Violet was such a rock star during her ACL surgery. Even though she came out all bruisey and swoll and pitiful, she was a total tough guy.
The surgery went well. They removed the torn ligament and implanted a metal plate into her knee with screws. No breezing through TSA checkpoints for my pit bull!
She came home, I doped her up as much as possible, and she seemed to be getting better.
And then she wasn’t.
Maybe it was when that neighbor dog was loose and jumped on her; maybe her brother knocked her ass-over-tin-cups while I wasn’t looking; maybe…I don’t know, could be anything.
When I took her in for her follow-up, the vet student took one look at her and said, “Yeah, she shouldn’t be limping at eight weeks.” Could be three things, they told me. Plate breakage: unlikely, because she would have been in a lot more pain. Torn meniscus (which would require more surgery): well, no telltale clicking, so probably not. Osteoarthritis: most likely, due to all that extry bone she grew trying to stabilize the joint. They sedated and manipulated and x-rayed her. The prescription: anti-inflammatory drugs and cross your fingers they work. If they do, then it’s osteoarthritis, and it’ll be chronic but she won’t need to get sliced n’ stitched again.
After a few weeks, she was still gimpy. I called one of the surgeons. “Do you hear a clicking?” she asked. No, thank goodness. “Just keep giving her the Rimadyl and call us back in a couple weeks.”
Last weekend, we went up to Boone to cheer for Wa as she ran a marathon. Saturday morning, I gave the dogs some breakfast, and we were out the door to hit—our very favorite—Swift’s Hill before heading over to the race course. As soon as we stepped out the door, Redford off the leash, Violet on,
kuh-POK,
kuh-POK,
kuh-POK.
That. Was Violet’s knee.
When I spoke to another surgeon on Monday, he said it was most likely a torn meniscus and that they had a cancellation on Tuesday. They could evaluate and, if need be, surgerize her on the same day.
Tuesday morning, the doc talked baby-talk to her as he pulled her leg back. Kuh-POK, it went. Surgery then.
This operation was less aggressive than the first, and because it happened within the recovery period, they would just charge me anesthesia and administrative fees. Surgical costs were waived. So it was only $1,200. Ha!
And I just got the pink slip at work. Which is not as bad as it sounds. The early allocation numbers are done based on last year’s enrollment, and my school is going to have way more students next year, so my principal is “very confident” I’ll still have a position. And of course, I was planning on leaving this job in a year anyway. But still. Timing.
Money, man. I know it’s fiction, but it feels like truth.
Thing is, I was talking to this dude after Violet’s first surgery and he said, “It’s great that you’re doing that for her.” I cocked my head. He continued, “A lot of people would just put her down.”
!!!!!
WTF?! No! That had never even occurred to me!
I guess he’s not the only one who thinks that way. My neighbor stopped by yesterday. He asked how much Violet’s surgery was and when I told him $4,700 so far, he said, “I’d put my kids down for that kind of money.” That was pretty funny.