What I really wanted was a family pet and a running companion. Don't get me wrong, I never intended for Buddy to do 20 milers and run daily with me. What I wanted was for Buddy to be able to do runs of five or six miles twice a week.
Our days of running began just after Buddy celebrated his first birthday. We started slow, running at his pace, and accomplished a mile or so on our first run together. From there we worked our way up to our last run of five miles on December 23rd. This will probably be our last run together and in all honesty, it couldn't have been better.
After going to work in the morning, Buddy and headed out to the Nickelplate Trail in Louisville. It was one of those cool, crisp, December afternoons. Snow fell lightly on a snowcovered trail. The trail itself is 2.5 miles on an abandoned railroad that has been resurfaced as an all-purpose trail. The suface is good and the trail quiet, so it was a perfect spot for our afternoon run.
I'll never forget the sheer joy I watched in Buddy as we made the turn at the halfway point. Anyone that has ever run with a dog knows what I'm talking about. Ears swinging up and down,tongue hanging out to the side, he cut quite a silhouette with his shiny black coat against a backdrop of snow. It's a pleasant memory I'll have of Buddy for the rest of my life.
The problems all started after that run. Whether he hurt himself on the run, or when he slipped getting back into the car I'll never know, either way I noticed when we got home that he was limping. I assumed that maybe he has simply pulled something until I felt his hip. Buddy's left hip was swollen and stuck out noticeably more than his right. Like any pet owner we hoped that he had only pulled a muscle and that the hip was the consequence of swelling. By Monday the 27th, it was obvious that problem wouldn't simply go away.
On Tuesday the 28th, I set up a vet appointment and expected the worse. I was pretty sure that, at the very least, Buddy has partially seperated his hip. I knew my fears weren't unfounded when the vet felt his hip, remarked "Wow" and immediately took him back for an X-ray. When he returned about five minutes later, the news was even worse than I'd feared. He told me that Buddy was suffering from severe hip dysplasia, even more shocking was when he told me, "I would attempt to pop his hip back into the socket, but there really isn't a socket for me to put it back into."
Burdened with this diagnosis and emotionally struggling to keep things together, Buddy and I accepted a disk of his X-ray and the name of a surgeon as we headed to the front desk to pay the $100 for his visit and the grim news. I'd like to claim that I'm a big tough guy and that Buddy is only a "dog", but I can't lie. I lost it when we got to the car. In one short year this crazy canine that destroyed my house, knocked down the kids, and ruined at least three of my shirts. He had also truly touched my heart. Dogs do a funny thing to you. They slowly work their way into your heart, not by trying too, but by simply being themselves. Their love is so genuine and without boundries or conditions. They follow you, make you smile and are always happy and eager to greet you when you return home. For all of these things they work their way into our busy lives and become an crucial part of our families. Now I worried that I would lose all of this.
On New Years Eve my wife, Kelly, and I took Buddy to a specialist. We hoped for the best and feared the worst. The surgeon and head of the Viking Animal Hospital is a vet by the name of Terry Owens who has long practised medicine and is very well regarded as a surgeon. After only a quick look at Buddy's X-rays he quickly concurred with Dr. Evanovich in Louisville. He had severe Hip Dysplasia, but Doctor Owens thought that something could be done.
Dr. Owens offered us two solutions The first was an incredibly expensive procedure that involved a full hip replacement using artifical hip joints. The procedure involved an extensive recovery, prostetic joints, a life of anti-rejection medicine, and about $3000 per leg of cost. On the upside, Buddy would eventually be almost as good as new. He would be able to run again and would experience no pain once the joints had healed.
Our second option was a salvage operation called Femoral Head Excision. In this surgery, the femoral head is removed and the resulting scar tissue forms an artificial joint allowing the dog a painfree normal life but limits the function of the joint so that the dog's gait may be effected and they may "bunny hop" when they run. Unlike the full hip replacement, Femoral Head Excision carries a much smaller pricetag. The cost to do both hips is approximately $1800.
In all honesty, I don't think that full hip repalcement was ever really an option for Buddy. He's not a show dog, he's not even a purebred. What he is, is a family pet. If we can give him the chance at a painfree, fullfilling life, that's what we will do. We made the decision to go ahead with the Femoral Head Excision.
On January the 18th, Buddy will have both of his hips operated on. He will be completely unable to walk for a week, and will struggle for about six weeks to reach some shade of normal. The vet expects a full recovery, or at least the best results to be apparent within twelve weeks.
In the coming weeks I will continue to update this blog about Buddy's surgery and the process of recovery. If you are a friend and reading this, I thank you for taking the time and for your concern for our family and our dog. If you've stumbled upon this article because of the tags I've attached to it, I hope this is helpful.
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