Damage control

Lucy got into a bottle of Ibuprofen while we were at Costco yesterday. Chad saw she had destroyed it but thought it was empty and it wasn't until she had gotten sick a few times and I asked what she'd eaten that we put two and two together.

After a few minutes of internet research, we knew enough to get worried and took her to the emergency animal clinic. It had been six hours at least since she'd eaten it, so she had already digested most of the medicine. That one-hour period when they were trying to figure out how much her kidneys had been ruined was one of the biggest low-points I've had in a long time. Chad and I talked about what we'd do if we had to put her to sleep. I was actually sitting there trying to remember the last time I felt so horrible. It's been years.

She's been in the animal hospital since last night and they're pumping her full of fluids to make sure the stuff gets out of her system and doesn't cause kidney failure. They've been taking good care of her, though they do say things when they call like "she's a boisterous Lab..." that make me wonder what on earth she's getting herself into. They say it's common for Labs to get into things like this because they're so darned curious--but it still didn't make me feel any better that she got into something that I accidentally left out.

That said, things are looking good. We went to see her today and she's back to her old self: jumping around, full of energy, and, according to the vet, "eating like a champ." If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was fine, and I really wanted to just bring her home and put all of this behind us.

But if all goes well, she'll be coming back tomorrow night. To compensate for my [perhaps exaggerated] guilt, I made it a priority today to get a bunch of stuff done so that when I pick her up tomorrow I can take her to the dog park. She'll probably be feeling fine, but it will make me feel better anyway.