A Masterpiece Gone

Chapter Three

After pacing back and forth unstable on the sterilized, but slippery examination table, Jackson finally gave into to sadly lying down against the frigidness much to the disliking of his aching bones. He gave Jessie quite the stare with his watery dark eyes. "I know Daddy took you when you hurt your leg while I was on tour, but you are due for a check-up," she explained to him as they waited for the vet tech to return with a comfortable towel that Jackson could use to sit on. "And Mummy doesn't like this limping business that she wishes Daddy could have been more on top of."

A rather healthy dog, Jackson seldom went to the vet for anything over the years other than his normal check-ups, a few upper respiratory infections, and more recently what appeared to be a slightly sprained paw in November. While he was getting up there in years, he still had quite a lot of spunk left in him. However, Jessie was quite happy his check-up coincided with today as it was becoming disconcerting how he seemed disinterested in Jenny, Jake, and the kids during their whole visit and did not even bother to come say good-bye to them when they all left for the airport yesterday morning.

"So sorry for the wait," the vet tech, Lidia, apologized as she entered the room from the door that deposited to the back area of the practice. "Apparently a lot of towels are being washed, but this fluffy purple one should make Jackson feel a lot better."

The black French bulldog watched Lidia carefully as she approached him, first scratching him behind the ears before carefully picking him up and plopping him back down on the toweled examination table. "Let me just get his chart right over here," Lidia announced, her long dark ponytail swinging with her  movements as she turned towards the counter lined with a vitamin treat jar, some ointments, leaflets, and a sink.

Jessie took this as her cue to rise from the narrow, but comfortable seat adjacent to the table. She watched Lidia in anticipation as she found Jackson's chart and proceeded to the other side of the room to access the computer. "So what is the reason for Jackson's visit today?" Lidia asked without looking up from the clipboard as she began scribbling something down.

"We are here for Jackson's annual check-up, but I am concerned about how he has been walking and a slight change in behavior," Jessie responded.

Lidia nodded, her brown eyes shifting between the clipboard and whatever she brought up on the computer. "Is this related to his last visit? It says he was here five months ago for an injured leg that was treated with a NSAID," she reported from the small flat screen.

"I am assuming so. Unfortunately I was not around for a while from work so my husband brought him in, but I noticed from the moment I saw him that he just is not himself and he is walking with a slight limp," Jessie answered. "It is barely noticeable, but it is noticeable enough for me."

Lidia began to alternate writing on the clipboard with typing onto the computer. "Is he eating, drinking, and eliminating normally?" she asked.

After determining that the only abnormal thing going on with Jackson was his disinterest in human interaction and his strut, Lidia went through the standard procedure of weighing him, taking his temperature, and collecting the stool sample that Jessie was careful to bag. "Dr. Rudek will be right with you both," Lidia declared after gathering all the information she needed before disappearing back into the door she came from.

While Jessie wasn't panicking, she still was mentally crossing her fingers that this simply was a case of an injury that needed more time to heal with more medicine and cage rest if need be. Now that the house was empty, it marked the first day of working on her goal of a stress-free break and she did not want it to begin with a bad diagnosis for poor Jackson.

Just as Jessie began to massage the back of Jackson's neck, a lean, tall woman with stylish brown hair partially put back warmly smiled at Jessie and Jackson before glancing the clipboard left behind by Lidia near the computer. Although Jackson had many nice vets no matter where she was living, Jessie had to admit she liked Dr. Rudek the best. After a quick review of information, Dr. Rudek made her way to the examination table first greeting Jessie before beginning to pet Jackson's back. "I see we may possibly be in pain still," she sadly told Jackson in her slight Polish accent. "Let's take a look at everything else first and then we are going to see what is going on."