Or, the year I may never financially recover from.
Okay, I know I will recover from this year. But it has been a lot.
I have three dogs, and two of them have apparently decided that 2026 is the year to personally test the limits of my bank account.
My oldest dog, who is around 13, started with kidney issues, followed by liver issues, and then gallbladder issues that ultimately required surgery. His veterinary expenses this year have totaled more than $10,000.
My youngest dog, who is around three, didn’t want to be left behind.
He started wiThe year my dogs apparently decided to personally test the limits of my bank account.
My oldest dog, who is around 13, started with kidney issues, followed by liver issues, and then gallbladder issues that ultimately required surgery. His veterinary expenses this year have totaled more than $10,000.
My youngest dog, who is around three, apparently didn’t want to be left behind.
He started with severe ear infections and then developed a fungal infection in his nose. Diagnosing and treating that required surgery and testing totaling around $7,000.
Then, just to keep things interesting, he ate a sock.
That was another $2,000 surgery.
While removing the sock, the vet very kindly did an ear wash to help with the ongoing infection—and discovered polyps. So tomorrow we’re heading to a specialist to figure out what those are about. Depending on what they find, his next surgery will either be around $1,000 or closer to $5,000.
At this point, I have developed a slightly concerning level of calm whenever someone tells me what something is going to cost.
“Okay. I’ll figure it out.”
Today my oldest dog had to go back to the vet because he’s been losing his balance and falling down. The vet thinks it may be something that resolves with the medication he was given today, and I am very much hoping that’s what happens—because the next diagnostic step is, naturally, another very expensive one.
There have definitely been moments this year when I’ve looked at the numbers and thought, How in the world am I doing this?
But there’s also something strangely clarifying about loving animals.
You make the best decision you can with the information you have. You pay the bill. You rearrange things. You worry. You hope. And then you go home with your dog.
So for now, I’m apparently living in my “I’ll figure it out” era.
And yes, if you’ve been keeping track, there is a third dog.
He’s my middle child, and he has perfected middle-child syndrome. I have repeatedly told him that he is a very good boy and that his contribution to the family this year can simply be continuing not to require a five-figure veterinary intervention. He does not get a turn at the game of breaking my wallet.
But underneath all the jokes about the money, I think this year has shown me something else.
It is lonely to be the person who has to make every decision with no one standing beside you as a backup. When something happens, there isn’t another person to look at and say, What do you think we should do? There isn’t someone else carrying part of the worry, or helping decide where the line is between what is possible and what isn’t.
Every decision lands with me.
And yet, strangely, there is freedom in that too.
Whatever sacrifices I make because of these choices are mine to make. I may be recovering financially for a few years after all of this settles. I may have to change plans, postpone things, spend differently, or rebuild more slowly than I expected.
But I’m only making those compromises for myself.
There isn’t a spouse whose future I’m changing, or children whose needs I have to weigh against the decisions I’m making. Had my life taken a different path, these choices would have carried a completely different kind of responsibility.
It’s an odd tradeoff.
There are moments when being the keyholder to every decision in your life feels incredibly lonely, because there is no one else holding the other set of keys.
But there is also something deeply empowering about realizing that I can look at a difficult situation, decide what matters to me, accept the consequences of that decision, and say:
“Okay. I’ll figure it out.”
And so far, I have.
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