Vet - Just the Facts

• Dog couldn't stand on his leg for a while yesterday, then started limping, couldn't stand on his hind legs last night or jump onto the sofa and the one time he tried, he let out a pitiful doggie yelp and then proceeded to whimper for 2 minutes (or what felt like two minutes). I took him and laid him on the sofa but then he tried to follow me into the kitchen: "Must keep Mommy in visual at all times." (So I told the kids they had to do the dishes because I had to sit on the couch with Dog.)
  
• Dog wouldn't walk up or down stairs this morning and looked all 'droopy'. I was denied by the military vet for all care except for basic care/immunizations, so I had to find a civilian vet at 8:30am (thank you, Beth!).
  
• Got in at 9:05 so I gathered up his leash and asked him, "Do you want to go for a ride in the car?" At which point he started turning in circles and running to and from the door and stood proudly in the back seat all the way there. And then continued to practically prance on his leash while I made excuses for myself a la "He really wasn't acting like this at home! He's been practically lame for the past 2 days!" She made me feel better when she said it was just his adrenaline giving him a boost. When I got him home he would start acting hurt again. She was right.
• But only after I paid the $360 ransom they held over his head. For the visit, a blood test, stool sample, and 4 different meds.
• Bottom line: (But damn, it takes me a while to get to the bottom line sometimes.) She doesn't know what's wrong with him. He may have torn his ACL, twisted his leg, banged his hip on the wall running around... it's injured, but it doesn't appear to be broken. She gave us pain meds and anti-inflammatory meds (with some antibiotics thrown in for his Skin Ick.) We are to keep him on complete bedrest (read "crated") for 2 weeks, only getting up to go potty on a leash, without walking anywhere (especially up or down the 2 flights of hardwood stairs we have - Yay, me. T has already stated, "I will not carry that dog up or down any stairs."). Then after the two weeks, if he's not any better, we need to start considering other diseases/disorders. The problem with the crate plan is that Taiko is MY dog. If I get up to go in the kitchen, he does too. If I go upstairs, so does he. If I go to the bathroom, he sits outside the door. He won't come in anymore on the off chance that what I really want to do is lure him into the bath. He will DIE if I put him into a crate for 14 days and proceed to traipse around the 3 floors of this house. Or, as Dillon so succinctly put it, "Dang, that plan will cause serious psychological damage, worse than his leg." So. For one week, I am going to try to convince him to stay most of the time, carry him with me some of the time, and baby-gate him into the basement when I leave for work in the morning. Then I'll revisit the "Crate Plan".*
  

*My God! That was the Worst Example of a "Bottom Line" ever! Can I not just shut up? Did I not understand the title of this post?