Diego is back in treatment again!

I wondered if I should share this because it would make me appear to be really stupid, but the ending is another surreal appearance by some kind of blessed higher power, so I'm going to share my ignorance anyway.

I've been treating my old dog, Diego, for ear mites, for weeks now! It is definitely getting better but anyone that knows Diego knows that he is not easy to treat for anything, and he weighs 120#. He has to be muzzled, then completely sedated and knocked out for a vet visit, and they have to come to my home, a pretty horrible experience for him and for me. Squirting stuff in his ears is like wrestling a steer, so it was suggested using cotton balls saturated with mineral oil, and pushing them in as far as possible, and squeezing until ample oil was applied, etc. He has been allowing me to do this.

A couple of nights ago, while using this application, when I removed the cotton ball, I found only a small portion of it between my fingers! OMG, did I shove it so far down that it is now stuck in his inner ear?! He was on his dog bed when I did this, and I looked everywhere and couldn't find the biggest part of the cotton ball. I felt around, and couldn't feel anything in his ear. I took a flashlight and tried to see something, but by this point, he wanted nothing to do with me or my hands or my fingers or my flashlight.

So, for two days, I've been watching closely, tried in vain with the flashlight again, couldn't see anything, but didn't want to put anything in his ear to push it further. This concern has been a huge consternation for me for two days! OMG, what have I done? Do I put him through the whole vet trauma thing again?

This afternoon, on my back deck, there was the cotton ball on the deck floor! It wasn't inside his inner ear! How the heck it got there, I have no idea, but my relief was so huge, I just looked up and said, "thank you so much" to whatever or whoever came through for me but once again!

I know, kind of a stupid story when considering the greater scheme of things. But for me, it brought everything back to the simplicity of when we try to do what we think is best, then think we have failed, and can't find any answers, and then the universe presents a dried up mite poop/blood spotted cotton ball right beneath our feet, in the most unlikely place, and we believe in miracles again!