Hey Guys!
I’m not sure if anyone will read this but I feel like it’ll help me (and Brody) get more accustomed to life with three legs! So let me start from the beginning:
I got Brody my senior year of high school (2010). I literally had to fight tooth and nail to convince my parents that I was responsible enough to take care of an animal. I moved into our guest house after graduating which provided me with a great argument for not only a companion but a protector. A few days of convincing and along came Brody. He was the cutest yellow lab I have ever laid my eyes on. When I went to look at all the dogs I found him in a feeding trough. He had eaten his way inside and he looked like he was going to explode. I knew right then and there that this was the dog I wanted.
Fast forward to a move, three tiny apartments, and two college degrees later and I’m throwing Brody his 6th birthday party at the river with a bunch of his dog (and human) friends. At this point Brody is more than just a companion and protector, he is my best friend. He’s been my piece of home when I get home sick. He’s my adventure partner, my tubing buddy. He’s my Frisbee fiend, my cuddle buddy, and he loves to eat just as much as I do.
I’ll post a few pics below so you can see for yourself 🙂
I never thought that our time as best buds would ever come to an end. He was immortal to me. I never even imagined a day without him.
After we had our fun weekend at the river celebrating his birthday I noticed that Brody had started to limp on his right leg and his eye looked a little swollen. Little did I know that this was going to lead up to what I thought was the worse news I would ever have to hear.
At the time I brushed off the limp as just exhaustion, and the vet presumed he had an eye infection so we started the meds for that. 5 months and some expensive vet visits later and we still didn’t have any idea what was going on. We thought we had his eye problem pinpointed to an auto immune disorder (something that we were trying to battle without removing the eye). His limp hadn’t gotten any better despite numerous X-rays and different meds. The only meds that seemed to be working were the immune suppressants. I was so frustrated at this point I didn’t even notice that Brody wasn’t the same Frisbee addicted fun loving dog. It was like one day I looked at him and could see the pain in his eyes. He was sleeping all day and he never wanted to play. I thought to myself, “when was the last time I saw him run, or even chase a Frisbee?” It clicked soon after that it had been that day at the river. It had been 5 months of this. That’s when I knew I needed an answer.
I don’t want to overload anyone (if there is even anyone reading) on information so I will stop here today. I can say that this story, although not completely out of the red, does seem to be coming to a happy ending. Again, this is more to help me express my feelings and figure out how to manage life with a new tripawd. I want to share my hopes and thoughts about this experience to help people who are going through the same ordeal.
Until next time….
