Family Dog

Recently our 5 year old mini Schnauzer, Molly, was diagnosed with bladder stones AND a herniated disk in her spine. All within 2 days. I guess if you’re going to have 2 things go bad, may as well do them at once and get all the cutting and stitching over in 1 shot so we don’t have to have her heal up then go right back through it all. Bladder ¾ full of stones and a disk that has disabled her back left leg. I think doing research on the illnesses is a good thing, but its also pretty scary to read some of the horror stories. The stones are out, no big deal, change the diet and should be good for the rest of her life.. but rehabilitating the leg is another story. It might come back in a month.. it might come back in a year.. it might come back never.. there is no way to tell.
The week she was in the hospital was one of the most difficult things we have been through.. We knew she was in good hands, but we also knew she was pretty scared and alone. The first day home she was pretty much out of it, like a 17 lb floppy eared marshmallow.
Then day 2 she started to realize she was home with us and safe.
Day 3: eating, reacting to our voices, growling at the cats and squirrels through the window.
Day 4: standing, gingerly moving around showing some movement in the leg.
MUCH more improvement than we ever expected, especially in such a short time.
Here we are at day 5 and other than her leg she is just fine. She shows improvement everyday and we have no doubts that before too long she will be running around the back yard looking for that special “spot”… We were having trouble getting her to “evacuate her bladder”, (Cindy with her medical terms rubbing off on me.), ugh, getting her to PEE. And since that’s where the stones were we knew we had to find a way to get her to go...
It took a little learning on our part though to get her to “Go” in the back yard after her surgeries.
We would suit up for the cold carry her in the back yard, gently set her down and try and get her into the required position, but she just wasn’t going at all. This worried us.
It seems Molly is a little timid when it comes to whizzing in a crowd... Who would have thought? Most dogs do it all the time. Although I guess I would be a bit hesitant myself to free the beast with 2 people lurching over me with a 6 cell MAG flashlight shining directly on my junk. So after trying several different things, we decided to get her in position, go behind the gazebo and give her some privacy.
TA-DA! On the road to tinklesville! What a relief…
… for all of us..

I have had a few friends at work that ask how she is doing and express their concerns and support, and I can’t thank them enough. And there are the few, special co-workers.. more “farmer types” that express support in a more instant, permanent kind of way.., “ you’ins spent $4000 on a dog? Heck, if’n yall want, I’ll take her out behind the sleepin barn an vittle her up to the cayotes”
Hmm... What do you say to that? Ok, so I’m exaggerating... a bit.
After many, many prayers from us, our family and friends Molly is doing just fine. And if her leg never fully recovers from this than that’s ok, we are just happy to have her back home where she belongs. Some would say we are crazy for spending so much money on Molly, after all, “its just a dog”.
I tend to look at it a little differently.
Molly didn’t choose us, we chose her, and to me that carries a great responsibility.
It was God’s plan to bring Molly into our lives,
But it was our plan to make her family.
Bless you Molly, we love you very much.