So We Had a Bad Day

Yesterday was a bad day. As Caleb put it, it felt like a nightmare. As I've mentioned before, our beloved eldest black son is 12 1/2 years old. His hips are bad and give out on him occasionally, causing him to fall down the stairs. His hearing is shot also and occasionally he has incontinence issues. In spite of these discomforts, he doesn't live in pain and still gives and receives a ton of love in the Fish House.

Yesterday Daddy was napping with the 2 little Fish Sticks. The 2 older Fish Sticks were playing outside with the dogs and the 2 middle Fish Sticks loaded up in the suburban with me to run to the store. After giving the outdoor kids directions in the driveway, I started off for the store. Instantly C and AB screamed like I've never heard them scream before. I slammed on the brakes, skidding in the driveway. I never felt an impact and had seen Tootsie briefly by my front tires as I slowly had started off. I stopped the car, jumped out to hear C and AB scream to me to put it in reverse. I did quickly, jumped out again and saw what shocked me. I had hit AMOS! The kids told me that as I started to drive off, he walked right in front of the car, unaware of any of his surroundings. I hit his hip with my tire and pushed him along until I backed up. We all went berserk and called Tim to come out quickly. Our traveling vet was able to get here within 45 minutes. These photos were taken, tears and all, while we waited for the very long 45 minutes to pass.

The diagnosis is that there is no visible sign of injury. His organs appear to be working well. The bad news is that his bad hip was injured and he can't move his backside at all. He is in our home, resting as we are waiting to see within the next day or 2 if he can get up. If he can't, we will have to end his long and fulfilled little life.

The night was long and the tears have flowed freely from everyone in our home. We have moved school to be near him and have tried to make him comfortable and encourage him to get up. So far the day hasn't shown much progress. The vet comes in the morning to reassess. I knew that 12 1/2 years with a Labrador was a good, full life, but I never envisioned that I would be a part of ending that short. My heart aches as I know that the sight that my oldest 2 have of this accident will forever be engraved on their minds. I know it was an accident and I know we've been blessed for many years with Amos and that he didn't have much more time with us anyway. I just hate to have to end it this way. Even though he is just a dog, he is a member of the Fish House.