Aly,

Hang in there. It is so difficult to watch a creature you love so much change so dramatically like this.

We adopted a beautiful 7 year old lab about a year ago. About 4 months after we got her she suffered some sort of neck injury, we don't know what or how. One day she was running through the grass and the next she was in horrible pain.

She ended up having a disc that had slipped out, turned sideways, and was pressing up against the spine. An Xray did not show this. It could only be seen in an MRI.

The vet felt positive that it was something he could fix, but we understood the risks. By this time all 3 of us--the dog, me, and Mr. Yellow--were all pretty torn up about everything and no one slept for several days (she ultimately ended up in the hospital on morphine until the surgery could get scheduled). We elected to have the surgery (the other option was euthanasia) and have never regretted the decision once. She recovered beautifully for an old girl and is so happy, sweet, and grateful (or so I tell myself). She was no spring chicken and had an unknown history. Many risk factors.

The money part is hard, I know. It all affected our resources for quite some time. Would it have been worth it if she didn't make it? Absolutely. We loved her then and we love her now and a little debt was a small price for us to pay. That's not to say everyone should or can do it that way. It worked for us, and we were lucky enough to have a good outcome.

Send her all the loving energy you have. My thoughts are with you. It's really, really hard. I know.

y