GPOYW, or, in today’s non-acronymic edition: “Today Sucks And This Is Me With My Adorable Dog Who Needs Surgery To Prevent Paralysis.”
Amidst all the other suckiness going on in my life (which may or may not be indirectly proportionate to the amount of posting I’ve been doing — my typical reaction to stress is various levels of immobility), I woke up yesterday morning to my precious Prince Dumbledore screaming (there is no other word for it) in pain, unable to walk and/or control his bladder.
I’d had a similar experience with Dums twice before, but nowhere near as severe, the 2nd occurence of which warranted Dumbo’s Metro-North Adventure where the kindly neurologist said to wait until it occured again, then bring him in immediately. Which brings us to yesterday, wherein in between curses and tears I car-serviced (seriously — there was no Metro-North-ing this episode) myself and my whimpering muffin to the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers where an MRI was ordered for the morning.
And, as it turns out, Dumbo has a ruptured disc in his neck that is severely compressing his spinal cord, causing the first signs of paralysis in his right side (inability to recognize where exactly his legs are / delayed reactions) and which requires surgery as soon as possible, ideally this afternoon or tomorrow morning.
And that sucks. It sucks for my dog because I want him to just be a happy, healthy, spoiled and spunky creature, not a suffering, sedated, and surgery-requiring mess. And, less importantly but more fiscally immediate, it sucks for my wallet. But of course I’m going to do it because he’s my dog and I love him and there are mornings where I wake up and I just have no idea how I would get out of bed if not for his snorting, snuffly, and smelly face and how could I have taken responsibility for this snuggly, lazy creature without taking into account the possibility of this happening, no matter how horrible, how heart-wrenching, and how, to be totally honest and/or crass, expensive?
There is a tooth-surgery I’ve been refusing to get because I already spent thousands of dollars on the same procedure (different tooth) last year and I’ll suffer through the ache, damnit, because who can afford that sort of thing on a yearly basis?, but when it comes to my dog, the indisputable love of my life (sorry, Nick), I will, of course, make this happen.
After today I will be out several (read: too many) thousands of dollars that I do not in any way, shape, or form have and indebted to someone more than I can ever repay them, but, at the very least and with my fingers crossed, my dear little prince will be able to walk, will no longer screech in pain, and will spend the rest of his days repaying me with slobber, farts, and piles of hair in every corner of my apartment.
So yeah, today sucks, but that, my friends, is love.
