Dog Days

I hadn't planned on sleeping in my SUV the night of June 5. My dog Murray had acted like he wasn't feeling well that entire day. It's a similar pattern to my 92-year-old father—the good and bad days that go with aging. When I went to bed at 11, Murray started whimpering; and I considered that he could either be in real trouble or seroius pain. Either way, a trip to the doggie ER was in order.

When the ER folks positioned Murray for X-rays, they made him worse where he could hardly walk when they were finished, and the injection they gave him only made him loopy and vocal but didn't diminish the hurt. Great. I spent $266 to deliver more pain to him.

When we got home at 2 a.m., M was in such incredible pain, getting him to get out of the car was not even an option. I couldn't see leaving him alone in such distress, so I brought out a blanket and pillows to camp out in the back of my car with him. He was crying the whole time. I finally went in at 4 a.m. because I HAD to get some sleep.

I went to Murray's regular vet, Dr. Christman, Monday morning and got a painkiller Rx for the poor creature. He was better when I got home from work that night, but even the next morning was still periodically crying pitifully. It ripped my insides out to see him in so much pain, and the whole experience rendered me physically tired and emotionally drained. I couldn't imagine what it was doing to Murray.

By Wednesday when I went to get more painkillers, Dr. C said that Murray should have been better by then. No one had to verbalize the fact that it would be a cruelty to keep him alive in such misery. She suggested that as a last-ditch effort I might want to consider veterinary acupuncture, which they have at the UW Vet School. I did some serious 'Net surfing and was able to find a veterinary acupuncturist, Lynne Dennis DVM. She's not with the UW, but she makes house calls. Better yet! I didn't have to take off work, and most importantly I didn't have to move The Big Lug in all his pain.

The minute Dr. Lynne came into the room, Murray responded to her. She did a thorough exam, then an acupuncture treatment. M would occasionally squirm a bit, but mostly he seemed soothed, like he knew it would help. His panting diminished, and over the next few days he slept better and was in far less pain. Thank God! Relief! His walking was still very stiff, almost crab-like. But just to see the expression and joy coming back into his face was enough.

Dr. Lynne came to administer another treatment Monday morning. When I got home Tuesday night, Murray was walking almost normally and was the very best he'd been since the pain set in 10 days before. I was so thrilled, I almost cried. After his first acu session when he responded so well and the pain seemed to diminish so quickly, I had great hopes that maybe over the next few weeks he'd slowly get back to normal. MAYBE. To see him responding this fast is almost a miracle. Of course, with every increment of improvement, he's also becoming commensurately more incorrigible. Definitely getting back to himself. YEA!