After my sob-story entry regarding my mom's dog, Casey, I should post an update for anyone who might care.
Casey had surgery to repair the joint and bones in his leg. The doctor had to put in a pin and screw or something like that.
He's in a cast that wraps around his chest. Watching him limp through the house is so sad! He gets around amazingly well.
He's in good spirits now, although he was a big whining baby for several days after the surgery.
Casey is going to be ok. He's the million dollar dog!
If you don't like dogs, move along. This story is for dog lovers and people with a heart.
Sunday afternoon, I called my mother. After a few rings she answered and her "Hello" was almost a scream.
Immediately alarmed, I asked what was wrong and she said "Casey's been hit by a car." Casey is my mom's mutant Cocker Spaniel who, at 65lbs, is the largest I've ever seen of that breed.
Casey has a bad habit of waiting until your hands are full or you're not looking while opening the door, hitting you in the left leg with his enormous head and practically knocking you over to run outside.
That day, my mom was putting up new mini blinds. She was carrying the old ones out to put them in the trash when Casey did his usual trick and ran outside, this time, he ran straight into the street, right in front of a car going too fast down the block.
He was hurt pretty bad. I raced to her house to find that the neighbors helped put Casey on a large board and put him in the back of my dad's truck.
He was in a LOT of pain and very agitated so someone had to be petting him at all times. Knowing my father (who is terminally ill) and my mother (who is 65 yrs old) couldn't climb into the back of the truck, I volunteered and told my mother to drive to the Emergency Animal Clinic which is over 15 miles away.
They had Casey wrapped in a comforter but he was bleeding from the nose and panting heavily.
I caressed his head and told him he was a good boy and that he was going to be ok. We left immediately.
I haven't been in the back of a pick up truck since I was a little girl. Now, I know why. Within a few blocks I knew it was going to be a miserable trip. Every bump, every turn in the road, had us both bouncing and sliding around the bed of the truck.
Once we got onto a bigger road, Mom sped up to about 50 mph. Suddenly, she hit a bump and sped up at the same time. The tailgate fell. There was no barrier now between us and the road and we were sliding toward it.
I guess I could have let go of the dog and held on to the rail to save myself but apparently I wasn't thinking about that because I held on to Casey as we were heading toward the back of the truck and ultimately onto the highway at 50 mph.
The only spare limb I had was my right leg and I used that to start kicking the metal tool box on the back of the truck. After several kicks, my mom heard the noise and pulled over to the side of the road and closed the tailgate.
It didn't work. Another mile down the road, and the gate opened again. This happened 3 times and on the third time I told her there was no way we were going to make it, we needed help.
I wanted to get Casey into the front seat with us but he was too big for us to carry without hurting him further. We had no idea what his injuries were except for maybe a couple of broken legs.
We started trying to call people and finally I got in touch with my best friend.
I think some people will relate to this when I explain how I am usually a pretty strong person. I can handle intense situations or horrible news but if I call my mother, my boyfriend or my best friend, all I have to do is hear their voices and I become a weeping mess. She has been my best friend for 24 years and we've been through everything together and I guess I know that she'll understand, won't think I'm a puss for crying and ultimately do what she can to help me through it.
As soon as she answered the phone, I started crying, trying to explain what was going on through the tears and snot. I'm surprised she understood anything I said because it all sounded like "wahh wahh wwwahh wwwahhh" to me.
She told me to stay where I was and she and her stepson would be there in a few minutes and they were.
He's a contractor so he's got a huge truck and lots of tools and stuff so he helped us carry Casey to his truck, I climbed in the back again and we headed to the clinic.
By the time we got there, I was filthy from the dirty trucks and I was covered in blood. Then I had to sit in a waiting room like that while they examined Casey.
It wasn't until later, going home that I realized how close I came to dying. If we had fallen out of that truck, going that fast, with all those cars right behind us, we would BOTH be very dead or VERY VERY injured.
Even today, I'm still bruised around my ribs and arms and I'm sore as a mofo.
The good news is Casey had no internal injuries and surprisingly he has only one broken leg.
The bad news is that the leg is so badly broken at the elbow that he's going to need orthopedic surgery and it's such an odd break that none of the local doctors know how to fix it.
The only doctor that MIGHT be able to do something is in Houston and he said it'll cost a minimum of $1200. This is AFTER the $800 we paid at the emergency clinic.
We is po folk, we ain't got that kinda money but what the hell do you do? Put a dog to sleep that has a broken leg?
I don't think so.
Right now, he's home and he's in a lot of pain. They have his front left leg strapped to his body so he can't move it and he's on painkillers strong enough to make Courtney Love green with envy.
A friend donated $50 to our cause and that gave me the idea of taking paypal donations. I'm not begging for money but if you have a dime to spare, we would love you for it.
