Dolly could face setbacks.
Her appetite might fluctuate.
Skin treatment could take weeks or longer.
Muscle rebuilding would take time.
Underlying medical findings could complicate the plan.
There should be no promise of a quick recovery simply because she had been removed from the ditch.
Getting her out only gives recovery a chance to begin.
Someday, Those Hind Legs May Be Asked to Do Something Ordinary
Stand for a meal.
Walk across a room.
Step over a low threshold.
Scratch the ground.
Turn around before lying down.
Nothing dramatic.
But every ordinary movement would contrast with the day Dolly could not lift those same legs high enough to escape a drainage ditch.
For Now, the Most Powerful Image Is Still at the Roadside
Dolly lies beneath the level of the road.
Wet leaves cling to the bottom of the ditch.
Large patches of her back are nearly bare.
Her thin body is curled against the concrete.
Then footsteps sound above.
Dolly looks up.
Her front paws move beneath her.
She stands.
Slowly, she reaches for the edge.
One paw hooks over the concrete.
Then the other.
Dolly pulls.
Her chest rises.
For a second, it looks as though she might make it.
Then the shaking begins behind her.
Her hind legs cannot generate enough force.
One rear paw slides.
Dolly tries to correct it.
The other slips too.
Her body moves backward.
Her front paws scrape against the edge before losing their hold.
Dolly slides to the bottom.
She lands among the damp leaves.
For several seconds, she does not move.
Her head lowers.
Her breathing settles.
Then another sound comes from the road.
Dolly's eyes open.
She looks upward again.
And despite having almost no strength left, she begins moving her front paws beneath herself for another attempt.
The heartbreaking part is not simply that Dolly is trapped in a drainage ditch.
It is that she has never stopped trying to climb out.
The question is how many more times her weakened body can slide back to the bottom before she becomes too exhausted to try again.