This is your dog on drugs. Any questions?

Ummm...yes.

So, I take Hank to Marymoor every weekend for his run around the park and time to swim. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that Hank had a knot on his back ankle, and I figured he bumped it when we were at the park. He wasn't nursing it, and he wasn't limping, so I figured it was a little swollen but would go away in a while. Two weeks later, we're off to Vegas. I noticed before we left that it was still swollen. The knot wasn't something we thought about much because it wasn't bothering him, so only if we were snuggling on the couch would I notice it sometimes.

When we dropped Hank off at the Pets Hotel before we left, I did mention the knot, and asked them to keep an eye on it, and said we'd take him to the vet when we get back. Jeremiah picked him up on Thursday, no problems. I took Hank to Day Camp this morning. The first thing Rob (the manager) asked me was how his ankle was. I said it was fine and I was going to call the vet this week to get it checked out.

So, about 10:30 this morning...I have a voicemail from Rob. Hank's knot has finally broken open, it's bleeding and oozing. The beauty of having your day camp/kennel/vet all in the same building is that when Rob called, he asked if I wanted HIM to take Hank over to the vet, across the store. SURE, that'd be great. They'll bandage him up, he'll be back at Day camp after lunch. Thanks so much, you guys are THE BEST! I call Jeremiah to give him a heads up. That's great, what a handy place for Hank to be!

The vet calls me...yeah, it's abscessed, and needs to be drained and looked at. They're pretty sure that Hank isn't going sit still through it, so they need to put him under. They also noticed as they examined him, that he's starting to get an ear infection, and they need to clean out his ears (which did smell pretty bad I noticed on Sunday), sure, go ahead. Oh yeah, and he had broken a tooth that was becoming abscessed (Hank's new favorite thing to do evidently) and they need to pull it. Since he's already going under, they could do it now. Ummm...sure go ahead.

So, I'm starting to freak out. I call Jeremiah, let him know what's going on. Oh yeah, I forgot. The Vet put me on with the nurse to talk about more logistics. Megan is going to be with Hank today as his nurse and take GREAT care of him. She explains in a little more detail what's going on. Oh yeah...for all 3 things (ankle, tooth, ears) it's going to cost over $1300. If they JUST do the ankle today it's going to be just over $1000. Yeah, just get it all done. Luckily we wo...lost big in Vegas so no problem. Megan says she'll call between 4 and 5 once they're out of surgery to let us know how it's going and when we can come pick him up.

I called about 4:45, because I couldn't take it any more! They just got out of surgery and he did great. He's not really awake yet, he's still pretty groggy. The doctor needs to keep some dressing on him for a little bit longer so he can analyze it and then make his antibiotic suggestions for us. We can come get him in an hour. YAY! As I'm driving home, the doctor calls and says that he's doing OK, and that because he's still so out so out of it, he'll be tough to maneuver. He needs to stay a little longer, they close at 7, can we come about 6:45? No problem, we'll be there.

We go to pick up Hank. We pay the bill. We've been talking a lot lately about getting pet insurance, so I asked the front desk nurse what would have been covered if we'd had insurance. We would have gotten the $200 dental cleaning, the $35 vet visit, and 15% of the surgery bill paid for. So, about $400 would have been paid for. And an annual premium? About $400. So, I think that answers that, we're good, no thanks. We paid (and can no longer afford to feed Hank) and gave them the leash. The nurse Megan came out to walk us through everything. He's got 2 antibiotics, an ear cleaner, and ear drops we have to give him twice daily. OH BOY. The next two weeks are going to be a PAIN IN THE ASS, but Hank's worth it.

The nurse walks us through everything. They put a drain in his ankle, so he'll be leaking for a few days. We need to keep it that way so that he can get all the gunk out. They'll take the drain tube out on Saturday at noon. Hooray! He's wearing an eCollar so that he doesn't pick at his stitches. The one he's wearing isn't quite long enough so that he CAN get to his stitches if he really wants to. So far, he's OK. We have to keep the eCollar on for the next TWO WEEKS, uh huh.

The ears. Yup, the pup has a yeast infection! I didn't think boys could even get those. They cleaned out his ears, we have a daily cleanser and some antibiotic drops to put in there twice a day. This DOES explain why he's been rubbing his head against the wall in the morning when he gets up with Jeremiah.

And, they pulled his tooth. They put a couple of sutchers in there, and they'll dissolve in a week or so, but it may bleed a little in the next few days. For now, we have to keep everything clean. We can wipe up his ooze, don't feed him much tonight, and keep him lazy and rested.

He's on so many drugs tonight, he's just fine. I took him on a quick potty break which was pretty entertaining. He's still getting use to the eCollar so he kept walking into plants to sniff them, but would get caught on them with his stupid cone head. Pretty cute. Luckily we didn't run into any other dogs, that'll have to wait a day or two. Now he's passed out watching the Mariners, just waiting for us to put some ear drops in and let him go to bed.