Sunday Morning, our second day at Nimpo Lake, I got up bright and early and braving the icy water I went out in my kayak to catch some trout for breakfast. After two hours without any luck I saw Alison and Fizz coming down to the dock so I paddled in to greet them. We had planned to go into Anahim for supplies after breakfast, so I needed to pull the kayak up onto the shore, and not wanting to lose the bobber and bait hook I had with me in the boat, I placed them on the dock asking Alison to put them into my tackle box. Alison picked up the bobber, and in that split second, Fizz, attracted to the sugar cured salmon eggs I was using for bait, gobbled up the fish hook that was left behind.

I saw Fizz move towards the hook, put her face down to it, obscuring it from my view. Firmly telling her "No, no, no!" had no effect as usual, and then when she raised her head the hook was gone.  I'll never forget the complete unconcerned look on her face; her expression seemed to say, 'that was tasty, hey, what's up?' ... For a moment I  was just as heedless as Fizz looked, still thinking about the hot coffee I was looking forward to, and planning what to do with the rest of my day. I won't tell you the language that issued from me when the gravity of the situation finally hit, just that I repeated it again and again as we hurriedly brushed our teeth, grabbed our coats and the few valuables we didn't want to leave behind, and rushed off to find the nearest Vet.

The closest one was three and a half hours away in Williams Lakes, and as advised by the vet on the phone we fed Fizz as much canned pumpkin and dog biscuits as she could eat, hoping that the roughage would cause the hook to pass before we arrived at the hospital.

It didn't, nor did it the next morning, so, there was nothing more to do; the Vets had to go in to get the hook out.

Just one moment, one moment that seemed so inconsequential to give it any thought at the time, when the only concern I thought I had was saving myself from getting a stray fish hook in my butt the next time I got into the kayak, and warming myself up with a hot cup of coffee.  One moment of thoughtlessness, and Fizz had to suffer being poked and prodded, stretched out and x-rayed, anesthetized, shaved, and cut into. 

I don't know how many times that moment has played over in my head, and how much I've wished I could have it back to do over again. But there's nothing for it, and really no one is to blame. It was an accident, pure and simple. Still, it's the simplicity of it that overwhelms me, and even though Fizz is recovering nicely, it may take some time for me to let myself off the hook for that one thoughtless and very costly moment.