This would have cost less if I did more research and chose another vet to do the gold bead implant, but we went with Dr. Durkes because he's been doing it so long. I figured if we were going to do this might as well go with the best.
When researching the gold beads I found Mickey's blog and her itemized expenses really helped me out even if it is 6 years old so I figured I'd do one too.
Keep in mind that to do the actual surgery you have to have an MRI done and that's roughly $1,600 and the surgery is thousands of dollars, 5 to 10 is what I was told. So what we paid was cheap in comparison.
When it came to food we tried to go as cheap as possible. When hungry we'd stop at a grocery store and picked up sandwich fixin's and stole mayo and mustard packets from gas stations. We ate the free breakfast at the hotel and only ate out twice. We paid all of Ben's expenses since we asked him to come with us. Snack food was bought from the dollar store before the trip and was a really good tip I got from a travel website.
Travel charges from Utah to Indiana
Item Charge
Food $111
Travel snack food $25
Car rental 5 days + pre paid tank of return gas $442.50
gas $379 at the most expensive, $3.19 cheapest, 12 tanks $440.46
Hotel - 2 nights $148.82
Entertainment (Chicago & Mt. Rushmore) $34
Trip total $1,201.78
Medical Charges
Item Charge
Baytril 136 Chew Tablets $78
Office visit $78
Chem-profile-major $95
Anesthesia $85
Extended anesthesia $80
Gold implant - wobblers $850
GOLD hospital $50
Pedicure - nail trim $6
X-rays (we got these before the trip) $289
Medical total $1,611.00
Complete total $2,812.78
If we didn't have to pay the $200 extra on the car rental we would have fallen right into our expected budget, but I'm not complaining. I really hope this helps anyone who's interested in getting the treatment done.
Just FYI we could have gone to an all inclusive cancun resort including flight for a week for the same price.
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