Memoir: Life Changing Experience

During the warm summer months of 2018, we got our first puppy from a family friend whose dog had just given birth to a litter of seven. We picked our favorite, she was the smallest in the litter and the one who ran up to us and allowed us to hold her in our arms, we took her home with us and decided to name her Harlee. So playful, excited and loving at only eight pounds, oh my Harlee! Now it is time for my brother and me to learn what responsibility really is.

Harlee, she never left my side, going from stores that allow dogs such as home depot, Lowes and pet supplies plus, to shop with us and get her treats and toys. We made so many great memories all including Harlee, like when we went kayaking and she flipped our kayak trying to catch and play with a duck in the water. Another time was when we went to the cider mill and she tasted cider and got to pick out her own pumpkin. We never imagined there would also be terrible memories involving Harlee.

Harlee being less than a year old, my family was all in agreeance that she shouldn’t be left home alone if it was preventable. Taking turns watching her and making sure she didn’t have any accidents and that she didn’t bite or ruin things that she wasn’t supposed to. A routine that went smoothly for a couple of months until an event occurred that none of us had seen coming.

It was a Saturday morning and my mom and brother had gone out to get breakfast together. I stayed back because I had already eaten, and I was a senior in high school at the time, so I had some things to wrap up before the end of the year and graduation. I was in my bedroom sitting at my desk focused on something on my laptop instead of devoting my entire attention on my 6-month-old puppy, as I should have been. She found a pair of long, thick fuzzy socks on my floor that I had left out from the night before and she picked one up in her mouth and ran out to the living room with it. I began to chase her to try and get the sock back from her, and that was one of the several mistakes I made during this serious situation. Harlee’s favorite game to play is when she will get a toy or a blanket and put it in her mouth and then start dashing around the house with it while someone chases after her. My guess is that she took me chasing her as us playing that game. She got to her bed in the living room before I could get there and had already began to swallow this large thick fuzzy sock, I tried everything I could to stop her, I begged her to please just drop it and spit it out, I tried reaching my hand into her mouth to remove it, nothing worked. It got majority of the way down her throat and she began choking on it and dry heaving while still trying to swallow it, I could see the fear in her eyes, and she saw it in mine as I lied there and held her. I started balling my eyes out and frantically calling my mom, worried about what would happen to Harlee.

My mom rushed home and picked Harlee and I up and we sped off to the emergency vet. There they told us that they would most likely have to put her under anesthesia and operate to remove the object, this was going to cost anywhere from $600-$2,000. They recommended another vet that was an hour away who had other options and was a lot cheaper. We decided to make the drive. On the way there, I began to wonder how I would pay for some of this, if not all of it because I was the one who had caused it all. Once we arrived at the second emergency vet, they explained our options and the risks that went along with each one. We got an x-ray of Harlee and they were able to identify where the sock was, they showed us the x-ray image and told us that it was currently lodged in her stomach which was the best possible scenario, but if it went down any lower the strings could get tangled into her intestines, they warned us that if this did happen it would be very bad and that it would make everything much more complicated. The veterinarian came up with a solution, and if it worked it would take away the thought of surgery and would save hundreds to thousands of dollars. He took my mom and I back to the room and took Harlee to an area in the hospital where the pets’ families weren’t allowed. He explained to us what he would be doing, which was to take her back, and sit her on a table where she had to be secured so she wouldn’t try to move. The veterinarian also told us that he would give her medicine to induce vomiting and reach his hand in as she started to get sick to assist her in getting the object out and make sure she wouldn’t choke on it. My mom and I sat in the room while he tried his best to help Harlee, the amount of time going by felt like hours, it was mostly silence as we both just hoped and prayed that everything would go smoothly and that she would be okay.

About 30 minutes later, the veterinarian brought Harlee back to the room we had been waiting in, he said everything had gone as perfectly as it could and that he was able to get the object out, he said that the medicine he gave her would make her sleepy for the next 24 or so hours, and that she needed lots of rest, he prescribed her some pain medicine in case her stomach or throat were sore and sent us on our way.

To this day I still see this experience as a blessing, Harlee is a little over one year old now and is happy and healthy as can be, I can’t imagine it any other way and I am so thankful that everything turned out in such a positive way. Since that day I have made adjustments to my life, I’ve learned to be a lot more responsible and not leave socks and other clothing articles on the floor, I now place them in a tall laundry basket that Harlee cannot reach, I also always make sure I know what she’s doing and I don’t take my eyes off of her long enough for her to do something she isn’t supposed to. Overall this experience made me open my eyes to a lot and come to the realization that a mistake like this could cost a life, and that I needed to become a lot more responsible and attentive.