Thousand-Dollar Doggie

So it was a short week, but not an easy one! On Wednesday, Nala had an appt to get her Cherry Eye surgery done, she actually had a bad cherry eye when we adopted her from the Humane society almost 7 years ago, but they took care of it before they released her to us. They warned us it might happen again, and sure enough a couple of weeks ago we noticed the red bulge in the corner of her eye. Now, I really had no idea how much it was going to cost, but it didn't seem like too complicated a thing to fix, and it obviously needed to be done so I went ahead and made the appointment. When she went in for her check-up last week, the vet was also very concerned about some of her teeth - apparently there was at least one with an exposed root! That had to be hurting. Several times lately in the morning I had commented on how Nala just didn't seem herself, we assumed she was just tired but now I wonder if she was really in pain. I know what a toothache is like, I feel so bad that we didn't get this taken care of sooner! Poor dog.

Anyway, I took her in to Petsmart early Wednesday morning. I checked her in and they printed out the estimated cost - over $700!!! I was in total shock. I had set aside a few hundred dollars in the month's budget for this already, but not that much!!! I should have figured though. Without any other real options, I went ahead and okay'd it. Then headed to school. During 3rd period, my phone rang. The vet had found a few more teeth that had to come out. It was now going to be $968!!! Again, what was I to do other than bite the bullet and do it. And I'm thinking, so much for that Costa Rica Vacation in a few years.

So later in the day I called Brian with the bad news, I had parent-teacher conferences that evening so he was going to have to pick her up, I didn't want him to be caught totally off-guard when presented with the bill. Of course he wasn't happy about it either, but we both agreed that
it had to be done, and that it wasn't the end of the world. We would manage somehow.


It was a long, yucky sort of day. I finally got home at almost 8pm, Nala was pretty groggy. Later we found a message on the answering machine from Petsmart wanting us to come back to get the scratch collar that they had apparently forgotten to give us, but I was too worn out to deal with it. She hasn't been scratching at her eye at all anyway, so I don't feel bad about ignoring them. The next morning she was obviously in a great deal of pain, but I managed to get her to take her medicine. We left her inside so she could spend the day relaxing on her couch, and I was glad to see when I came home that afternoon that she was doing much better. Not 100% Nala yet, but she definitely had some of her spark back and was willing to lick us again.

So now I call her my thousand-dollar doggie. Unfortunate for sure, but we couldn't just let her go on in pain like that indefinitely. It certainly wasn't going to get any cheaper, and at only 8 years old we hope she has many good years left in our family. Our big Costa Rica vacation in 2011 is not quite so certain now, but it's still a long ways off and who knows what will happen between now and then, for the better or worse. So we will see, and hope for the best.

Other than that - we were supposed to have an Auction Meeting Thursday night, but we rescheduled it at the last minute until next week since two of the other 3 people on the team had conflicts. It was good to spend that evening with our still-recovering dog anyway. And we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant - yummy!

This morning Lily had her first soccer game of the season - she did really well! One time she stole the ball from the other team right in front of their goal, and ran it all the way back down the field to score! It was amazing. She is on the same team as last year, although there are several new girls. Two of which go to her school, so that's kind of nice. We invited them all to her birthday party, hopefully we will get a good turnout. We also invited her whole class at school, but most of them haven't even taken in invitation out of their folder! Things still seem so unorganized there. It's very frustrating... and I keep hearing it over and over in my head... this wouldn't have happened at Primrose.

Tomorrow kicks off our Fall RE Season at church, Brian and I are teaching Lily's class, which we got a brand new curriculum for this year. I finally got around to looking over the lesson this afternoon, it is about "home" being a special place, and how important it is to take care of our homes. I feel a little guilty teaching this lesson given how bad a job we have been doing with that concept that past few months, but it has inspired me to try to do a little better. Not looking for perfection, but it would be nice to be able to see the carpet now and then. :)

We picked up some party bags for Lily's party next week, and I wrapped, or gift bagged actually her present. Brian still hasn't gotten his yet, but I think he has an idea anyway. Our plan is to have a family party on Thursday (her actual birthday) and then her "friends" party is at My Gym on Sunday afternoon. She is excited of course!

Well that pretty much sums up our week, and I have lots to do still before tomorrow. And my thousand-dollar dog wants some attention :)