Post 156: How Thunder Can Ruin a Weekend

So, my Friday was more eventful than I'd have liked. Because of it, I am currently typing this one-handed on an old laptop that is missing the 'l' key (it has the little knobby thing underneath still) and doesn't hold a charge, in PJs in a room I almost never spend time in, on a couch I find kind of uncomfortable next to my clingy, injured pooch.

My dog is scared of thunder, like most dogs. On Friday there was thunder so loud that it sent her into my bathroom to hide. My bathroom floor is, and has always been, notoriously slippery. My dog is terribly ungraceful. The two did not mix well. She slipped and fell spread-eagle on the floor hitting her back right knee on corner of the wall and her back feet as well (my bathroom kind of has a weird layout). She fell behind the door so even if she could get up the door was closed.

The fear of the thunder, being stuck on the floor, trapped in a dark room, and being in pain (bleeding from her knee, her left foot, and from her elbows and stomach from rubbing against the floor as she tried to stand caused her to defecate on the floor.

When I came home, I couldn't find her. My bathroom was the last place I'd think to look. It is where she gets baths, why would she go in there? Fear.

I ran around the house looking for her and calling for her. Then, I heard whimpering coming from my bathroom. The door opened to blood and poo smeared a cross my bathroom floor with my poor dog on top squirming trying to get up. I managed to get her up (though, it was hard because I could only open the door a few inches so I had to kneel with one arm arm under her trying to lift her up, the other trying to keep her feet from hitting the corner of the wall) and out, but it was clear she was in pain.

I called my mom. She didn't answer. I called my friend and her mom and they were an hour away, but they still came over as soon as they could, because I wanted to take her to the vet and I was a mess of tears and panic.

She calmed down when she got to her bed in the living room and had a pain pill (or two), I...didn't. I was probably just as scared as she was. My mom has said before that if she hurts her legs and cannot walk, we cannot take care of her. She is too big for us to carry her when she needs to go out and I was terrified she broke her leg or foot and that my mom would say that we have to put her to sleep. And I stayed late after work to talk with a coworker, so I was feeling guilty for being late and wondering how long she had been there and if I coming up right after work would have put me at home before she fell. And I was/am watching the house, so I was home alone and she was my responsibility as was any medical decision. And I had called my mom (3 times) and she hadn't answered. I was not in a good place.

I have said thank you quite a few times to my friend and her mom (her mom even helped me get her to the vet the next morning, since it was closed by the time I was home the night before). I don't know if they know that it was just as much the emotional support they provided as the actual help that I was thankful for.

It pretty much ruined my Friday. I didn't eat dinner until almost ten, because it took a long time to get the dog settled enough she could sleep and wasn't bleeding on the carpet. Then, I had to clean her up because she had been lying in blood and poo. Then I had to clean my bathroom floor so it didn't get stuck. Then, I had to clean myself. Then, I could eat. And then I slept on the living room couch. Or I tried. At about midnight, she started whining and panting. And so I took her out to pee, she fell when she tried to squat to pee and she couldn't get up the two steps outside our house by herself. I gave her another pain pill. At 3am, she was up and she was whining again. I barely got any sleep. And she didn't either.

That is when I decided she needed to go to the vet, for sure. I thought maybe it was the cuts causing her pain, but didn't want to risk it.

Thankfully, it was mainly just cuts and bruises. So, she is to keep off it as much as possible, but can walk on it.

It is now the third day after Friday and she is doing better. She is still unsteady on her feet. And she still limps. She whimpers when she is standing up and needs pain pills to keep from panting and hurting. But, she gets better very day.

So, we are sitting in the living room (where my desktop is not) and she is on the couch next to me and I'm wishing I knew where this old laptops 'l' key is.