What a beautiful day yesterday! 

Well, it was until 5:12pm.

Then it started ‘raining’……as they say.

After enjoying the show “Chicago” at the Pitman Theater, I returned home to my doggies. (BTW, the show was positively wonderful! If you can….GO SEE IT!) 

For those of you who don’t know, I have 3 miniature dachshunds; Mercedes, Billy and Kappy. Upon returning from the show, I did what I normally do — put them outside and then prepared their dinner. When I called them inside for dinner, Mercedes went back in the house first — very fast, then  Kappy — not long behind, but Billy just sat on the back steps as if he was just watching the world go by on a ssslllooowww summer day.

The rain fell a bit harder.

I had no idea what-in-the-world Billyboy was doing.

Anyhow, to make a long story as short as possible…..when I called for Billy to come in for dinner, he was sitting on the 2nd step at the back door……he turned to come up on the 3rd step, yelped, kinda tumbled — kinda stumbled down the bottom 2 steps…..and then floundered around attempting to get back up on his feet. I ran down after him and held him still so he couldn’t further damage himself. I remember repeating over-and-over again, “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!.” I was terrified to move him.

Now it was pouring buckets.

It was so shocking….and also so sad. Poor ol’ Billy couldn’t move his little back legs properly. I had an intuition of what was to come.

You see, my grand-puppy, Miss Butter, had gone through a similar injury recently. Butter had emergency surgery on her spine just 3 short days ago! I could NOT believe that my poor little Billy could possibly be facing the exact same thing.
Absolutely FEAR shot through me!

Yet, as much as I prayed for my Billy to be fine, as much as I believed that he must have simply hurt his toenail and as much as I tried to deny what had just happened right in front of my eyes…….the reality was that Billy had hurt his back, too. I instinctively knew exactly what was coming, although I couldn’t process it and certainly couldn’t accept it at that time.

The doctor at St. Francis Animal Hospital in Swedesboro, NJ determined that Billy could feel both of his back feet — he had movement on the lower right-side but not much good stuff was happening on his left side. His cute little feet that I had so often massaged for him, were not working correctly, at all. They almost appeared twisted as he squirmed around.

Ironically, we ultimately transported Billy to the very same emergency animal hospital in Levittown, PA (VSEC VET) where Butter was still in recovery. VSEC has  the ability and equipment to conduct the necessary MRI and then do the surgery. Unfortunately, the first emergency facility only had a cat scan and that machine isn’t able to completely show the injury.
So, to cut to the end of the story, Billy is in the emergency hospital and waiting for an MRI. And surgery. Definitely surgery. 

And I am sitting here at home, glued to my phone, waiting for a call from the Neurologist who will be performing the operation. Billy is medicated, resting and in good hands. The recovery rate for my little boy is estimated to be 95%. Doxies suffer these injuries quite a lot so I get the feeling these surgeries are routine. (Scary, but unfortunately routine.) The injury is called IVDD. Even ‘Crusoe The Celebrity Dachshund’ has suffered through it……AND did have a full recovery!

So, the rain hasn’t stopped yet but it did slow down once I knew that Billy was out of pain, diagnosed and there was a plan in place. We are all praying for a good outcome for the little guy. These darn dogs steal your hearts, don’t they?

“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.” ― M.K. Clinton

On a side note: I was told last night that IVDD surgeries are one of the most expensive surgeries. I can’t help but remember the ‘Financial Peace University’ class I had with Sharptown Methodist Church years ago. In it, Dave Ramsey taught what his grandmother had often told him…..and that is:

“It’s going to rain!”

Financially, “It’s going to rain.” So, I’m encouraging you at this moment to try your best to save for that rainy day. It will come. It’s bad enough to deal with an injured pet, but to worry about the financing of the ‘fix’ is a separate but equal injury.