When Things Go Wrong

lessons learned from a trip to the emergency vet

Imagine this, a weekend of fun and relaxation after an overly full first 6 weeks of 2023. Ice cream and Netflix, brunch, snowboarding, bowling, and a full day of not leaving the house and doing nothing.

Mmmmm, glorious!

That’s what we had planned for last weekend.

Key word: planned.

We started off strong. Mitch got home from work, we ate dinner, and then devoured almost a full season of Stranger Things. I have been watching Stranger Things from the beginning and I’m fully caught up with the newest episodes but Mitch had never seen any of it, so we started at the beginning! I’ve never really been one to rewatch tv shows since I don’t watch a lot of tv in general, but seeing that it’s been so long since season one came out, I have actually really been enjoying the refresher.

We watched many episodes and ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s in bed. Weekend mode, activated.

I woke up on Saturday morning to take Lily outside. She did her usual morning pooping but the poop was anything but usual. Diarrhea. “Oh no,” I thought to myself. Lily is like me in so many ways. She’s so physically sensitive. She spent a weekend at the emergency vet last year due to a case of gastroenteritis. She hasn’t had any poop issues since. Since she seemed to be in good spirits and as energetic as ever I pushed the worry aside as we headed inside. The worry quickly came back when she had to go out again. We headed back out and, yep, more diarrhea. I immediately didn’t want to go anywhere and wanted to cancel our brunch, snowboarding, and bowling plans. But also, I didn’t. I was looking forward to this day. We debated what to do. Stay or go?

At the very last minute we decided to go. My mom was going to watch Lily while we were gone. We headed to brunch, rushing to get there on time, and settled in to eat. Afterwards, we went bowling and then snowboarding. My one big fear of the day was that I would be getting a snowboarding lesson and Lily would need me.

Now you might be thinking that she’s just a dog and what’s the big deal, but she is way more than just a dog to me. Do I go overboard with how much time, attention, and energy I put towards her? I don’t think so, but I’m sure that some do. She’s my entire world.

So I didn’t want her to get sick while I was in a snowboarding lesson.

It’s 3:00pm and time for the lesson. Out to the bunny slope I go and it’s awesome. Soooooo helpful!!!! If you’re new to snowboarding you must get a lesson. The guy that gave me my lesson was truly the best. So helpful, friendly, and we had some weird things in common, like our love for Vegan Treats, a bakery 3 hours away from the lesson. Hi Joey!

In the middle of the lesson my coat is vibrating excessively. I’m not that popular. People don’t just call me to chat. I knew that it had to be my parents calling. What do you know, it was. “Lily is throwing up and really sick,” they said.

Ahhhhh.

I finished the lesson and went down the hill one more time. At this point I was mega distracted but also trying really hard to be in the moment. A weird blend that when executed puts you in a space of feeling very spacey and frazzled. I knew that we had to go to the grocery store afterwards too. More time away! We were planning to get groceries that evening and now that Lily is sick I really needed groceries because she needs to go on a bland diet ASAP.

I fly through Wegman’s like I’m a contestant on Supermarket Sweep. We make our way home to a (still) very energetic dog. That had me hopeful because last time around she was not so energetic. But hope very quickly dissipated.

I don’t think I slept more than 2 hours. She kept needing to go out and kept throwing up. Around 3 a.m. she stopped eating and started pooping straight blood. TMI, maybe. But that’s what you’ll sometimes come across here on The Practice Within.

I knew this wasn’t good. Her energy started to shift as morning came and before I know it I’m making a call to the emergency vet. “Yeah, it would probably be a good idea to have her looked at,” they tell me. And so, off we go on a 90 minute trip with a dog exploding blood out of her butt.

I drive like I’m in a NASCAR race. Vroom vroom goes my 2012 Ford Focus down the interstate with a smashed headlight and crumpled fender from the deer that I hit just 3 days ago.

There were many times where I questioned if she had to go to the bathroom or would potentially throw up but we only had to stop twice.

When we pull into the parking lot I am relieved. Help is here! I just know it. Now, I’m not one to typically run to western medicine but in these circumstances it is 100% necessary, in my opinion. Lily needs to get stabilized to the point where she is not excessively losing her insides so that I can investigate and find some things that will prevent this from happening again.

In we go. We wait a bit, she throws up larges amounts of blood and I slightly freak out, then we consent to x-rays and blood work, and wait some more. Finally they come and tell us what we already knew; she’s experiencing the same thing that she was experiencing last year. They even remembered her being there and being treated for it!

Luckily they were able to treat her and then we could bring her home. We made our way home late in the afternoon and got her situated. By the evening she was ready to eat some food and feeling a bit better thankfully.

And just like that the weekend was over and it was time to get ready for a fresh week. We were heading into the week more exhausted than we ended the previous week and disappointed that the weekend went very far out into the weeds in such a stressful way.

My only focus was making sure that Lily was going to be okay and that took much of my energy. I didn’t necessarily care about the weekend being ruined or being exhausted. I shifted all of that into my focus on her.

And throughout the week that had me reflecting on priorities, things that we look forward to, and how it can all shift in an instant. We make time and create energy for things of utmost importance. Can you imagine what would happen if we made the same time and put the same energy towards things that we claim to be goals or of importance to us? If we did that then we could create our dream lives.

This week I’m going into the weekend with that energy.

With the energy of laser focus. This week I don’t have to put that energy towards my sick dog, instead I can put that energy towards things that move the needle and fulfill me on the highest levels. Sure, balance and Netflix and scrolling are semi-important. But this new and refreshed energy are the priority. The goals and vision are what I see ahead. They’re what I will invest in prior to the balance, Netflix, and scrolling. It doesn’t have to be either/or. It can be both/and. The energy just has to swing more to the side of investing in what moves the needle more than the immediate satisfaction of tuning out for the day.

And so, that’s the takeaway. When crazy things like this past weekend happen I always ask why it has to happen. What was the purpose? Sometimes there isn’t some big crazy purpose. But there’s always something that you can take from it. Something that can help you improve when the craziness settles down to help grow and propel yourself to new heights.