Had to miss our partner yoga session tonight to take Molly to the vet for a second chiropractic adjustment.
The story so far… June 24: Smooshed in the road by an ambulance racing at high speed, siren blaring, on a mission of mercy and unable to stop for a crushed pet, Molly crawled off into the windbreak, perhaps to die. In the house, Beth heard Molly’s shriek of pain and rushed out to find her. It wasn’t easy. She was hidden far off the road, unable to respond when she was called. Enlisting the aid of a neighbor, Beth beat the bushes from woodlot to windbreak and eventually found the pup, broken and bleeding.
Much stitching and binding of wounds ensued.
She was recovering nicely, so nicely that we left her boarded with the general prison population at the local kennel when we went to Massachusetts for a week in early September. She relapsed. She was in serious pain when we picked her up, in spasm from a week sleeping on concrete. After a few days we took her to our local vet, he drugged her to a point where every muscle in her body was ridiculously relaxed, and she began to improve. But the down side was thatwe discovered her injured tail that we hadn’t picked up on the x-rays in June. Local vet recommended surgery. Co-worker suggested we give her vet a try first, so off to the doggy chiropractor we went and damned if Molly doesn’t seem to be well on the way to recovery after only two sessions. The guy is good, offering advice about keeping her slowed down so she has to use all four feet, about exercising her to recover ranege of motion in the injured leg, about helping her recover lost muscle mass by walking her up hills, and most importantly knowing how to release the tightened muscles in her back.
Not cutting my dog open at the base of her spine is high on my list of priorities, higher even than partner yoga class.
Beth and I are going to back up to something more beginner-ish, less challenging than the circus acts we’ve been rehearsing at partner yoga. It sounded cool, but you have to be more advanced as an individual to get the most out of partner yoga I think.
That leaves Wednesday’s open for the 50 minute drive out to Dodgeville for Molly’s therapy.
It’s nice to hear she’s getting good care. Massage around the neck and shoulders would help her a bit too. Pack solidarity is reinforced by affection and that benefits healing.
She’s getting that J. Alva. We have a lot of pack solidarity around here!
I haven’t stopped thinking about your Molly all day since I read this early this morning. Frank, Beth and Molly – you are in my thoughts.
“We have a lot of pack solidarity around here!”
I suspected as much.
I know you’d never eat someone’s last woodchuck, Frank. I feel confident that Molly knows it too.
When the doc was putting pressure on Molly’s tail-bone, and testing her injured leg for range of motion, I was standing in front of her face-to-face. This is almost embarrassing, but while the doc was doing his darnedest to release muscles that had gone into spasm, she licked my ear and then started chewing on my earlobe. She didn’t break the skin. It didn’t hurt much, although the ear was tender for a while after. It was much like someone holding your hand real tight in the operating room to relieve their pain.
Or maybe she was simply being affectionate because she thought I had a woodchuck seasoning in the trunk just for her.
Best hugs to poor Molly, Frank. And is there an ear-chiropractor you should consult now?
Frank, this is so painful. I can relate. My Scottish terrier Gielgud had stomach cancer for the past year and I had to put him down recently when he crossed that line. He let me know where that line was, too. Something’s misaligned in a world where animals suffer. It’s just not right.
Hang in there,
Jenny
I like the stoicism of dogs in circumstances like this and that they seem to understand that even if it hurts, we – owners, the vet, the chiropractor, etc. – are doing our best to help.
Best wishes for Molly’s full recovery.