Love Don’t Cost A Thing

You've heard of the saying "love don't cost a thing". Jennifer Lopez even wrote a song about it. And maybe in some situations, love doesn't cost a thing. Although at other times, it costs big bucks! Take it from the guy who ate Ramon noodles just about every day straight for 2 semesters in college because he was secretly saving up all his money to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring. Whether we want to admit it or not, with love comes money, or rather the slow sucking of your bank account. And with love comes sacrifice...sacrificing your money because you love another. I do it time and time again. I do it willingly. For a girl. And for my dog.

FYI...that is a "good" photo of him post-op. He looks much sadder in person (in dog).
He’s actually very swollen and hacked up. It’s not pretty.

Owning and properly caring for a pet costs money and I'm quickly learning that owning and properly caring for an English Bulldog requires some deep pockets. I had accidentally poked him in the eye a couple weeks ago while we were playing. The vet said that may or may not have to do with anything (I think she was just trying to make me feel less guilty), but he did have a chunk missing from his cornea! Needless to say, that freaked me out! Upon further examination, it became quite clear there were a host of other eye problems he was suffering from. Although being the tough guy that he is, he never whimpered once. Eyelids curving in and lashes growing inward that scratch the cornea are a common problem in English Bulldogs (different from "cherry eye"). So common that most Bulldogs need to have it surgically corrected. As a result, it was causing an ulcer to form in both eyes and a great deal of pain - blood vessels irritated behind his eyeballs, etc. I was hoping he would be one of the rare Bulldogs that wouldn't ever need eye surgery, but hope ran out when they told me otherwise. Long story short, Diesel had about 5 surgical procedures done to each eye.

It does make me hurt to look at him right now. Basically, it looks like his cute little wrinkled face met a chainsaw and he lost. They say it will take 2 weeks for the swelling to go down and an entire month before the sutures have completely healed. He's on 5 different medications (2 different kinds of eye ointment, pain killers, an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic) and has to wear an e-collar which he absolutely hates, but I can't blame him. It does look uncomfortable and quite annoying. He could pass for a satellite dish. (DirecTV is coming in really clear lately.) After surgery, his tough guy exterior quickly vanished when he began to whine and cry like a battered child. The surgeon tells me that is more to get pity from me, than him being in actual pain...I hope he's right. It seems about right though, because if I sit beside him and cuddle him, he stops crying. I suppose if I had to go thru what he did, I would be milking the recovery process as much as possible too.

I found myself feeling a little sick as well when I started tallying up his recent medical bills, but somehow, he found a way to make ME feel better. Hmm, maybe in the grand scheme of things, money really isn't that important. Perhaps love really doesn't cost a thing...or at least it's worth every penny.

Rough Estimate

• Vet Visit - $115
• Vet "Specialist" Visit - $340
• Surgery - $2,200
• E-Collar - $36
• Medicines - $200
• Jar of Jif peanut butter to take with meds - $3
• Gas for all the running back and forth - $56
• Having to cancel a meeting with a new client - potential loss of $6,500
• Having an "accident" on my couch due to his anesthesia wearing off - dry cleaning bill yet to be determined
• Having to tell my date I can’t take her out because I can’t bear to leave my dog alone immediately following surgery - savings of $200
• Falling asleep next to my four-legged BFF and waking up to his chin resting on my shoulder, licking my cheek to show thanks for the the TLC - priceless.

For everything else, there's MasterCard.