I have finally lost my mind... I think.

            I am going to eat a lot of crow with this post. A lot. Like about $3,000.00 worth. For a long time I always thought that I was a sane person. I really did. Little did I know I am no saner than the crazy cat lady down the street. Here is how my discovery went down.

One of my absolute favorite pictures of Seven.
This is her in a nut shell. 

            The Big Brown Dog has been limping for about 2 months now. At first not bad just after she had been running around a lot.  We just thought well she is older this kind of thing is going to happen. Well it has just gotten worse. Now it’s every time she gets up, and it’s real bad if she has been running around for a while. It has gotten to the point that while she is standing she lifts the offending leg. At first I was concerned that it was her hips. So off to the vet we go. They gave her some meds and I could tell that she was feeling great after the first few doses. She was acting like her old self and running around like a puppy. I was hoping that the round of anti-inflammatory medication was going to do the trick. That lasted for a while, but then went back to limping. Well we went back for a second round of meds and that worked a little but it has just steadily gotten worse. So we went back to the vet and he suggested that we get x-rays done just to see what is going on in there. He said that he could feel the swelling in her left hind knee and that he thinks that the joint is unstable and that there could be some ligament damage. Not surprising for a dog that chases everything. And I mean everything; squirrels, trucks, school busses, snowflakes, the mailman- the list goes on and on. The vet said that surgery might be an option and then gave us the price tag of about $2,500 to $3,000. This is where I realized I am one of those people, because I almost, almost didn’t bat an eyelash at the price tag. Now really Seven doesn’t get much fancy treatment, but this time is making up for all of that time that she was treated like a dog. The up side is it's not her hips.

Her "hour a day" outside. Oh come on I take her out more than
that. She just hates being on the leash. 

Hating "House Arrest"

            The hard part is that there are two different surgeries that she could potentially have. The first being much cheaper than the second but the second surgery is a definite fix to the problem. There is the potential for her to tear things again with the first surgery. So now came the dilemma how much is Seven worth? Well to me she’s worth the world. That dog and I have been through so much. As cheesy and cliché as that sounds to say about a dog. Then there is the fact that she is still a very active dog. She acts like a puppy. It’s not like she is an older dog just laying around – then this blog post would be on the art projects that I have been doing to distract me from all of this. I guess the hardest thing of all is watching her limp and restricting her from running around. It’s heartbreaking really. You can tell she is bored. It’s almost worse than the time I took her canoeing. She really hated that. At times she almost looks depressed, and there was a time that she didn’t finish her food. I immediately called the vet after that incident; said it was most likely pain that was causing her to not want to eat. This dog never doesn’t want to eat. She is doing a little bit better though she now has a pain medication along with the anti-inflammatory. We have started calling her the inmate. She does not like house arrest anymore than we do, but I am willing to do whatever I have to for her. How can you not for a dog that has only ever asked for breakfast, dinner, a good pet every now and then and a tennis ball?

Patiently waiting for her.

I can't wait to get her back to this.

          Our consultation with the
surgeon is this week. So fingers crossed. And then some divine intervention might be helpful to get her through her recovery. Yep it’s official I’m a crazy pet person.