{25mar2010: insurance}

There have been quite a few questions about insurance and if our insurance will cover these expenses we're looking at facing with an MRI and possible Wobbler's.
When Darwin was around 6 - 7 months old it seemed like we were constantly calling up the vet for scrapes from the dog park, many cases of diarrhea , or some ailment or another.  At that time we decided we needed to look into pet insurance and I did some heavy duty pet insurance research.  I asked around to the Marymoor Dane group, Googled, asked our vet for their recommendations, and found this site specifically reviewing pet insurance.  I filled out free quote forms and spent a good amount of time weighing the options.  Many of the Marymoor Dane owners seemed to be with VPI and had decent things to say about them.  At that time, Darwin had already been spayed so it seemed silly to me to get an insurance plan that would be covering something she already had done.  I also didn't want to pay for a plan that covered costs we were already willing (and prepared) to pay for like vaccinations, it was the scrapes and diarrhea episodes and unexpected things we wanted to be covered for. 
One of the Marymoor Dane owner's recommended Trupanion and after comparing various plans we settled on them.  I liked that we could choose how much we wanted our deductible to be and that we could get additional coverage for hip dysplasia since we were enrolling before her 1st birthday.  I also liked that they paid back 90% of the vet bill (minus exam fees) and premiums wouldn't go up due to her age (man I sound like a commercial).  
Of course after we got Darwin insurance her diarrhea stopped, she didn't get as many scrapes and we hadn't had to use it till this all came up.  After our initial vet visit I got the claim form filled out and faxed it in Monday morning and by that afternoon I had got an email saying it was processed.  Wednesday when we got home from work there was a check from them waiting in the mail for us.  I called to confirm that they will cover the MRI and surgery if it comes to that.  The things they don't cover though is holistic medicine such as acupuncture and chiropractic treatments.
We've only made a couple claims with Trupanion, but so far I'm pleased with them and I'm so happy that we decided to get insurance for Darwin.  It makes saying 'yes' to any procedures that need to be done to find out (and fix) what's wrong so much easier knowing we don't have to worry about if we can afford it.

{12mar2010: reunited...}

... and it feels so good!
We're back and Darwin's back too!  
She had a rough start to vacation.  When we dropped her off at her mom and dad's we noticed her ear was bleeding... somehow at some point during the week a chunk of her ear got taken off and we never noticed.  We had found some random blood spots around the house and couldn't figure out what it was or where it came from.  Then when we dropped her off and she was playing with her dad I noticed her bloody ear.  We all quickly wrangled her to clean it, and it seemed like an old wound (what awful parents we are to not have noticed it earlier).  Poor girl.
We checked up on her a couple times while we were gone and things were going well, though she had picked up a few more battle wounds from her mom. 
{after the big battle between Misty and Darwin, they all cuddled up on the couch}

Tom brought her in yesterday and she was one scraped up pup!  Lots of little scrapes and scabs and a couple bigger ones too!  She was totally worn out after 2.5 weeks of constant play (and some fights) and actually slept a little in the office (she never sleeps when she comes in).

You can barely see it from this angle, but right behind her shoulder there's a white bald patch... that's her big battle wound.  I'll try to get a better picture later.
While we were out walking her at lunch we noticed she was walking funny... her back legs and hips seemed to swing funny.  Jason and I were slightly concerned so we took her over to the vet after work to get it checked out.  

After the vet watched her walk, and palpated Darwin's back legs and spine she thought it could be compressed disks.  So she took Dar back for x-rays.  They had to sedate her to get the shots they needed and it looks like it could be compressed disks in her spine but they will have to have the x-rays checked out by a radiologist to confirm.  We'll hear back from them by Monday at the latest.
For now she's got a couple of pain meds and on a strict no playing/running/jumping/rough-housing plan for 2 weeks unless the radiologist thinks otherwise.  The vet offered sedatives if we need them to keep her mellowed out for the next couple weeks.  We'll see how it goes.
We took her home and she was so sad.  She was loopy from the drugs and would whine if we weren't right at her side.  The drugs made her so out of it, she had a couple of pee accidents while laying on her bed, and she didn't even seem to notice.  Heartbreaking.  This morning when we woke up she was back to her usual self and even went to inspect her bed.  She sniffed it a few times and seemed to be confused as to why her bed was dirty... we'll have to find a laundromat that can fit her giant bed in their machines.
I'm so glad we have pet insurance.  It made it so easy to say, "yes, do whatever you need to do to find out what's wrong with our pup." without having to think "can we afford this?".  It'll be our first claim to file with trupanion so we'll see how it goes, but I'm positive it should be a breeze.
So, while we were looking forward to some fun park days this weekend to get back into our normal routine, it looks like we'll be laying low for a bit.  It may be time to bring out the brain game again and stock up on raw bones!