I hope you had a good day today

I mean that. Mine was...kind of a bummer. But whenever I'm having a bad day, that means someone else in the world is having a really good one. And I hope that lucky person was you.

So, for those of you following me on snapchat, you saw I went hiking yesterday. I went to a hot spring in San Bernardino-- a ~5 mile moderately difficult (and beautiful) hike with my neighbors, their dog, their friends, Brad, and my dog. It was to celebrate my neighbors birthday, and to celebrate her new job in Boston. I finally made great friends here in LA, then they move :'( Her boyfriend is my dog trainer and I'll miss their big, clumsy golden retriever. 

During this hike, my dog decided it'd be a good idea to give a rock a good ol' cromch. Yum! Her right-upper canine cracked all the way down to the pulp... bleeding, open, and so painful looking. There wasn't much I could do for her, being in the middle of the wilderness. By the time we got out of the woods, it was dark and we were still in the middle of a national park.

This morning, I spent hours trying to find a vet that'd do an emergency dental. The whole objective was to keep her perfect little tooth.. I even looked at clinics as far as Utah. Being Sunday, of course everything was closed. I was super frustrated my dog is probably in a lot of pain and there was nothing I could do but help make her comfortable (dogs naturally do a really good job at hiding dental pain). I messaged a few personal vet friends, and they told me my best bet was to wait until tomorrow and see an actual dental specialist.

We're going to see if we could preserve her tooth, if the tooth died, and if she'll need a root canal. If the damage is too extensive, it may be the most ethical to remove her fang all together. Just the thought of her missing one of her fangs made me cry. I love her little teefs so much and canines are such an important tooth. The vet I chatted with over the phone said her tongue might hang out over the side of her mouth and I'll have to be careful in protecting her other tooth, but a root canal comes with their own host of problems. Root canals in dogs aren't fool proof, require annual xrays, and may need to be extracted anyhow.

We'll weigh the options tomorrow, but that hiking trip went from free to a big paycheck. Dentals for dogs in my area range from $600-1500. Pet insurance is looking pretty attractive.

To make things better/worse, my little brother contacted me for the first time since November. For those who haven't been following our story, he completely cut contact with me when someone sent him my viral gifs. He said he never wanted to talk to me again.

Well, he called, he had just gone through a bad breakup and just needed someone to talk to that understood our family history. He was worried he was becoming like my father (alcoholic, obsessive, a nobody, etc) because he was still so attached to this girl. He wanted to follow her around like a puppy, but....that's stalking, which is creepy, and obviously not acceptable. Her parents didn't approve of a 17 year old sleeping with their 15 year old daughter, so they threatened to bring rape charges on him (the girl consented, the parents did not) if he didn't break off all contact with her. I haven't heard him cry since he was a little kid. I'm glad he felt like he could reach out to me when really in a rut, but I can't do much more than just listen.

When on the phone with him, I received a message from a rescue in the super-southern part of California. A husky rescue-- a 1 year old mini-husky was just dropped off at a shelter near me for kidney failure. If the dog pulls through, she'll be my temp foster until I either 1.) Go to Taiwan in April 2.) She gets adopted or 3.) She dies. She might be my first hospice foster. I always try to avoid these types of cases, but it makes sense for me to take this one as I'm the rescuer that's closest to her. I'll keep you updated as I hear more information tomorrow. Guys, she's younger than my dog, looks like my pup but in all white, is the same size, and is dying. I cried over my pup chipping a tooth! This'll be a hard rescue... but one thing is certain: she doesn't deserve to die unloved in a shelter. 

tldr; went hiking, friend and dog trainer moving away, dog split tooth, big vet bill, little brother contacted me, new foster is a hospice rescue