One year ago today Solara was delivered to my home. After over three months in foster and multiple vets trying to understand a mystery pain, I was told she needed to get cleared by a neurologist then adopted out. We figured a few weeks at most. Her first foster called her weird. What??? She was sweet but didn’t have my heart (yet.) Then the night before Thanksgiving she went into crisis. I still remember her pain screams and my desperation to help her like it was yesterday. It makes me want to puke. On December 11th, after 3 more vet visits with 3 different vets, we had a diagnosis of discospondylitis and expected improvement in 24-48 hours of starting antibiotics. That didn’t happen. On December 14th she was hospitalized hoping IV pain meds would get her over the hump. On December 15th I got a call telling me that morphine and ketamine weren’t helping her and they wanted to do an MRI. I left the decision making to RezDawg Rescue and took a final exam, fully expecting them to decide to end her suffering. When I finished I learned she was in emergency surgery because the infection was crystallizing soft tissue and like glass particles scraping on her nerves. RezDawg was told they needed to either do surgery or they were never waking her up. Clearly, they could see how much pain she was in. Do you have any idea how much all of this cost? I’m still in awe that RezDawg chose this path.
She came home to me a few days later with severe activity restrictions which allowed no stairs or play with minimal walks. On January 26th, after carrying her up and down my stairs for 8 weeks, she was allowed to start increasing her activity. As I drove away from the vet I called the rescue and told them that we belonged together for as long as she would survive and with that she became Ginsburg and we became a family. I’ve given her well over 1,000 pills and she’s still on antibiotics today. I’ve seen the pleading look in her eyes when she hurts. I’ve felt incredible, unconditional love even in the worst moments. This girl will kiss you while she screams in pain but yet she’s scrappy and goes for the throat when playing with her doggo friends, whether they are 108 or 20 pounds. Her joy in life is contagious. Together we’ve adventured to Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, New Mexico, and around Colorado but we love our adventures along the creek just steps from home the most. If you are among her favorite humans she will run toward you with this funny and endearing sideways gait with her head tucked down, preparing for all the love. God forbid you stop for too long, she’ll paw at you to ask for, err demand, more but she will never jump on you because she doesn’t know how.
This girl makes me laugh, smile, cry, and walk away from my desk. She motivates me to be better. I’ll spare you the songs I sing to her most days. She is my heart, my soul, my everything, and I am so grateful to be her human. Happy Forever Home Day my sweet Ginzi girl!
