Jasmine Joy
My Journey from Rescue to Recovery
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My Mom and me![/caption]
My name is Jasmine Joy and I have been asked to share the story of my journey from rescue to recovery. I am a beautiful black lab mix with the shiniest of coats. I have always been and always will be a country kind of gal: my roots (such as they are – of course no one knows exactly what they are) begin and end in the country: chasing anything that moves ( sometimes with an occasional mishap (racoon 1 and Jasmine Joy 0), enjoying the water, forging new trails and just generally being happiest when sharing outside activities with my beloved Mom, Betsy.
How Betsy became my owner and forever home provider, as well as how I came to be named Jasmine Joy is the story of my journey: from living outside as an abandoned stray dog in the wild surviving on anything I could, to finding a home complete with a white picket fence (no kidding). Betsy had lost her beloved dog and was searching to replace that lost “joy”, but just could not find that perfect fit. Lo and behold, a friend of hers (Nancy) had “discovered” me in the wild, on my own, abandoned in the country, and was slowly winning my trust and friendship through the enticement of delicious dog food (much easier than having to scavenge for my "wild game" meals and certainly tastier!) She had given me the tentative name “Jasmine”, hence I became “Jasmine Joy”. Betsy came out to meet and greet me…and as they say, the rest is history. It was as if I had been waiting all my life for this amazing person to make me her own!
Unfortunatley, my story does not end happily at this moment, as I also came with a "gimpy" hind leg which needed attention. Now, we get to the recovery part of my story. After consulting several vets who all gave a dark prognosis suggesting amputation, my Mom, Betsy reached out to Dr. Bill (who had helped her with a tragedy involving another pet). Dr. Bill took a look at me, picked me up in his arms and whisked me to the back for an X-ray, saying “I just love a little lab”. And that was that. He said, “Oh no, I would not amputate…well, she COULD be a couch potato…but, we have a procedure, FHO for short, that I would recommend.” It was scary, but Mom studied and made the decision to proceed, and was never sorry (me either!). Everyone said I was the best of patients and recovered 3 times faster than expected. With the help of my other good medical advisor, Dr. Margie, who uses ancient Chinese knowledge, and tea pills (said to have saved samurai warriors), it did not take long to “flesh out that scrawny leg”. Boy was I excited to be running again, (you know I am a Lab and we take running very seriously!)
But wait, there is still more to the recovery story!... I had a brush with death with a thing called blastomycosis. 
Again, Dr. Bill was the best, even though I had to have treatment, Team Betsy (Mom) got it done, and the blisters left. Yea! I could walk again (the stuff got into my bones, and I could not stand up for days). It was rather bad and scary for Mom and me. We thought I was dying one Saturday night…but you would never know it now…although the fungus is known to “lurk” in the body, it has not yet surfaced, and life is as good as it can be, every minute of every day.
So this is my long story shortened for the Blog. What am I doing now? Well, Mom and I go on excursions in the car, walks in the woods, and I get to go to doggie day care at the Red Woof Lodge with my bestest of friends, Bella Ward, the most beautiful chocolate Lab ever (she is pretty talky, though, but I am quiet, so I let her say it all).
Life is good, but it is short: Play with and love your dog!
Signed,
Jasmine Joy
Blog submitted by: Jasmine Joy & Betsy
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This is Bella, my BFF. Isn't she cool?[/caption]