OT: The Avalounge (mod warning - No Politics)

dahrougem2

Registered User
Dec 9, 2011
39,937
45,253
Edmonton, Alberta
I get a real kick out of people suddenly claiming everything in the sky is weird drones. Even things that are super common like starlink and commercial aircraft. There's always weird stuff going on that we can't explain... mostly because we are not nearly as smart of a species as we think we are.

On a personal note (feel free to not read, I'm just typing for my own sanity and grief. Not the happiest of topics here)... my wife and I had to put our dog down last week. A few months ago, we noticed that she was walking a bit weird and favoring a back leg. At first we didn't think much of it. She was chasing chipmunks in the wood pile and thought she just tweaked something. When it didn't clear up after a few days we took her into a local vet. That vet thought it was a ligament issue and suggested we try some shots. So we did and things didn't get better, in fact they got worse. Really to the point of her not using her back leg at all. So we sought out a specialist. And upon the first x-ray it was very clear. Bone cancer in the leg near the pelvis. This was just prior to Thanksgiving. None of the options were good, but it looked to be contained. So we elected to amputate and then try to setup chemo/other options down the road. Sadly given the holidays, it took us about 10 days to get scheduled for the surgery. Which lead to things only getting worse and worse. On the day of surgery, there was relief that there was light at the end of the tunnel. About half way through, the surgeon called and said things were more extensive than previously thought. Much more of the pelvis had to be taken out. Which sucked, but we were assured she could recover. So we proceeded. After that was the recovery. It was to be a couple weeks and the first few days pretty difficult. Which it was, though by the day, you could see her getting better. She was eating, moving around better, bullying our other dog, etc. One thing kept cropping up though. Her incision wouldn't stay closed. So many moments of blood everywhere and rushing to stop it. We had to return multiple times to get more staples, and the obvious worry was infection. On our last visit, the vet confirmed my worst fear. The tissue had gone necrotic. I actually had this happen on a surgery of mine and it took months for it to heal and be fixed. Even after debrinement. I have a nasty collarbone scar to prove it. I knew this probably meant extensive wound care on top of everything else. Another surgery was needed, but the hope was we could get rid of the dead tissue and that it hadn't extended into the abdomen and muscle tissue. My wife and I agreed the chance was worth it, but if the tissue underneath was bad, that we'd pull the plug. The reasoning for that is that she'd have to undergo 2-3 more surgeries and have a mesh implanted, plus extensive wound care. Basically the next 3-4 months would be surgery, recover, wound care, surgery, recovery, wound care, etc along with cancer treatment. Given that bone cancer is basically a 6-12 month diagnosis even with amputation, we couldn't put her through that. Still if only the outer tissue was necrotic, we could avoid that. So it was worth the shot. We scheduled that for the next morning and said our goodbyes... knowing in our hearts it was likely over. That next morning we got the call we feared. The abdomen muscle tissue was in really bad shape. There was no way around a mesh and a lot of future surgery. At that point we elected to euthanize her while she was still under. So she wouldn't have to wake up in pain for our own selfish reasons. In a matter of 7-8 weeks, she went from a perfectly normal, healthy dog (if a tad overweight)... to being gone. She was 10, which for her breed (heeler) isn't old. She should have had at least 4-6 more years in her, but that wasn't the way life went. I've had and lost a number of dog in my life, this one has probably hit the worst.
Sorry to hear that my friend. I rue the day we lose our cat, she is the life of the family. Tough call to make but at least she's no longer in pain. You guys did what you could and I'm sure she understood that.
 

UncleRisto

Not Great, Bob!
Jul 7, 2012
31,354
26,561
Finland
Do you guys think any of the cops that rushed to the McCallister house at the end of Home Alone got cought in any of the traps? At the very least, the hot door knob, ice steps, and tar steps with nails would have still been active.

Edit: Nevermind. I just realized the cops rushed to the neighbors house because that's where they got knocked out. They just left the kid alone in his own tap house.
 

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