I'm probably going to post some pics of Casey tomorrow so there is proof I'm not lying about some lame dog.
Some people may think a dog isn't worth all of this but who in the hell are we to judge who is worth what?
I'm learning a great many lessons here at the office...
1.) Kids don't act nearly as bad if you don't treat them like they are horrible kids. I noticed that the other employees give every child the evil eye and just wait for them to screw up and usually they do.
I treat each kid like they are normal human beings and I'm not too mean to them unless they really piss me off. Because I treat the kids well, they behave around me. They follow my rules of using the internet computers, they TRY to be quiet but it's impossible for 12 year old boys and girls to be completely quiet when they are all together, I know this and they treat ME with respect as well. It all works out.
2.) No matter what someone looks like on the outside...you have NO clue what's going on inside.
We have a regular patron that comes in to use the computers every morning (sometimes twice a day). He's really rough looking with old prison tattoos, dirty jeans, wrinkled concert tshirts and a scary looking unshaven face.
He barely speaks and if you speak to him, he usually just grunts back at you. Lately, I've made it a point to be extra nice to him and say "How are you today?" and try to draw him into a conversation, with no luck. It's become my mission to get him to say "I'm fine. How are you?" But all I get is "Ugh" right now.
Anyway, this scary dude hides a heart of pure poetic joy.
He comes in with a large notebook under his arm and he types up poetry he's handwritten in his book.
He then prints it out and puts it in the book with the original. One day, I gave him a diskette and told him he should save his work on disk as well as have a hard copy. He grunted what I took to be a "thank you" and he has been using the disk everyday.
One day he left his disk in the drive and when I discovered it, I couldn't resist. I popped it in and read his poetry.
He's amazing. His prose speaks of unrequited love, hopeless romanticism, love of nature and God. It's breathtaking and I wish that I could post something here for you to see but what I did was SO wrong and posting his work would not only cross the line, it would hurdle it.
If you saw this guy on the street, you'd think he was some drugged out ex-con, and maybe he is, but you'd never know what's hiding in his soul.
Ever have a moment of realization that you are, indeed, a huge dork?
I had one this morning. I was listening to The Buzz's morning show on the way to work today and at the end of every show they do a little trivia contest called "Know The Show" where they ask a question about something they talked about earlier in the program.
Although I didn't listen to the program until right that moment, I knew the answer to the question. So, for the hell of it, I called. The first two tries it was busy but on the third try, I got through and was speaking to Rod Ryan before I realized what was going on.
I answered the question correctly and won a gift certificate which was very cool. After the commercial, they replayed my winning segment. By this time I had called the only person I could get a hold of, my mommy, and she and her co-workers were listening as I proved to the world how nerdy I am.
After giving my answer and then the DJ telling me what I won, I eloquently exclaimed "Awesome!!" sounding just like Jeff Spicoli. Christ. Couldn't I have come up with something more intelligent than that?
Oh well, nerd or not, I have a $65 gift certificate to DeepDiscountDVD.com! I've never won anything on the radio before. So, it was kinda cool.
What was the question, you ask?
Earlier in the program they talked about a certain celebrity that said, shortly before his death, that if he were to fake his own death, he'd come back exactly 20 yrs to the day of his "death". Who is this celebrity?
I didn't listen to the show but I knew it was Andy Kaufman.
Former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt actually began the "No Child Left Behind" program.
Ex-Governor Admits Relationship With 14-Year-Old
Ruth Rosen at The San Francisco Chronicle took issue with the pro-life, Christian businessman, writing in a recent op-ed piece that Heavin has given at least $5 million to some of the most militant anti-abortion groups in the country and Curves members who are pro-choice might want to take their business elsewhere.
Just when I was ABOUT to exercise.
Is it true? Is Rachel Lucas really back?
Don't freakin tease me, man!
A friend of mine (who also happens to be an ex-boyfriend) was telling me he heard that once you took someone's virginity, you could always go back to that person for a little sex no matter how long you've been apart and no matter who you're dating at the time and it wouldn't be considered cheating.
How much do you want to bet that some MAN came up with that little jewel?
The idea of having sex with MY first now is disturbing. I'm definitely not the same person I was back then and my standards have changed tremendously. The idea of once again sleeping with the the one whose virginity *I* took is not appealing at all, either. We've become close friends, more like brother and sister than like boyfriend and girlfriend. Imagine sleeping with your sibling....*shudder*. It's not a good thought. bleh!
Most men I know are always looking for that device; that reason to make it "legal" to cheat. Sorry guys, but that doesn't exist. Instead of working so hard to find a loophole, how about not having sex with people other than your significant other?
Of course that's like asking a dog not to lick its own ass.
*update* I sound all angry in this post but I swear I'm totally not!