For a five-pound dog, Ella’s got ups. She can zip around the house at the speed of light and jump from chair to chair before you know what’s happening. She’s been like this since she was a puppy (just ask our friends who used to laugh politely while she scaled the back of the couch to lick the backs of their ears). If it weren’t for all the fur she’s got catching the wind, I bet she’d be breaking records.
Unfortunately Ella forgets that she’s a teeny tiny poodle with bitty bones and a knee that’s prone to trouble. On Tuesday night, our poor little fur baby did her best Superman jump off the arm of a chair and did a bit too much zig when she should have zagged. Now her little knee is all out of sorts, and the vet said her luxating patella (doctor talk for a kneecap that pops out of place) is getting worse. The good news is they can fix it. The bad news is that fix is surgery (and as Jared so lovingly pointed out, it would cost less for me to get my entire knee replaced than to fix our dog child’s patella problem. So pet insurance is not so crazy: Lesson learned.)
I can proudly say that I saved my waterworks for when I got home (after my first teary-eyed vet office experience, I’ve learned to toughen up a little). Ella’s taking it way better than I am. With a dot of doggie pain reliever each day and a bit of mandated rest time, she’s already acting good as new. The vet said she just needs to take it easy for about a week so the swelling in her knee will go down, but if she wants to be up walking around, that’s completely fine. Elle-dog puts up a good front; however, Jared and I will not be fooled by her tough pup exterior, so we’re taking the following precautions:
The helpful stairs: Ella uses the helpful stairs when she’s in the mood for some couch snuggling and we aren’t nearby to put her where she wants to be. So they’re pillows by the couch that help her get from point A to point B. Or point A to point sleep. Whichever she prefers.
The flipped bed: Although we love her unconditionally, Jared and I can admit that our dog child is a little strange. She’d much rather sleep under a bed or on top of a bed than in a bed. So to keep her from having to do the work herself, we’ve staged her favorite afternoon snuggle spot in this upside down fashion. Now it’s ready for use, and Ella doesn’t have to lift a paw.
The taxi service: We live in a second-floor apartment, so part of Ella’s rehab involves taxi service up and down the stairs. Believe it or not, while the neighbors’ dogs run up and down at will, Ella seems quite content with the special treatment. She even gives a little hop when we reach down to pick her up. What a gal.
The latte: Ella loves Starbucks coffee, so … Just kidding! Come on, we’re puppy people, not crazy people!
But we are doing our best to keep Ella’s energy contained until her knee feels better. And then we’ll start talking surgery for the poor bean (the vet recommends doing something within the next six months). I’m totally on board to do whatever needs to happen to get Ella back in working order, but the thought of our pup getting surgery has me all sorts of sniffly. These parental decisions (albeit puppy ones) are no piece of cake, and I’m realizing now that with all my bumps, bruises, breaks and stitches, I sure didn’t give my folks an easy ride.
When I was 5 years old, I fractured my right wrist by flipping off the rings of a friend’s jungle gym. A few weeks later, I was due for some routine shots before the start of kindergarten, and because my arm was still in a cast, the doctor decided my legs would be safer targets. So my parents took me into the hospital room, lifted me up on the table and watched as their pint-sized jungle-gymer took a whopper of a needle, one in each thigh.
Apparently I slugged it out like a trouper. I say apparently because my own memories of this event are pretty fuzzy. Both of my parents, however, can recount the story at the drop of a hat, with plenty of details and noticeable emotion, which just goes to show that it was way more traumatic for them than it was for me.
So maybe that’s how it is with all parents, even the puppy kind. You spend so much time agonizing over making the right choices for the safety of your kid (pup), but in the end accidents happen. Girls flip off jungle gyms, and puppies jump off chairs. They still love you. They know it’s not your fault. You do everything you can to fix them up like new; and sometimes even that breaks your heart a little.
Whew! There you have it: my emotional mommy moment and the epiphany that followed. Man oh man, if I’m this sentimental about our fur baby, just wait until the human kind comes along. I better start carrying Kleenex now.
XO,
Katrina