It finally happened, Sam’s knee went out again and my stomach landed around my ankles. I called the surgeon’s office, had Jay drop her off the next day and then waited and waited to find out what happened. My work day ended with no news so I ended up calling the vet’s and asking if I could freak out over there. Fortunately, when I called the surgeon was out of her surgeries and was in the process of examining Sam.
I arrived and waited while listening to the sounds of Animal Planet on a big screen TV and wondering who the woman with the crazed looking poodle was in all the photographs and why this one photo warranted five gigantic copies spread throughout the lobby. Surely, someone else there has a pet? Dr. Caplan came out (bad sign – this is how the bad news always comes) while I was mid wall, floor, plant contemplation and calmly sat near me to break the news.
“I don’t see anything wrong with Sam.”
Great, another few thousand. How do we fix that?
“I performed all my tests and both knees are stable.”
So, I’ll drop her off Tuesday, they’ll keep Sam overnight to help her manage pain and I guess we’re back to isolating her for another 6-8 weeks. Wonderful.
“If anything, the left knee seems to be even more stable.”
I wonder what she’s talking about. And as the words settled in, I finally just let my crazy hang out there as I questioned away. Questions like: Are you sure? Her knee seems stable? The leg doesn’t look wobbly? You’re sure? When you say you performed your tests on each leg, did you mean you did this left one? Uh huh. And you looked at the left one? Are you sure? I think I’m crazy. Do you think I’m crazy? You don’t think I’m crazy? I really think this year has made me crazy. Yes. I’m crazy. I’ve really gone crazy.
At this point Sam came through the door, I looked up as I heard her familiar padding across their tile and we caught each other’s eyes at the same time. Sam let out the biggest wail – articulating beautifully what a horrible day it had been.
The vet’s assistant brought Sam over and I subtlely confirmed that she had examined this dog. What about the left leg? Maybe I’m crazy. You saw this dog right here?
Dr. Caplan said, and I think I may absolutely love her for this, “I don’t think you’re crazy. You may be seeing things I don’t see, you’re around her all the time so just monitor her. I’ll be happy to see her again whenever you need me to. One of the vets has offered to scope her knee for free and scrape off any meniscal tears or remove the knot if that’s causing her trouble. You’re not crazy.”
Wrapped in fresh reassurances, Sam and I headed home.
I’m pretty sure as the doors closed behind us, I could hear the staff saying, “wow, that woman was NUTS!” Sorry guys, I am.
The Big Blue Mess 
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