Chosen Family

There are people who will come and go from our lives every day. The interactions we have with others may be short and simple while others may be longer and more meaningful. Regardless of the type of interaction, always be kind and open minded. We are all experiencing different situations and the way we treat one another can make a huge difference even if we don’t know it at the moment. We all begin as strangers to one another and as our relationships form these relationships may become more significant. These people may become family members, friends, coworkers, teachers, mentors, coaches, community members, and more. Some people may stick around longer than others. Regardless of how long you know someone or how well you get to know them, they will appear in your life during the times they are meant to be with you. It may even surprise you who shows up when you need support. It can be hard  to release control and what we feel “should be.” We have to trust that the universe will provide us with what we need in the moment even if it seems unfair or challenging. 

Over the last month my family has gone through several ups and downs. We have two dogs (Olive & Winnie) and a cat (Roscoe). Our youngest dog, Olive, who is a 3.5 year old Chiweenie got injured and herniated a disc in her spine. Due to the herniation, it caused damage to her spinal cord and she became paralyzed in her hind legs within a matter of days. Due to her rapid decline we never had an opportunity to try and support her with crate rest and medication management. Ultimately, this left us with two options; we could take her home, make her comfortable, and hope she got better, but if she didn’t we most likely would have to euthanize her or we could pay to have a Neurosurgeon perform emergency surgery, which would give Olive a 50/50 chance of recovering. When given this information it was a lot to take in and we weren’t sure what to do. My wife and I discussed it and decided we couldn’t put a price on Olive. She is part of our family and regardless of the outcome we had to try and give her the support we could. She had emergency surgery that was very costly and she is currently on the road to recovery. She has a lot of work to do and with support from my wife and I and our chosen family we will do our best to help her through this process and hopefully she will begin to gain some mobility back. 

It was hard to know what the right choice was with all of the uncertainty, but we decided that we needed to give Olive the best shot at recovering and provide her with the best quality of life we can. With this decision, we knew that there would be many additional challenges along the way. We put our trust in each other, the universe, and our community to help guide us through these tough times. It has been amazing to see the people in our community who have stepped up and donated blankets, bedding, a crate, meals, treats, toys, and financial support to go toward Olive’s surgery. All of these donations have helped us give her a safe and comfortable environment to recover in. We are so appreciative of everything everyone has done for Olive and our family. We wouldn’t be able to do this without our community. 

Olive is now 2.5 weeks post op and has an additional 3.5 weeks of crate rest ahead of her. As she has settled back into her home we have seen her personality start to come back. She loves to cuddle, play with her little stuffed duck, and is enjoying all of the treats she has been given. It has been a learning curve for all of us as we have been managing supporting her with walking and expressing her bladder. Over the last two weeks there have been many loads of laundry due to changing her bedding and being peed on, many late nights to give her medications and keeping her company, helping support Olive’s back end so she can practice walking, and overall lots of exhaustion. Even though these last two and a half weeks have been challenging, we will continue to support her with her recovery. She is signed up for Physical Therapy which will begin next week. 

The purpose of telling you all of this is to help you understand the importance of having strong healthy relationships. There are many different types of relationships and there are no relationships you should feel obligated to have. If someone is not supportive of you then they are not someone you need to give your energy to. Find the people who support you and will be there for you in times of need. Having a chosen family is so important. Your chosen family can be made up of whoever you want it to be. There is no right or wrong way to have a family, as long as you feel seen, supported, and loved by those you hold close to your heart. Remember to be patient and kind to one another; you never know what someone is carrying.

Thank you to our chosen family who has been here for us through this process. We love you and wouldn’t be able to do this without you.