No, I didn't murder one of my clients :-)
It was a normal day for me. Went for a walk with my dog, Rebel. By 7 I was working from my home office - negotiating loan workouts with Litton Loan Service. Rebel was laying in the hall right outside my door - he likes to keep an eye one me.
I had finished my FRS drink and went into the bathroom to find the toilet bowl bright red with blood. At first blush that may be too gross for you until you realize that Rebel thinks the toilet bowl is his personal water dish.
My brain clicked back through the morning. He eats all the junk at the park and he was munching on a beef rib earlier today. I had also noticed him licking his forearms [do dogs have forearms?]- which he sometimes does when his allergies are bad. He had been licking enough to tell him to stop.
I went back into the hall and realized there were hundreds of little blood drops in the carpet on both sides of his forearms. He hadn't been having an allergy attack, he'd been licking the blood off. Rebel trails behind me for the last block or so before the house so, he was out of my sight for 5 minutes or so. What could have happened in 5 minutes? I got him into the bathroom and, seeing blood all down his chest and forearms, wondered if he could have been hit by a car.
I took a long look at him and wiped him down with a wash rag. He didn't seem to be bleeding other than a steady dripping of bright red blood from the right side of his mouth. Each little drop splashed leaving a one inch puddle on the white linoleum. I got him to open his mouth and I cleaned it up as I looked for a laceration. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from - maybe it's not his mouth.
I got him to lay down, his stomach was not hard or distended. He was bright and happy. And he was dripping; splash, splash, splash.
So, I called the vet and got an appointment at 9:20. "What time is it?' I asked. It was just after 8. I confirmed and hung up.
I sat there watching him. Happy and smiling, tongue handing out, the right side of his mouth thick with blood and dripping on the linoleum. He then cleared his throat and threw up about a 1/4 cup worth of blood.
I hit redial and told the vet that we were coming.
I grabbed my keys and Rebel bounded out to the car. I put a towel down and as we drove away I looked back at him as he was happily dripping on the leather interior.
Driving the 8 minutes, I began racing scenarios through my head. Maybe the beef ribs had lacerated his stomach and he'd need surgery - friends had spend upwards of $4,000 on emergency surgery for their dogs. Could I spend $4,000 on a dog? Which credit card can I put that on? Maybe they will take payments. Could he be coughing blood out of his lungs?
I was getting scared so I prayed for God to be with me and I called my sister. As I told her what was going on I got all choked up and tears came. She told me that I was doing all I could, the vet would know and to call her when I got done with the vet.
Hanging up the cellphone - which I had been illegally using without my headset - I took a deep breath as the stop light turned green and I jammed on the accelerator.
Check back here tomorrow to hear the rest of Rebel's adventures.
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