You Can Call Me Crazy If You Want

I didn't have a chance to post yesterday afternoon because I took a half day off from work to take my child, the Tide, to the vet. Then, last night was the annual Rainbow Omega fundraising dinner so to say it was a busy afternoon and evening is an understatement.

As you probably read a few days ago, The Tide came in from outside on Sunday night and let out a yelp and has since been hobbling around on three legs. I originally thought I might have hit her leg with the door as I was shutting it behind her, but have since come to the conclusion that was not the case. For one, I never felt her body hit the door and for two, she's been hobbling for far too long for it to be a scrape from the door. I had originally scheduled an appointment for her for Saturday but by Tuesday morning decided I needed to change it to as soon as I could get her there and so Thursday afternoon was the date.

The appointment was at 4:00 but because of the amount of hours we are required to take off this quarter, I went ahead and took a half day. Around 3:20 we headed out for the vet and by 3:45 were inside a room waiting on Dr. Johns. Dr. Johns is very familiar with The Tide since he was one of the two doctor's who operated on her hips nine years ago. He looked around her paw area first and then started examining the knee. She was tensed up and he thought he felt something but needed to know definitively and so he gave her a sedative that knocked her out within a matter of minutes. After she was out like a light, he was able to maneuver the knee with a lot more ease and even I could see that it was popping out of place where it was supposed to be still. Long story short, my child has a torn ACL. She's telling people it's an old football injury.

Dr. John's recommended surgery and we discussed the details of the surgery and if he thought it would be beneficial for her as this type of injury will not heal on its own. The injury was most likely caused from degeneration over the past few years and if I had to guess she probably uses this joint more than most dogs because of her bad hips. I asked about a payment plan because the surgery is quite costly and I don't want to drain my savings account nor do I want to stop saving for vacation next year. As it turns out, there is a credit option called Care Credit which can be used for large expenses like this and it works like a credit card where you charge the amount and then you have either six or 12 months to pay it off with no interest. Not only do vet's offices take this Care Credit, but a lot of eye doctors and dentists take it as well - who knew? So, I filled out the application and turned it in while waiting on The Tide to start waking up from the reversal shot they gave her.

The Tide and I headed back out front to the reception area so I could pay the day's bill and also set up the Care Credit and schedule the surgery. She was still woozy from the sedative and couldn't sit up and ended up laying down with all four legs sprawled out. A little boy that was there with his dog asked me if she was tired. The lady that usually handles the Care Credit applications was not there yesterday and the girl who tried to do it ran into some technical difficulty that no one could seem to help her with so they are supposed to call me on Friday to get it all set up. The surgery is scheduled for this coming Thursday, November 1 and she has to be there by 9:00 a.m. So, I will drop her off at 8:00 and then head on in to work.

I know a lot of you probably think I am crazy for paying for my dog to have surgery and that's okay I don't mind. The Tide is like my child though and I think she's still got a few good years in her and there is no way I could just let her hobble around till the end of her days or go ahead and put her down. So, for me, this is the right answer. Granted, I'm not thrilled for the expense, but for those of you who have kids I know you would spare no expense for your child and since The Tide is my child, you can kind of see where I'm coming from. At any rate, I don't really care what people think because to me, it's worth it and that's all that really matters. So, The Tide will be going under the knife for the fourth time in her life (counting when she was fixed) on Thursday and she would appreciate your prayers, some TLC, and of course, any treats you are willing to send her way.