Days and Lives Change on a Dime. Is This Ever a Good Thing?
We all know that life can turn on a dime, but when I hear people say that it is usually not due to some stroke of good fortune, but something we perceive as a challenge.
Take yesterday at Our Little House, I had my day all planned and it began on a good note.
I let the dogs out and got to work early. The sun came up and it promised to be a gorgeous, 65+ degree day with a wind, perfect for doing laundry.
And then, well, everything went south or turned on a dime, as they say.
Abbi came home from her romp in the woods, shaking and refusing to eat.
That’s never a good sign for her, and then I noticed the blood.
Not a lot of it, but enough to pool on the floor where she was laying. After trying to get a look inside her mouth, I got an aspirin in her and let her rest while I continued working.
By noon, she was no better, so off to the vet we went.
The vet said she had no idea what Abbi could have gotten into, but she tried to chew on something that caused “several” lacerations in her mouth and on her tongue that had to be stitched.
Ca-ching.
My day turned on more than a dime.
This is the same dog who split open her paw pad and required two surgeries and 6 weeks of leash walking just a couple of months ago.
For most people, life typically changes on a dime when we get bad medical news or have an accident, we lose work or at its worst, when someone we love dies.
I’m still waiting for the day when life turns on a dime after I faint when I answer the door to the Publisher’s Clearing House guy holding his giant check and roses, or we win Powerball, or my numbers get drawn and I win an ultimate trip someplace we can only dream about from Wheel of Fortune.
Now, those would be life-changing events we would welcome!
What was the last surprise that changed your day or life, was it good or bad?
Someone gave me some sound advice recently: Plan for the unexpected. Each week –even most days — there is something that knocks me off my game. A sick kid, failing technology, an unexpected edit.
Somehow I’ve found accepting the inevitability of this helps me handle the challenges better.
Does that make sense?
It does, Sarah, and a very prudent plan.
I’m not sure yet if this is life-changing or not, but this week, we noticed that my daughter has some odd markings on the folds of skin in her armpit.
Coupled with her many cafe-au-lait birthmarks, this is considered an indicator of a genetic abnormality that makes the nerve endings produce benign tumors. Neurofibromatosis.
I googled, got a little frightened, then clicked on Google Image Search and nearly passed out.
… We have an appointment with her doctor. There’s a test. We’ll see. But this may be a week that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
Hello Kerri,
I am so sorry to hear about Abbi but glad that you take such good care of her. Many people that I know here would have let things ride for a LONG time hoping for better (while getting worse).
Something similar happened to us before last Christmas. One minute we’re all well and happy and the next we’re rushing to the vet an hour’s drive away with our beloved Tiggy in my arms. He’d been hit by a car.
2 months later we are still back and forth with Xrays and contemplating going to Italy for proper veterinary orthopedic care for his fractured hock and ruptured ligaments…. expensive and very difficult to arrange. But we want the best for him and after having tried two vets in Greece (including one 270km away) we are desperate.
Funny thing though, he has started walking again with his injured leg (we are very careful to restrain him and keep exercise moderate) and as one vet said, “Sometimes God is the best surgeon”.
So, first a bad surprise and now (maybe) a good one. We’ll see….
Oh, Vida, I’m so sorry for Tiggy! But we will hope very much for a good one. Take care, both of you.
Yes dogs can be expensive, yes they can get into things not necessarily good for them, and yes I do believe that there are two types of people in the world. Those that are dog people and those that aren’t. I prefer to hang out with the dog people! PS, we have insurance for our adorable min-pin Pepe!
I think if you have one dog, Alfredo, the cost of pet insurance is worth it. I’ve looked into it and the cost for 6 (if they would even insure older dogs with dubious backgrounds) is more in doubt. P.S. I would rather hang with dog people, too! 😉
Much like people, dogs/cats with pre-existing conditions get the shaft when it comes to insurance. Our big boy Harry, who’s perfectly healthy but happens to have an irregular heartbeat, is virtually uninsurable. Sigh.
Kerri, I can so relate! At age 56, I should be embarrassed to say that I can remember the exact DAY when I began to “steel myself” against bad things that might happen! I tried out for cheerleading, knew I had kicked butt, and yet when the list was posted my name was missing! Totally devastated and I swore to never let myself become vulnerable again! Well thankfully time heals and now many MANY years later, I can say that I’ve learned to roll with it. We all have bad news delivered on a regular basis and you either roll with it or you are constantly on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop. What an ugly way to live!
So far the sky has not fallen and the bills continue to be paid (albeit late on occasion) but life goes on and we put these things behind us!
PS: I hope your dear pup will be feeling better soon!
Thank you, Nanci, she is doing much better today. Not happy about being on a leash again, which we’ll have to do until next Monday, but at least she is doing better. I think we all remember that first big disappointment of childhood, so I wouldn’t be embarrassed. It was a life lesson for all of us, most challenges are. 🙂
It was the day that i had routine colonoscopy and dr came out and said i had polyp and it looked like cancer and to contact a surgeon. dec 09. it was. i had 7 mos of chemo. im a survivor. i had had routine colonoscopies every year but dr said i must have missed it in a fold or something. My life changed dramatically and will never be the same. Im always worried it will come back somewhere else and it statistically can. But ive had good dramatic changes also..when grandbabies were born…4 times now and it was wonderful and changed forever. so it can go both ways. thats just life.
Jeanne, I’m glad you’re here to write about your experience.