Deja vu all over again

If you've been here before chances are you've read an entry or two about an ungodly amount of money that was spent on medical care for my canine companion.

Here's one more to add to the pile.

Friday night my adorable husband woke me up from an evening nap by saying very calmly and deliberately, "Baby, I need you to wake up now. Duke has a cut. It's pretty bad. He might need stitches. Please come look."

I was napping as he packed the car for our late night drive to Rhode Island to see my in-laws. I walked out to the living room to see Duke lying on the floor, looking up at me with confusion about why he had been told to "wait" on his side. He had blood on the lower part of one of his back legs. I wiped it with a wet cloth Matthew handed me and realized it was a deep gash and it was oozing blood... between the blood and the raw muscle (ick!) I knew it was animal hospital time. A bandage, 2 pieces of gauze, and a band-aid later we loaded Duke into the car and drove to the animal ER in our neighborhood.

$312 later... Duke had 4 staples in his leg, 3 weeks of antibiotics, 3 days' worth of anti-inflammatory, a cone (which he will never wear), and animal parental peace of mind for Matthew & me.

Lesson in resiliency: while the amazing ER vet was examining him, Duke just laid there. Didn't flinch, didn't yelp, didn't even really seem to notice anything except that a human was touching him and he digs that. She put the staples in his leg without restraints or anesthetic and then he licked her face. He really is Duke the Wonder Dog. Vet kept saying, "He's such a good boy!" Oh yeah, he also let the fabulous vet tech just stick the thermometer right in his butt. He kinda looked back at her and let her do what she needed. The boy is downright heroic.