A.B.D. and V.E.T.

In December of 2011, we were excited that Tim was finishing the last of the coursework for his doctoral degree - meaning his status would be A.B.D., All But Dissertation.  He only had one more day of class left.  That last class was to be held on a Saturday.  Sawyer and I planned a congratulatory dinner for him.  We made a huge sign, with stars and glitter and balloons, for the front yard so he'd see it when he drove up. 

All he asked of us before he left the house that morning was that we please take the Brindle Kids to have their nails clipped and ground.  I promised him, as a special A.B.D. prize, that we would take care of it.  Since Sawyer had a friend spending the weekend at our house and since they were in the middle of making cupcakes, I loaded the Kids into the Tahoe and left for PetSmart.  When I got there, I opened the hatch and Maggie jumped out first, then Truly.  I noticed that Truly stumbled a bit as he jumped down, but he made an immediate recovery, so I didn't think any more of it.

We went into the store and back to the grooming area.  A woman who was waiting to pick up her dog looked and me and said, "Do your dogs fight?"  I've said before how surprised I am that people think the Brindle Kids are pit bulls because of their brindle color and I figured she thought so, too.  So I smiled and said, "No, they don't fight.  They're greyhounds."  She said, "I know they're greyhounds.  I was asking because of the blood."  She pointed to the white tiled floor under our feet. 

There was a lot of blood and it was coming from a two inch gash on Truly's right hind leg/knee.  The groomer volunteered to take Maggie and trim her nails while I took Truly to the in-house vet.  The groomer brought her right back to me because of the whining.  (Truly must have caught his knee on the trailer hitch or the license plate when he jumped out of the truck.  There was no blood on either, by the way.) 

The vet recommended 10 - 15 stitches.  She said since the injury was on his knee, it would need to be sutured in order to promote healing.  I guess I was in a complete state of shock because I agreed, even though I know stitches on the knee of a dog with paper-thin skin would be about as effective as sewing together two wet Kleenexes.  I did have enough of my wits about me to find the special anesthesia protocol for greyhounds on my cell phone and insist that the she read the information while she stood there in front of me.  She was very kind and accommodating, but it must have seemed that I had little faith in her veterinary abilities. 

After reading the info, she took Truly off for the "surgery."  I called Tim, who by this time, was just finishing his class.  He came to PetSmart in time to help me with Truly and Maggie.  He put Truly into the truck.  Don't think this was a quick process.  From discovery of the blood to exiting the building totaled about seven hours.

By the time we returned home, it was dark.  Tim couldn't see his festive sign.  Truly was still groggy from the anesthesia.  I wasn't groggy.  Paying the bill totally jolted me into the world of fiscal reality.

No mind, though.  Tim is A.B.D. and Truly's leg has healed completely.  He did, by the end of the night, remove the wrapping, bandage and each of the stitches with his teeth.  He did all of this while I ran to the kitchen to find a pair of scissors to cut off the IV bandage on his front leg.

The Brindle Kids' house:  always exciting.