When we got up this morning, Charlie was limping. I took him to our vet, and it turns out he has severe hip dysplasia—his left hip is one of the worst cases she's ever seen, and his right hip is not much better. The left hip needs immediate replacement. Our vet's a GP, not a specialist, so she didn't have any exact figures, but she told us it would likely run between $1000 and $1500. Per hip. Fortunately for us, we've been pouring money into long-term savings (specifically our 401(k) plan), so we can take out a loan against that to pay for this. Thank god for that foresight—it's much nicer to pay back the money to yourself than it is to pay it to a bank.

If anyone would like to send along well-wishes (or a dog biscuit or two) I'll be happy to pass them along to poor Charlie.