Living is a gamble, baby. Loving's much the same.

I have so much to say and no time to say it. Curly Joe is being released from the hospital in a few hours. It has been one big roller coaster ride of emotions these last four days. Curly Joe was in such bad shape that we almost euthanized him. I called them to let them know we were on our way, and the tech put me on the line with the doctor. She said another specialist had taken a look at him and offered (at no charge to me) to take radiographs to see about the blood that was collecting in his chest cavity. "He doesn't see a dog who is ready to die," is what she told me. So I gave them the OK to do a chest tap and autotransfusion. The short of it is, after an unsuccessful surgery, a blood transfusion, a plasma transfusion and an autotransfusion (draining the blood from his chest cavity and putting it back into his system via an I.V.), Curly Joe is alive and (mostly) well and ready to come home.

We all knew he was special. Now I've seen firsthand just how strong he is, and I will never give up on him so easily again. Yes, the doctor was unable to repair his shunt. Yes, he developed serious complications post-op. But the doctor said if we can just get him past this, we can maintain him on special food and medications until we can find someone who can fix his specific problem.

So that is what we are doing.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me and Curly during this difficult time. It was really, really close for a while there. I'm anxious to get him back home where I am sure he will continue to improve. Tank will be so happy to see him again, as much as he hates to admit it.