This is Fez. Fez has been our family pet for about 8 years, I think. After we got our house, but before Jenna was born.
I was walking through Petsmart one Saturday that many years ago and there was a male ShihTzu up for adoption. The dog was skin and bones, looked pretty worn for his age. Didn't look like he had been loved. I petted him for a minute and then went back to buy what I came for and left. I told my dad about this dog and he told me to go back and get it. I thought he wanted the dog for him, so I did. I got there and the dog was gone. So, I got the other thing my dad wanted me to get, a dog bed for his dog, and left again. Well, the dog bed I got was the wrong size and so back I went to the pet store. Guess what was back? The grey and white shihtzu. His name was Zack II. I called my dad and told him and he told me to get him. So I did.
I brought "Zack II" home and found out my dad had got the dog for me. Jason wasn't home, he was out with some friends "jamming". "Zack" didn't seem an appropriate name for this dog and we started to search our minds for names. For a few days he was called "Flanders", but this name didn't fit and it was hard to yell without laughing. We were watching "That 70s Show" and decided that the name Fez was perfect. So, Fez it was.
Fez had a lot going against him. Like I said, he wasn't much to look at. When we got him he needed a good haircut and actually ran into a chair or table leg and hurt his eye before we could get him to the groomers. He was also recovering from surgery to remove a herniated umbilical something or other. Half his ear was missing and he had a large scar on his neck. But, he was so lovable.
So, fast forward to a few days ago. For some reason I was thinking about how much I would be willing to pay if something were to happen to Fez. I always thought it odd how people would pay to have an ACL fixed on their dog (yup, you Mindurs - but I still love ya). Or my sister who paid over $700 to find out her dog was really not pregnant, just getting fat. It was a passing thought, didn't think much of it.
Then, Wednesday I got paged to call the school office. I called and told them I was in the middle of a 5th grade assembly and asked if I could call whoever it was back. They said no, it was an emergency and I needed to come to the office to get the call. As I'm walking up to the office everything horrible is going through my mind. My sister was going to the dr today to find out why she is so sick already (pregnancy), and of course there's always the fear of something going wrong with Alia, and then Jenna or anything else. I pick up the phone and my dad is crying. I don't see my dad cry often. I think I can count the amount of times I've seen him cry on 1 hand. Each involved a death or extreme family emergency.
He tells me that Fez has been hit by a car and "it's all his fault". He said the vet is busy trying to make him comfortable and that he is breathing, but they are trying to find out more. My dad had taken Fez and his dog, Bear, out for a ride for a while earlier in the day and had just brought him home. He put Fez and Bear in his yard and ran to do a couple errands that would be easier without 2 hyper dogs. We know that Fez can get out of my parent's yard, but he usually doesn't and when he does he just sits in front of their house waiting for them to come home. Well, that day he must've wandered because he was found in front of my parents house. My dad thought he was dead.
Up until today Fez has been in an induced coma, trying to get the swelling in his brain to go down. He would move around weirdly and they were afraid he would damage his spine. Yesterday they started him on a high dose of cortizone and the finished it up last night. Today they turned the morphine drip down by 25% to see how he would react. We should know more by tomorrow. We hope and pray that we will have our Fezzy back, but it's hard to know. We're hoping to see some improvement tomorrow. I've spent hours at the vet hospital sitting on a rolling stool petting and holding him. Today I even got peed on. (He has no control of his bladder b/c of the coma and he's getting lots of fluid). Fez spent Weds and Thurs night at a wonderful vet tech Christy's home. Tonight is the first night he will have spent alone and it's driving me nuts.
So, the question comes back to...how much would you pay? For the health of a non-human family member? Sure, the amount we've accrued in pet bills so far could pay for 3 new ShihTzu pure breds that are in perfect shape. But none have the half ear and scar on their neck. Each day the vet goes over where we're at on the bill and what we're looking at for care and each day I ask the vet what they think and what would they do if this were their dog. I ask if he's comfortable. Each day I get the somewhat same answer so I continue to accrue this bill.
I miss hearing his collar (though sometimes I swear I hear it). I miss his sighs and I miss trying to push his body over when he's behind my legs while I'm laying down. I miss him going nuts when someone comes to the door. I even miss having to pick up the torn up tissues and toilet paper after he's gotten into the garbage can. I miss letting him out every morning and watching him shake when Jason goes to put him in bad at night.
