A Bit of Sad News

First off, let me say this has nothing to do with Olivia...so please don't think the worst. This goes back to something that happened last Friday. One of the things we've enjoyed doing with our dogs, Fiona and Halo, is take them to a nearby field and let them kick up and chase these Texas-sized jackrabbits. Fiona and Halo both loved doing it with quite a bit of success. Well, this past Friday, I took the dogs to the field and about five seconds after the dogs left the truck Fiona kicked up a rabbit and started chasing it. I guess she didn't have the opportunity to "warm up" because shortly after she started running, she pulled up limping. Over the weekend and early in the week, we watched her and at no point did she put any weight on her right back leg. Today, Amanda took her to the vet and the news wasn't good. Fiona tore the dog version of an ACL. Our options are to let it heal, but Fiona will probably have a limp the rest of her life...or she could have surgery on it. The problem with that is obvious...$$$. Our vet estimated it would cost around 700 to 900 dollars. It's a decision Amanda and I are really in a quandary about. Fiona is our "first child", but she's now approximately 11 years old (we don't know her exact age because we rescued her from an animal shelter) and she's not exactly a spring chicken. Either with or without the surgery, her rabbit-chasing days are over. To me, that's the saddest news of all because she really liked going out there and getting those rabbits to run for their lives. If we go through with the surgery and Fiona leaves this world within a year or two, are we going to regret investing that much money in reconstructive surgery? My mom and stepdad (Pauline and Warren) are dealing with something similar with their dog, Lucy. The difference is Lucy is only a couple years old and still has a lot of life ahead of her. Personally, I think it's a bit too much money...especially with a newborn and me being the only one working right now. It's a tough decision, but I just don't feel the end justifies the means. Maybe I'm being cold and heartless, but I just think opting for not doing the surgery is the sensible thing to do. In any event, I want to post a few pictures I took of Fiona doing some rabbit chasing a few months ago. I'm now very glad I took these pictures when I had the chance.

At the behest of Amanda, I need to make a correction to my previous post. In regards to Olivia's sleeping habits, it seems I painted a rosier picture than what was actually truth...but in my defense, I didn't know that Olivia woke up for 2:00 and 3:00am feedings a couple times last week. So, for my embellishment, I apologize. Last night, however, Olivia did sleep six solid hours and that's no lie.