Looking on the Bright Side

The day was going smoothly, so I should have guessed something like this would happen. I was only home from school for a few minutes when it was time to pick Sam up from football practice and hurry him to piano lessons. The dogs looked at me with pleading eyes, begging me not to put them back in their cages, so I let them ride along.

While driving to piano lessons, Pearl stood in my lap, and I realized with horror that she had a huge, shiny, purple lump on her rear end. Being a dog without much hair and no tail, it was alarming looking and unmistakable that something was horribly wrong. Some sort of infection had obviously taken over her backside and somehow I had neglected to notice. Thoughts ping-ponged around in my brain....how long had THAT been there?...looks awfully painful, poor dog... I must be a bad pet owner to have a pet suffering from a hideous growth like that and not even realize it....it's 5:30, and the vet clinic is surely closed....what am I gonna do if that thing BLOWS??

With shaking hands, I dialed the clinic's number and nearly cried with relief when they answered. They were open late tonight (proof to any non-believer that there is a God) and I could come right over.

By the grimaces on the office staff's face, I knew it was a bad abscess. The doctor got her haz-mat suit and several gauze pads for the "procedure". Yes, it involved pain and blood, but Pearl was a good little patient. I was brave too and didn't keel over, I'm proud to report.

$83.00 later, I left the vet's office with antibiotics, prednisone, and a towel wrapped around Pearl's still-oozing backside. Somehow I made it back to pick up Sam from piano lessons before he even had a chance to know anything had happened.

Tonight I am counting my blessings. Thankful the vet was open and available to help us, thankful that awful thing didn't rupture in my bed while she was sleeping with me, and thankful for feminine products that double as emergency doggie-diapers. No matter what kind of day a person has had...no matter how bad a person's life gets, one can look on the bright side if they don't have a ruptured abscess on their rear-end.