16 April 2012

A Tough Week

Yeah, I know...
One of my old friends wrote to make sure nothing was wrong.
(Thank you SMS!)

This week has been a stressful one.
Six days ago while I was working my night shift, Sara Jean was "Grandma-sitting" for a friend at their home. She had both dogs with her, had gotten up in the morning and gone to the bathroom prior to taking the dogs out to tend to their business. She heard a heavy "thump", and when she went to investigate she found Desi the mini-dachshund sitting on the floor with his rear legs splayed out at an odd angle. She gathered him up and brought him home, and when I walked in the door she said, "There's something wrong with Desi" and told me what had happened.
I checked him out and said, "This is REALLY not good." She took him to the Vet and he, unfortunately, didn't want to give us the terrible truth...
"He may have just pinched the nerves in his back. He may improve."
She came home with pain medicine to give him and for two days we watched him suffer and slowly deteriorate.
I came to the decision before she did and, before I went to work 18 hours after the incident, suggested we should take him and alleviate his pain permanently. SJ still had hope...
Didn't want to bring herself to that realization. But at 11 P.M. she called me frantic and in tears-
"You were right! He's suffering and I can't help him!"
I got home as early as possible the next morning and we met the Vet as he opened his door for business. In less than 10 minutes, Desi was no longer in pain.
SJ went to work. Lucy and I buried him back near the pond with the rest of our departed pets.

We bring dogs, cats, and most of our pets into our lives knowing they'll live ten to twenty years, depending on breed and other factors. So we know from the outset that at some point we're likely to be in tears, grieving and missing them.
But to lose this little guy, only 7 years old and apparently healthy, just because he's a dachshund and that breed has problems with those short legs and long back? The situation took the wind out of my sail for days. (I'm crying again as I write this.)

Thank God for Lucy. I don't know what we'd do if we didn't have her to greet us ecstatically as we open the door.
She LOVED her Desi. We figured she'd mourn him for days. But she investigated his body when I laid it in the shallow grave and watched as I covered him with earth.
She has adjusted.
I wish I could say the same for Desi's humans.
Time heals. We're getting better.
And I have learned one lesson...
I'll never own another dachshund.

Mom was admitted to the hospital this week with respiratory trouble.
He heart is weak. They watched her for two days, then released her to my (nurse) Sister's care. Thank you Sis!
Mom's slowly getting better.

For various reasons, I choose not to share everything that is happening in my life with you.
Part of that is because I don't want to bore you. Part of it is because I don't want you to know ALL the little details of my life. But there is another transaction going on in my (our) lives that is also providing a little stress for SJ and me.
It's mostly a good thing, but will also require some adjustment in both our lives. No big deal.
But it's just another thing added to the rest that makes me glad we can see "No news is good news" on the horizon.

I also know things could be much, MUCH worse.
Thank you Lord for not giving us more than we can handle.

13 comments:

OlePrairiedog said...

My sympathies for Desi. If you need anything, give me a call. Let me know how your Mom is doing> I was wondering why I hadn't seen her on msm for a while.

Capt. Schmoe said...

Deepest Condolences. We have three of them and I would be devastated to lose one.

It will likely be a mongrel for us next time as well, the constant worry over their backs is a problem for me.

Good luck with this, I feel your pain.

Scotty said...

We've had two doxies for the past twelve years or so. Our oldest had a similar problem as Desi. Out of the blue she started limping and the next day she was dragging her back feet behind her.

We were lucky. The first medication they tried did nothing and I brought her back to the vet thinking I was going to be putting her down. They gave her some steroidal drug via a shot and pills and within hours she was up a walking again!

She's had a couple of episodes but those same drugs seem to always bring her back.....but as we know at a price. So far at twelve years old, she's still carrying on!

Our youngest one had a heart murmur since day one. One day she started acting a bit odd and lethargic we took her in to the vets and they found that part of her heart had ballooned. We told to take her home and try to make her as comfortable as possible and gave us a handful of drugs.

I always lay on the floor a lot with the dogs to watch TV. Nikki came up to me like she always did and lay next to me and went to sleep and never woke up. She was only ten years old.

This may sound weird, but I grieved harder over that dog than I have over many people I have lost in my life, go figure!

Gaffer said...

Sympathy for losing an important part of your family. We lost one of our dogs on Easter Morn and, like you I get tears in my eyes when I think about it.
The pain will pass, but the memories will endure.

Old NFO said...

Yep, loss of a pet always hurts... And compounding problems put lots of stress on us. Hang in there Sir, hang in...

Russell said...

I am well aware of the wiener dog back problems, we rescue them (20+ years) and currently have 4. Don't give up on them due to that, their so expressive in their faces. I greave each time one passes but still fine immense pleasure haven a pile of dogs on my lap. I really do feel your pain. Russell

Ed Bonderenka said...

Thank you Lord for not giving us more than we can handle.

The Old Man said...

Brother, my heart aches for you two as I can only imagine how the Boss Lady and I would have dealt with losing Scarlett that early. Thank God Lucy is there to help.
Having Mom getting better is good, but as a card-carrying orphan I know the hard times are never far away.
If either of us can help either of you, you have my phone numbers. God bless you all (including Lucy).

Timothy Frazier said...

Sad for you and SJ. We had to take Moses in this morning to have an odd growth cut off his left front leg. Vet said he couldn't begin to guess what it was...never seen anything like it before and it is being sent off to pathology.

We're desperately praying it's not cancer. It hasn't been long enough since Kolby's passing to have to deal with another...

God Bless you, friend. Hope the grief eases up soon. I've been much less active the last three months due to lot's of life-changing events myself. Hopefully things will normalize for all of us soon.

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

You're right. Things could be much worse. We have to find the blessings where they are, and we have to be able to truly see them. They're there.

Condolences. But we are, indeed, all blessed in our numerous ways.

BZ

CnC said...

so sorry for you guys.

On a Wing and a Whim said...

My condolences. Puppies bring so much joy and love with them, that they leave a dog-shaped hole in our hearts when they go.

My your blessings always outweigh your sorrows, and the good Lord never give you more than you can bear.

cary said...

See, I've been self-centered lately.

Please accept my belated condolences for the loss of Desi.

It's easy to let them worm their warm-hearted way into our lives, tough as hell when they have to leave.