Jojo's Life

JoJo brought joy into our life from the first day we saw her.

OK... she also brought us 'loss of sleep', but she was too adorable to let the lack of sleep bother us. Hailey and Jaida went with me to pick her up in Buckeye Arizona. She was just a little thing and we tried to protect her throughout the day. We named her Jojo after watching "the Bachelor" and knowing that JoJo Fletcher would be the following season's Bachelorette.
This lovely miniature Dachshund was the first pet that Gene and I adopted together. We found her in Yuma Arizona and her face drew us in.  Once we brought her home, the grandchildren fell in love with her too, however the attention from the grandchildren frightened Jojo just a bit. 

She continued to show us that this was her home. She slept with us every night and loved to chase the cat down the hall at night. 

Life was good, Jojo enjoyed taking rides with us and joining us on some of our adventures. Jojo and Heidi (our 11 year old Bichon Frise) became fast friends and protectors of each other. Of course, Bailey was happy to have a new, joyful puppy in our home too! Well sort of... LOL. 

As time went on, our hearts filled up with Jojo love. So when we found her at home last night (8/22/2018) barking from the back yard and not able to use her back legs, we were horrified and quickly went to New Frontier Animal Medical Center. The staff at New Frontier were genuinely helpful and comforting. Dr. Drake explained that Dachshunds will often have an issue with a slipped disc in their back and that Jojo is in a great deal of pain. My heart ached while we listened to Dr. Drake giving us the news and options and I cried uncontrollably, then quickly regained my composure so I could ask questions Gene and I needed to make the right decision for Jojo. 

We were given three options: We could immediately travel to Tucson for a consult with a neurologist who would need to proceed with surgery the next day and the cost would be very costly for our pockets. The 2nd option was treatment with Acupuncture and Medicine to keep her comfortable and may relieve her pain and adjust her injury to where she could regain the use of her hind legs. Or, 3rd option would be to say our good byes and relieve her from her pain. Dr. Drake has seen several cases of this program being successful, however there is also the chance that she would never regain the use of her legs and we may need to get her some 'wheels' if we can control her pain. We prayed that GOD would comfort Jojo and lead us to the right decisions. 
 
It is our FAITH in GOD that we believe Jojo could recover from this ordeal and we will do everything we can to keep her comfortable during this time. But... we also lean on the positive thoughts and prayers from family and friends, and they are coming to us from all directions. Friends who have also been through this ordeal and have overcome the disabilities. So we will continue to have our FAITH and know that GOD is watching over us and leading these friends to help comfort our fears. 

I want to keep a journal on her progression, and I thought that a BLOG would be the easiest way for me to track and share with those who want to continue this journey with us. 

Thank you for your loving thoughts, prayers and sharing your stories with us.  

Jojo, Wendee and Gene




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