Three Black Spots

The hunt for Imazol

Monday morning. Let’s find a way to get Imazol into the USA. All we had to do was to get someone in the UK to buy it for us, and then have someone bring it over. Simple idea.

Our first call was to a business associate in the UK. One of those ‘more dash than cash’ types. ‘Don’t worry Mohan, I’ll get it done today’. Four days later it was obvious that he had not even called his vet, but every time we spoke it was ‘ I’m dealing with it as soon as I put the phone down’.

Life lesson. Don’t ask anyone who is not a pet lover, to do you a favor for a pet. They just don’t get why you are so anxious. After all, it’s only a dog. Either they should be a pet lover, or you should be their boss, in which case self preservation kicks in.

By Thursday, I knew we needed to ask someone else. Charlotte, a wonderful friend, with two delightfully named cats Lefty and Righty, was our next port of call. Within an hour she called back to say that her vet had written a prescription, but Imazol was completely out of stock in the UK. The company had stopped making shipments for some reason. Fifteen mintes later she called back with the name of the company and their phone number in London.

The next morning, I spoke to the company, and got through to one of the nicest service people I have ever dealt with. No, they had no stocks. No, they did not expect to have any available for at least 6 weeks. Yes, she would find me just one bottle. I think that she did not want to hear a grown man cry. She didn’t even charge me for it

A quick call to Ronnie, a friend of ours in Bombay, who is a purser with Air India. A quick call from Ronnie, and we had the name of a purser who was due to fly from Heathrow to New York, that very night. A quick call to the company lady, and she arranged for the vial to be delivered to the airport hotel in time for the purser to pick it up and bring it to us. Thank God for these quick calls. And thank God for friends.

That night, we waited by the phone. Air India is perennially late, and we half expected to hear that the flight had been diverted to Labrador or Timbuktu. But no, this was the home stretch. The Imazol was in our hands.

Yoda got the Imazol. We found Dr Kokoma who was conducting clinical trials at the University of Illinois for the FDA and he was really helpful. He checked Yoda’s DNA before and after the treatment. Finally, we knew that the bug was out of his system.

Yoda was healthy again. And Yoda’s DNA tests were part of the evidence that helped get FDA approval for Imazol in the USA. Yoda had made a small contribution to animal health.