First it was in April, when Honey's foal was stillborn. There is not a lot sadder than seeing what should be a beautiful, vibrant little baby lying there motionless. Then there's dealing with the stress of the mare. It was heartbreaking to lead her away from her foal, knowing that she was probably thinking something along the lines of "No, this isn't how this is supposed to go, I'm supposed to stay close and take care of my little one!".
It was, of course, a difficult birth, but my incredible vet was able to sew her up. Looking at the foal she was able to say that she was "dis-mature", but there's no way of knowing why. We can only pray that this won't happen again with future foals.
At the end of May, I spoke to my husband before hopping on a plane home from Calgary, and he told me that our cat had come home that day with his leg dangling lifelessly. He had rushed him to the vet in town (not our usual vet, mind you), and they confirmed that his leg was badly broken and they suggest we put him down. I cried all day, all the way back to Montreal (on a side note, if you had told me 10 years ago I'd cry this much for a cat, I don't think I would have believed you...).
Thankfully, my incredible vet was able to give me some hope when I called her as soon as I got home. I told her what had happened, and that if she thinks the best thing for the cat would be to put her down then that's what I'll do, but I honestly just can't reconcile the thought of ending this amazing creature's life just because of a stupid leg. She asked me if I had considered amputation, and that cats adapt incredibly well.
We brought him in and they ended up doing surgery on his leg, pulling out all the little bits of chipped bone and wrapping the two bones in his forearm together in the hopes that a callous will form and save his leg. The surgery was almost two months ago, he spent a month in a cage with a huge bandage on, and has been slowly, slowly starting to move around. Right now he's back at the clinic, because his x-rays look really, really bad. I'm waiting to hear back whether or not he's going to keep his leg after all of this.
On the 4th of July, my husband was climbing a 40 foot antenna tower to remove some internet equipment for a job he was working on. The tower collapsed along with him. He broke his fall, and his body, on the edge of the roof before landing on the ground, and suffered 2 badly broken wrists, a shattered femur, a broken ankle and a couple of fractured vertebrae, and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.
The day after I finally brought my husband home, one of my brood mares was diagnosed with botulism, and I had to rush her over 3 hours away to the large animal hospital to try and save her life. That was a whole other adventure involving me getting my hands on a hard-to-get antitoxin... Incredibly, she pulled through, and is slowly coming back to health.
Those are the major events in the last 6 months, along with plenty of amazing times and trying times thrown in.
What I have learned is that it's easy to be grateful in life when everything is going your way. Some people seem to get everything they wish for handed to them on a silver platter, and still they find a way to be miserable. I intend to live my life the opposite way. I will stubbornly cling to happiness, and force myself more than ever before to see the light in dark times.
I am grateful. For the love in my life, for the support in my life, and for the blessings in my life.
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