Stress

It's like we just can't get a break. This year has been one of the hardest, most heartbreaking years of my life. I'm at the point where every new thing that happens adds to my stress level and it's just going up, up, up without any relief. I really wish I could relieve some of this stress.

Two nights ago J and I were getting ready for bed. Our little dachshund Jazmine usually comes in the room with us and snuggles down on a blanket. Well that night she came in and then turned immediately around and went back downstairs. I guess we just thought she was going to get a drink or something. A few seconds later J started yelling and ran out, I guess he heard Jazmine crying and whining. So I ran out too and we found her at the bottom of the stairs with her back legs folded up under her. J thought at first that she broke her leg, but I realized immediately that it was different. He entire back body seemed to be paralyzed. She had no control of her legs, tail or back section. We both started to freak out.

We got the phone book out and called the only emergency vet for miles (still about 12 miles away). He answered the phone and said that it is actually pretty common and is a ruptured disk in her back. He warned that it would be expensive to bring her in and wanted to know if we really did want to bring her in. We didn't know what else to do so of course we had to take her in. When we got there the vet looked at her and confirmed it was a ruptured disk. He started to give us an idea of treatment. There were basically 2 or 3 options. The first option was to treat her in his office for a few days with steroids and pain killers and see how she does. The second option is surgery and the third option is a combination of the two. Right now it looks like we are doing a combination of the two. She has been there for 2 days now and we miss her.

We are waiting for a phone call from a neurosurgeon at Cornell to let us know if she is a candidate for surgery and if we should go that route. We are looking at about $1500 for the vet stay and then another $4000 for the surgery. Crazy huh? We just can't get a break.

All of this only a day after Bear's due date. It's almost too much to handle!