Gracefully and Grandly.

Yet another shining example of my coolheadedness in the face of a crisis was brought to you by "an acute onset of episodic ataxia" in my dog last night. In other words, Liam had a moment where he was stumbling and unable to stand, and then proceeded to get sick... and I LOST. MY. SHIT. Without any previous dog experience, I've had breakdowns with all of his firsts (i.e. dog sneeze, throw up, etc.) and I must applaud my veterinarian's I'm sure practiced lack of judgement or impatience. However, this particular episode took place at 9:30 PM, so I wasn't sure if the emergency vet clinic could handle the tears and endless questions that Dr. Downing, Liam's primary vet, has grown accustomed to. 

Oddly, if somebody else is having a crisis, my brain goes into full problem solving mode and I typically am a good person to have around. When it's my crisis, I'm a useless pile of emotions and irrationality.

Marla Hooch, showing us how grace is done in a personal favorite movie - A League of Their Own.

Gracefully and grandly, when my Mom video called me at the exact moment I had flung myself to the floor to try and catch my stumbling dog from falling over, I proceeded to attempt to lie to her that I couldn't talk because I was going to the bathroom (real original...isn't the mind a marvel?). 
However, my mother has the senses of a starved hawk, and immediately knew that I was lying and something was wrong, even via text. I called her back because she called bullshit, and despite my pathetic best efforts, she got the truth within a minute.

So into the car we went, and at a modified speed limit, we met my boyfriend at the emergency clinic. En route was the expected pleading with higher powers as my dog sat on my lap, tail wagging, excited for wherever we were going. Upon arrival, my boyfriend was greeted by an excited and seemingly fine dog in all his cuteness, and his blotchy, red faced girlfriend still crying in an over sized t-shirt, messy bun, and flip flops. Luckily for everybody, due to the speed of events, I did not have time to Google Liam's symptoms, so I could not bust through the doors with my catastrophic, self-diagnosis and demand he be seen immediately.

While we waited to be seen, I quietly wept over my dog while sitting on the floor in a variety of animal fluids and fur, hummed "Baby Mine" to Liam with his head on my lap because I thought it would comfort him and it added nicely to the drama of the evening, and repeatedly sent my boyfriend to get me tissues because my nose was running from all the weeping and it was impacting my humming.

The clinic was bumping. At one point a man came in with his dog and spent 5 minutes yelling at the poor thing to sit, as if this was a puppy training seminar and his dog was embarrassing him in front of the rest of the class. In my emotional state, it took a lot of self control to not get in this man's face and demand he stop verbally abusing his dog, who doesn't feel well and is obviously and understandably nervous. Instead, I angrily fantasized about the next time this man got sick; his spouse taking him to a strange place and demanding he sit his bare ass on a cold floor in front of strangers. Karma.

How about YOU sit, Greg?!?

Anyway, we finally saw the vet who answered my questions and provided a couple potential explanations for the episode. After grilling her with questions to the same or greater extent as a doctoral thesis defense, we ended up going home around midnight. Liam seems to be doing fine, but will not enjoy the blood work we have to do with his primary veterinarian later today. If you read my post, "Even My Dog Has Anxiety" you would know that my dog is very important to me. At a different time, I might be embarrassed by all the tears and panic a different kind of person might not experience in this situation. At this point in my life, I'm just grateful have something I care so much about, and anybody who judges me for reacting strongly can shove off. On your way, robots. 

​Thank you to the veterinarians who deal with patient parents like me all the time and keep our beloved pets healthy. <3