Our Five Ring Circus: Expect the Unexpected

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Expect the Unexpected

Last night, the kids and I were visiting my parents at their house. Grant called, and was a bit freaked out, because our Great Dane, Bailey, was having a lot of trouble walking. When I got home, she was much worse than I expected. She couldn't even stand up on her own, kept falling when she would try, and was dragging her leg behind her as she walked.

I began to fear that she dislocated her hip. I'm guessing that she injured herself while she was home alone. She has the tendency to leap up on our sectional to look out the window, and I'm wondering if she got her leg stuck in the crack between the two pieces. She was perfectly fine before I left the house, but not when Grant returned home.

We were getting our first snowfall last night, so we put off calling the vet until this morning. Of course, when I woke up at 8:30, we had a few inches of snow, and the roads weren't even touched. (That's how PennDot rolls.)

I knew that we had to get her to the vet, so we called the office, and they told us to bring her in quickly, before they closed for the day. Grant and I quickly got dressed, got the kids dressed, and carried Bailey down the steps to load her into the back of the car. The last thing I wanted to do was venture out in that crap, but we had to.

I was completely nerved out as we stood in the middle of the waiting room, watching the vet examine her. Five years ago, I stood in the very same spot, listening to the vet tell me that our dog was going to die within weeks, at the young age of 2. Today, I feared that she would need a very expensive surgery that we couldn't afford, or that they would tell us she needed to be put down because she was so badly injured.

The tears of relief began to flow when the vet said that she would be okay. She really hurt her leg, but nothing was broken and her hip was not dislocated! She got an anti-inflammatory shot, a shot for the pain, and she was sent home with pain medication. We have to keep her calm and quiet so she can heal, but the vet expects her to start walking better on Monday.

This was a wake up call for us. Bailey can be annoying because she's so huge, and I often lose my temper with her, but I realized we were taking her for granted. As we were dealing with this, I realized just how important she is to us! It will take our bank account a few weeks to recover after this, but it's okay, because she's going to be okay!

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The kids finally got to play in the snow tonight! They have been waiting for snow for weeks, and have only experienced a few snow flurries. When they woke up this morning, and looked out the window, they were thrilled!

Dylan went outside first, because Lexie was still napping. He slid down his slide into snow drifts, went sledding with me, made snow angels, and rolled down hills.

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He started to throw snowballs at himself, and that quickly ended the fun. He was cold, and wanted to go inside!

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Lexie woke up moments after we came in, so I suited her up, and took her outside for a bit. She prefers to just walk through the snow, and sled with her mommy.

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After dinner, we snuggled up on the couch to watch "Mickey's Christmas Carol" and "The Grinch."

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I now have a towering stack of gifts to wrap!

I love my Cup-O-Bean!

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13 comments:

  1. I'm glad Bailey was okay! Pets really do hold a big spot in our hearts.

    The kids look cute playing in the snow! Aidyn really dislikes getting any snow in his face too. I can't wait to go sledding!

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  2. I am so glad your dog is okay. I am sure that really worried you. So thankful she's going to be fine.

    I am glad you all got to play in the snow! It looks beautiful!

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  3. I love giggly girls, especially in coffee mugs! Those happen to be two of my favorite things!

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  4. looks like the kids had fun in the snow.

    glad your dog is ok

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  5. Stuff with pets is so so so hard... I can't even bring up the memories :(.

    Fun snow pics! I wish we'd get some :( My kids miss out!

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  6. I am so glad Bailey is ok. Sometimes it takes something scary to make us realize just how important things are in life.
    Love all the snow pictures. We got a little bit more snow today an saw lots of people in the ditch!

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  7. The cup o bean is so cute! I am glad to hear that Bailey will be okay. I bet you were stressed!

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  8. Our kiddo would be sooo jealous of the snow! Looks like a blast :)

    Glad to hear Bailey will be okay!

    (Horses are huge and can be annoying and have giant vet bills too - know how that goes! The relief when they're okay is huge too!)

    Love those last pictures - what a cutie!

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  9. I'm all teary eyed after reading about your doggy. I'm glad she's okay though.

    Lexie is just too precious in that cup!!

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  10. I gave your blog an award! Congrats!

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  11. Oh, I'm glad to hear your doggy's gonna be okay. Whew!!!

    Wow, you got snow. I'm jealous. We want some of that white stuff... not sure what we'd do with it as we don't have sleds, but we'd figure something out!!!

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  12. I totally understand... we're STILL recovering from Dixie's outrageous vet bill from a couple of months ago!

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