How STUPID Can I Be?

Salsa had her 2nd yearly appointment this morning, and I'm sure your can imagine how wonderful that was.

Poor thing. I pull her leash out, and immediately her tail wags. (If only she knew . . . )

Uhh. Anxious isn't even the word for it. If the giant metal scale she had to stand on wasn't enough, the long, blue fecal "gathering stick" was.

Pitiful . . . she rarely lets us sit and pet her at home. Salsa would much rather be chasing after the ball, but as she apparently saw her life flash before her eyes on the big metal scale, she sat panting uncontrollably with her sweet little head resting on my chest. I certainly took advantage of those short few seconds.

Next were all the shots and blood test. She asks me, "Has she been on Heartworm preventative?"
(This is when you will all sigh and decide that I am a horrible, horrible mother.)
"No," I say.

But look, this is the story. I tried. A while ago, I tried. I decided I would try out "Pet Meds" online. So I researched it and did it. I gave our information- credit card and all. Pending that we had been to the vet and had a yearly appointment (which we had), I should have gotten the meds in the mail that next week. Well, for some reason, one of the Vets told "Pet Meds" we had not gotten a yearly, and it never went through. My intentions were to figure this out . . . but never did. Okay, now I confess I AM a horrible mother. It had been in the back of my mind for a while, and I just kept putting it off and putting it off. STUPID.

Well, we finally make it through (what I thought was the worst) and go to the counter to pay. Still anxious and very curious to see and hear the other dogs, Salsa comes with me to the front. I was pleasantly surprised how well she was handling the two dogs that apparently lived there and were roaming around on their own. Of course, it didn't take long before another large dog walked in the door and ruined her good behavior. Expected. The Vet, seeing this, escorts us to another waiting room while she gathers up the rest of her test results. Yep, she's officially "that dog," and that's just how it is.

Finally, after all this, and Salsa's little heart beating a thousand miles an hour, she brings us back up to finish up.

The Vet says to me, "Well, she has tested positive for heartworms."

In shock (although, I don't know why- it is clearly all my fault), MY heart begins to beat a thousand miles an hour. I'm trying to pay attention as she tells me all the steps that will need to be taken to get rid of these horrid creatures inside my innocent and sweet little dog's body, but am too distracted by my thoughts of how STUPID and IGNORANT I have been to allow this to happen. My eyes start to fill with tears, as she tells me about her two night stay and the pain medicine. I left her there for her treatments to be done, sick to my stomach and furious at myself.

How STUPID can I be? I guess I deserve to give my entire paycheck to them.

I called Grady and broke the news to him . . . today . . . on his birthday. Geez.



Yeah . . . pretty stupid, indeed.