday at 5 PM!

We were at Cedar Creek Lake (Dallas area) with our 7 dogs and good friend JQ-eating fabulous Extreme BBQ and watching movies on Sunday at 5 PM. And then all hell broke loose.

Our Dobie, Shawnee, started moving around listlessly, vomiting clear bile and crying. We immediately took her to  a local vet, who we had never met. He instantly took x-rays of her stomach and spleen. His comment was, “Your dog has a flipped stomach, bloat and we have to operate immediately or she will die. (Did I mention the she has Von Willebrands ie. a dog Hemophiliac?) His response was “you have a dead dog, because I have no plasma.”

He immediately called Lake Ray Hubbard Emergency Pet Care Center, an ER in Mesquite,TX to inquire if they had any plasma on hand. YES, they had tons !!!!! He said “fly like the wind, time is of the essence, time is not your friend!”

So, I crawled in the back of the car with Shawnee, bawling my eyes out, and thinking, “Holy %^&”, all the way to Mesquite–like 80 freaking miles!

So, I started screaming at Dr. Mark, “Drive faster! Drive faster! Drive faster!” His calm response was, “If we get pulled over it will take even longer.” My response was “Fine! I’m calling 911.”

Here’s how that call went. “Hello 911. What is your emergency?”

My response, while sobbing, and screaming, “I’m in a blah- blah-blah black vehicle traveling eastbound on 175 to 635 east to 30 north to Beltline. We are beyond speeding (FYI- like we are between 90-100 mph the whole trip). I’m really sorry, but we have a medical emergency. It’s a life or death situation and that’s where the hospital is that we are going to.”

And…..”We are not stopping, so do whatever you want to me at the end of the day, you can cuff me, take me where you wan, do whatever you want , but we are rolling and not stopping!”

There was silence~~~~~~~~~~~.

Then the operator said, “Gotcha, I see where you are, be careful.”  Flames were coming out of our tailpipe like a rocket!

We arrived at the ER and they swooped us right in, and we were greeted by Dr. Michelle Hazlewood D.V.M. (Oh by the way, she looked like she was 12). She looked me dead in the eye and said, “I’ve done this operation a thousand times, I have no concern about your dog’s Von Willebrands cuz I have more plasma here in our hospital then the entire state of Texas, because it is Memorial Day Weekend.

…And ,if that is isn’t enough I have a donor dog for whole blood, So, go home and let me do what I do best. Call me at 3AM to check on her.” Oh, and FYI she says, “There is 50/50 chance that I may have to take the spleen but don’t worry she will be OK.”

So, Dr. Mark and I drove back to Cedar Creek Lake back with our other dogs and our friend,JQ, to await the golden hour of the 3AM phone call. At 3AM we dialed the number and we were told that Shawnee was alive and well and doing great and…they didn’t have to take her spleen!  YIPPEE YO KI YAY!  There were so many screams and hollering coming out of our house, I’m surprised that the neighbors didn’t call the police.

The next morning JQ left rather swiftly mumbling something like,”The next time I go on vacation I’m gonna visit New York City’s Subway. Way less going on there than at your house.”

At 5 AM the next morning we left to pick Shawnee up ’cause the ER closes at 7 AM. 

I asked to speak with the Chief of Staff of the hospital Dr. Travis Dennett DVM. I asked him if anyone ever bothers to reach out and tell him what a  rock star he had chosen as a team mate and staff vet Dr. Hazlewood? He said, “No, they mostly just call me fix this or that.”

Shawnee all dressed-up in hospital garb during her last hospital visit.

I continued to gush for 30 minutes about how last year when Shawnee was sick, 10 doctors and 10 hospitals didn’t have the chutzpa to lay their hands on her because of her Von Willebrands.

So folks, the moral of the story is. NEVER give up on your critters and ALWAYS use 911 !!!!!!!!!!

Signed, your new partners in crime, Dr. Mark and Lori.
Have a great weekend, may ours be filled with nothingness.

Lori Birdsong
Lori@linensforanimals.org

Hi everyone!       

Geez ~ when we decided to go national with the linens, you know that saying, “Be careful what you ask for!”  LOL !!

So… here is where we have been rolling lately.

In the past 8 weeks, we literally started in Texas and hooked up both people and animals with linens in 7 States.

It all started with this. I received a phone call from a rescue group in Austin,TX. that was going to pass through Dallas on their way to help the tornado victims in Birmingham, AL. They showed up with a trailer and we filled it with linens and all of the dog and cat carriers that I could find, and they were on their way.

Then, I received a call from a rescue group in Oklahoma that wanted me to help a Church in Joplin, MO. We normally don’t work with people but my gosh, their town was literally wiped out!  The answer was YES !  Their lead pastor sent a 24 foot box truck.   Dr. Mark and I, loaded that truck to the gizzards. We had to go to both linen facilities in Grand Prairie and Coppell and then back to our emergency stash at the house. After 8 hours they were on their way to help all those poor folks. I heard  from a volunteer that they folded  those linens for days. Yea !! 

The very next day, I started reaching out to the animal shelters in Joplin, and various other places in Oklahoma that had been hit hard by the tornadoes. All of them told me that PetSmart Charities was in charge of all ground operations. I called PetSmart Charities and within days they agreed to send a truck to pick up AND deliver our linens to everyone that needed them. TOTAL MIRACLE … until they told me they were sending a 52 foot Semi tractor trailer. Are you kidding me ~~~~~~~ It’s just me and Dr. Mark ~~~ Hello people !!  With that said, I called our largest facility, North Texas Healthcare Laundry and they agreed for the first time in 5 1/2 years to give us more than pee pads. They committed to give us everything they had. And, they would match us man for man labor wise. So… Dr. Mark and I along with our Sanctuary Manger Dedra Shaver, and Assistant Manager Sam Fincher, headed to Grand Prairie. 

We bagged and bagged and bagged for countless hours. And then we had to drag the bags over each other into the Semi Trailer. It was bags on top of bags of linens. We cleaned them out, and then headed to Coppell to HCA N. Texas Division Laundry to pick up some more linens. At the end of the day, we loaded that truck over two thirds full , and it was on it’s way!!  Poor Dedra and Sam both went home with heat stroke. 

Linens are rolling~~~first to Joplin, MO. You can see some of our photos from that trip HERE.

then to Guthrie, OK. The Guthrie Animal Shelter had lost their entire Facility. From there they went to Piedmont, OK.  After that the semi headed  up to North and South Dakota for the flood victims. 

And then…..they still had enough linens to go on to Arizona to the Fire victims.  Can you believe it ???? 

Due to ongoing fires, we  found linen facilities in Phoenix, and have worked the Arizona Humane Society to get 2 more truckloads out to many more folks and animals throughout all of Arizona. This will remain an ongoing process !

Two weeks ago, we received a call from a linen facility in Botavia, New York who had lots of linens to donate. I found a  pit bull rescue and they went to the facility and loaded another 24′ box truck full of linens, and spread them throughout the entire region!

WOW is all I can say is, so ~~~~like I said….be careful what you wish for…. Linens For Animal’s WISH CAME TRUE !!!  

Have a great week !

Lori@linensforanimals.org