My human boy is fine. Bit of a lingering cough, but really mostly fine.

The first boy, the infamous George Clooney the french bulldog is in a bad way, and it is ripping me the hell up. They're not a healthy breed. Don't get one. Honestly, it's heartbreaking, and they kind of just should not be. But they are, because they're cute, and they're also quite sweet (mostly). But he's been hospitalized a couple of times for pancreatitis, and he's on hypo allergenic (expensive) food, and we live in a state of constant fear that he's going to stick his face into something, have a reaction, and either die, or end up in the hospital for a week. Even with pet insurance, I'm still sitting on a couple thousand dollars on my credit card from the last time it happened. With a young child and a house that needs... assistance, it's a lingering shadow in the background all the time.

Then this thing happened. Frenchies, because they're bred for dwarfism, have screwed up backs, and are prone to IVDD, or intervertebral disc disease. Over the last couple of years, there have been a couple times when he wouldn't walk up the stairs or jump up on the couch. After a few days, it went away. This happened again over the last week, and I tried not to worry. 

Saturday, after being out all day with my son (perfect day), I took George out for a short walk. He pooped, we came back, and then it started. He couldn't relax, and started whining and panting. I'm alone with my son, and he's got to go to bed soon. I gave the dog some baby aspirin, and he laid down and went to sleep for a while. We went to bed. I thought I'd take him to the emergency vet in the morning. At 2 AM, he woke up screaming. If you've ever heard a frenchie scream, it is terrifying and high pitched. He doesn't bark ever, and this sound is terrible. 

I took him in at 2 AM after 2 hours of sleep and they basically gave us some pain med, and I took him home. He didn't relax or go to sleep for another 2 hours, and we finally slept from 6-10, when he woke up screaming again. I couldn't give him any more pain meds until noon, and it didn't seem to be doing well at all. He was panting and whining, and couldn't walk or get comfortable. It was torture to sit there and not be able to help him at all. 

I went back, and they said there was nothing more they could do at the moment. He's still got pain, which is oddly good, because he's not paralyzed, but he's just exising in agony. I gave him the pain meds at noon, and he finally went to sleep. 

The pain meds, which I can give to him every 8 hours, last 2 hours. You can see how this is a problem. I can't handle sitting there and watching him writhe and wince with pain. And I can't do anything about it. We made it though the day, and he got his meds at 8, and I went to sleep down on the couch, next to him on the floor, and he woke up whining 10 minutes after I went to sleep. 45 minutes later, He settled down again, and slept until almost 2. We couldnt' get him to sleep again, and it was 2 hours until meds time. We called the ER again, and they said we could do 1 1/2x the Rx, and we gave it to him about a half an hour early.

Then we went back to sleep for about an hour before he woke up again whining. I'm going crazy.

Finally, more sleep until about 6, and I took him out to try and pee, which he can't do, because he can't stand.

Finally, after whining and crying for almost 3 hours, Lindsay took him to the vet again where we're waiting to see what's next.

The thing that's scary is, we straight up can't afford to have him go through surgery if he needs it, especially, if there's a very good chance it's going to be a recurring, consistent problem for the rest of his life. 

It's all just too much, and I'm writing here because it's the only thing I know how to do. I don't handle it well at all. My wife does much better. But to sit here and listen to him in agony is agony, and it's no way to live. Also, I need some damn sleep. So does Lindsay, and frankly, so does the dog. He also needs to poop.

So that's what's going on. Wish us luck. No idea what we're going to do. I've gotta do my job now though, and try my best to ignore this, because apparently that's what a man does, when he can't take time off because shit needs to get done. Thank goodness Ollie is in daycare today, because it's all taking up more energy than I have to spare.

He's getting some different meds right now, and we should see improvement soon. 85% chance of recovery. 15% chance of oh shit.