The Inexorable Mouths of Snails

She's still in the hospital - she's growing too fast to safely pin her bones together (it might limit her growth and cripple her), and the bones in question (ribs, pelvis, left femur) are only cracked, so it's really better for her to leave them alone. But, her pain needs constant, i.v. medication (and she's gotten wise to being pilled), so she has to be where she can have i.v. meds. It makes me cry to see her in so much pain.

I get to visit her tomorrow. Last week when we tried to bring her home, she tried so hard to cheer up for us - she had happy, perked up ears, and even wagged her tail a bit, even though that obviously hurts her - it was so sad, but I tried to treat her like it wasn't making me sad. We had her home for less than 24 hours before it became apparent that I (the only person home enough to do the constant care, without a back injury) am NOT objective enough, or apparently strong enough, to hold her still enough to get her outside to pee (there are stairs at every entrance). It hurts her too much to be lifted by me and she cries and thrashes around so much that I nearly dropped her every time. She's too crate-trained to be willing to pee in her crate at home, even when this debilitated. I had to let her crawl into the kitchen and let her pee on a pad there, and she got so upset about having to pee inside the house it nearly broke my heart. Combine this with her not allowing us to medicate her for over 12 hours and you can see how horrible that was. Now, add in a baby I had to feed and a toddler who wants his dog to play with him, and its a clear nightmare. In order to take care of everyone, I didn't sleep. There's more, but you get the idea.

So, after one night, we took her back to the doctor, and it took both me and Chris to get her in the car. She's staying until next week. Dr Britt and Shannon are taking great care of her, but I don't miss my girl any less.