When things go wrong

Last night we realized our little dachshund Jai wasn’t walking right. I thought it might be an intestinal problem. Linda the techy one among us looked on her android and suspected it might be a herniated disc which is common with this breed. He is having trouble walking and is in pain. He is eating and drinking and chewing on his bone which is a good sign, but the poor boy is not right.

So Linda will take him to the vet first thing and we’ll hope for the best. Whatever it is we both know it will be costly. This dog however is the light in our lives and we love him with every cell in our body. No he is not a farm dog. Although he is one of the best herd dogs we have, mostly he is a dog we can pour our love into. Even though I am on the edge of panic, I am making every attempt to wait and find out what is really wrong before I lose it.   I have a cooking class today (that’s being filmed) and I need to be at my best. Plus I realize freaking out will do no one a bit of good right now. So I wait.

So this is where things get complicated. Money. I do have some right now. I have just enough to get through the first part of winter. I have a budget and a plan. There is a tiny bit extra for unforeseen things but huge expenses would be difficult. This has been one of my reluctance of owning a horse. It is important for me to make peace with my financial reality. Living a life like I do is like no other. It’s wonderful in almost every way. The sacrifice is only financial gain. Learning to live without extra financial resources means I can’t have things I don’t really need. It forces me to look hard into what I really can’t live without. I have struggled so much in the last eight years financially and I am finally at a point where the struggle is tremendously less but still a shadow that looms over every decision. And in all honestly I like it like that. I do. 

So wish us luck with our Jai. We’ll be taking him to the OSU vet clinic on campus. We take our large animals there and they have been wonderful.