3: Hurting

The smallest creatures in life make the biggest differences.

Photo and prompt copyright © Alex Kaplan.

This is not my dog. To the left is someone else's dog. It is merely the photo prompt and above is also the title prompt. And it is definitely a true statement.

This prompt comes with perfect timing and makes me think of our dog, Jessie. I thought about writing all about Jessie, where we got her, when, and the impact she has made on our lives, however I'm hear to write a blog post, not a novel. Instead I'll tell you about the past three days.

Three days ago our 4 year old Boxer/Lab mix tore the ligaments in her knee jumping out of our van. Within minutes she began limping, we thought maybe she landed wrong and let her rest for a few hours. It became clear to us that she didn't just step on a rock wrong, she was clearly in pain. I called the vet and booked her in the next available appointment at 5:30 that evening.

The vet knew right away what she did and we were faced with two options. Surgery or no surgery. We were then given an estimate for the surgery and sent home with pain meds for Jess.

Luckily we didn't have to make a rush decision, but we do have to make one. If we do the surgery it's going to cost us about $2000. She'll be "like new" if all goes well. If we don't opt for the surgery the pain will cease in a week or two, she will use that leg again, but we run the risk of more damage to that knee, or the other leg, and arthritis setting in quicker.

It's such a hard decision. And in honesty, there is no decision to be made. While I want to book her for surgery right away, we can not. There is absolutely no way we can afford the $2ooo. That is more than our mortgage payment. We just can not afford it.

It breaks my heart to see Jessie lying on the floor with no desire to play. She just looks sad. The pain medication is helping, and since we can not do the surgery, they will give us stronger medication for her to take for anther week. I feel guilty that we can not do this for her, but we also need to be able to keep a roof over all of our heads too. If only that money tree would grow out back!

By the way... this is Jessie: