Vacation for some, surgery for others

HISTORY: Around November of 2007 I started to notice that Sadie was really limping. When she was about 4 or 5 months old I found out that she has hip dysplasia. It is common in large dogs, and especially in Golden Retrievers. Well when we couldn't watch her limp around any longer and we were giving her more and more pain medicine we decided it was time for a visit to the vet for an xray. He examined her, watched her walk and then said that he would like to xray both hips and knees. Once the xrays were finished he came and told us that her hips, although she does have the dysplasia, looked great but it was her knee that was in trouble. She had torn her ACL and needed surgery to fix it!

Brice's aunt Miriam, who he is quite close to, is very ill and not getting any better. Brice decided that he would really like to visit her before she passes away. So we decided that we would go the first weekend in January. Then we decided that instead of sending Sadie to Mom's for the weekend we would get her surgery done while we were gone. They would have to keep her the first night after surgery anyway, and we figured it would be best for her to be there at the vet. if anything went wrong. This was both a good decision and a hard one for me. Sadie is my baby and I had horrible visions of her dying while I was hundreds of miles away. However I couldn't watch her limp around either. So the decision was made.

The morning of the 4th we dropped Sadie off at the vet at 8am. I was so nervous! Brice was making fun of me the night before as I made a mold of her paw print. I also had to pack her a little "suitcase" of her toys, a pillow case with my scent and her bed. Once I gave her loves and we put her in the kennel (that's when she figured she was in trouble) we then hurried back to meet mom at home to take us to the airport. We got to the airport, through security and then my phone rang....it was the vet. Instantly my pulse started to race. All was okay, we had just forgotten to take them her xrays. Thank goodness mom wasn't to far up the road and was able to run by the house, pick up the xrays and take them to the vet for us. What a life-saver this woman is for me!!!!

The flight was as good as an airplane flight can be.. we landed in Washington, DC. If you ever go to visit this city and you are not a native... take a suggestions from me. Get the GPS with your rental car!!! Holy cow. We went to go and do some sight seeing, being in the nations capital and all.... It was crazy. We got so turned around. We wanted to go drive by the DC Temple (they were closed for cleaning, of course!), we got so lost we had to stop a police officer to get us to where we were going. As I asked him for directions he finally just said "just follow me, I'll show you where to turn!"

The next morning we drove to Cambridge, where is aunt and cousin live. It was nice for Brice to visit with his family and do some catching-up. It was hard for Brice to see his aunt in such a feeble condition. We went to dinner with Brice's cousin Dotti and her husband. It was such a nice visit. Sunday morning we got up, went to visit Brice's aunt one more time and then headed back to DC. On the way to the airport we stopped in Annapolis. I love this city! It has such a colonial feel to it. That or it reminded me a little of Ireland, could be both. Anyway.. I told Brice that I could

live there. I also wanted to see the Naval Academy that is there. We saw it, well the entrance anyway. I don't know what the draw was. Besides the fact that I know that Nate had been there, he had a friend who attended the Naval Academy, and spent a couple of Thanksgivings here. I love the east coast, maybe it's because all the history of our country, maybe it's the fact that Nate lived on the east coast for four years... whatever it is there is a draw and I could see myself there. We didn't have much time to spend in Annapolis, just enough to grab some lunch, a couple of t-shirts and walk around for a minute, but it was nice.

We didn't land in Salt Lake until quite late Sunday night, and the vet's office was closed anyway, but trust me first thing Monday morning I was there to pick up my puppy. I had call the vet several times on both Friday and Saturday. They reported Sadie doing well but not eating.. didn't surprise me. She does that when I leave town. As soon as she saw me she limped herself over and buried her head in my chest. It was so cute! We were so happy to see each other! Once she got her lovings from her mommy she went over to her food bowl and started eating whatever what there. Her knee looked so tender and sore with staples down her knee and all of the bruising. From my experience with working for a knee surgeon, it looked really good.

They taught me how to do my puppy physical therapy and we were off. Sadie was all to happy to leave the vet, get in the car to go to her home.

We got home and she was so excited to get to roll around in her back yard. Sadie loves to roll in the snow and create her "snow angles". Even the fact that 1/4 of her was minus fur she still went to work tossing and rolling all around. I could tell she was happy to be home. Luckily for me I got to work from home on Monday, and Sadie was grateful to have me there too. Until I started in on her physical therapy and icing her knee three times a day. What she enjoyed even less then that was when she had to be locked in her kennel with her collar on. Which was whenever I wasn't watching her. She would just look are me like "Are you really going to make me do this?" What was even more pathetic was when she would sit in front of the sliding glass door and look outside, then she would look at me, and back outside. It breaks my heart to have to keep her inside for the next 8-12 weeks. However it will be worth it to not have to see her limp around the house any more! I so grateful that Brice has come to love this dog and was so supportive of this surgery. I am just not ready to have had to put her down. She really is my baby!