Why Our Dog Can’t Walk: Part 1
I still always get excited when I get to say “our”, and not just “my”…
This post is near and dear to my heart, and will most likely elicit tears as I write. If you missed out on the story of how Miah weaseled her way into my life, make sure you read that first.
This is the story of why our dog can’t walk. And if you are an animal lover, you’ll understand my position and I am sure will see reflections of your own love for your fur family.
2+ years ago in March 2012, Miah slipped on black ice in the backyard of my Syracuse home. Eager to get out in the morning, she flew down the steps and was mistaken to find that underneath the layer of fresh snow was an even thicker layer of potential danger. Potential turned real when she went down, wrenching her back two legs. She popped back up, and off she ran, carrying them with a little more care than before. I saw it happen and my breath stopped, but after an hour she just seemed a little sore on one leg. I decided to watch it carefully and if it persisted through the next day we would head to our vet for X-rays.
It didn’t persist. Atleast not on that leg.
Over the course of the next few days, Miah’s aches would come and go, and travel from leg to leg. I couldn’t understand how the pain could disappear in the hind leg, only to show up in the front one. Back? Spine? Off to the vet.
Miah, March 2012, just days after her fall.
If you read her story in the other post, it should come as no shock that my dog is a faker. So excited to be at the vet, she masked her pain and try as she may, the vet could not reproduce the lameness I had been watching for days. We went home, only for Miah to begin limping the moment she jumped out of the car.
I studied her signs and symptoms, recorded video after video to share with my sister who is now a Veterinary Technician and has always had an innate understanding of animals and their illnesses. Within a day or two I insisted the vet take another look. My little actress faked it again, but this time X-rays were taken, blood was drawn, tests were run. Inconclusive.
On a third and final trip to the vet (mind you, all of this cost well over $1500 when all was said and done, a $1500 I couldn’t really afford) they ran a special test which rarely comes back positive unless that’s exactly what it is.
I got the call. “Systemic Lupus”. “Fatal”.
To be cont’d….
