Poor Shadow!

A few days ago, we noticed our dog, Shadow's one ear was droopy. We kept watching it, wondering if it was just irritated, or something, but it kept getting worse & we could tell it was really bothering her. Then 2 days ago, I noticed it was getting REALLY swollen & it seemed painful for her. She'd shake her head & wimper. So, I called the vet & Neil took her in to see what was wrong. The vet said that this happens to dogs sometimes. They bump their ear, or shake their head too hard & the cartilage gets seperated & it starts to bleed inside the ear, between the cartilage. So, they scheduled an appointment this morning to have her come in first thing. They would put her out, slice open the ear to drain all the blood, then stitch her ear back up again. I took her in this morning at 8:30, and then picked her up at 3:00 this afternoon. Poor Shadow! Her ear looks SO painful & she looks so sad. Hopefully she recovers quickly and her ear heals fast.
She is a good dog. We've had her for about 7 years now (since Jonah was just a baby), and she's getting pretty old--she's about 11 years old now. We adopted her when she was about 4 years old, from a German Shepherd Rescue in Utah. I REALLY did NOT want a dog, but I was outnumbered (Neil, PJ & Tessa all really wanted a dog)! Neil had been looking at German Shepherds online and found a rescue that was close, and read about Shadow on their website. So we went over to see her & of course Neil & the kids fell in love with her immediately! She was already kennel trained, house (potty) trained, great with kids, and seemed like a perfect pet for our family. So...I agreed to get her. But then a couple days later, I wondered WHAT I HAD BEEN THINKING!!! I was the one who had to feed her, brush her, take her out to use the bathroom and clean up the poop(we didn't have a fence finished around our yard yet), etc. It caused a bit of tension in our house for a while. But, as time went on, I warmed up to her. The kids LOVED her, she really was sweet and well-behaved. And when Neil is out of town, she makes me feel safer (she has a ferocious sounding bark). So, I admit I have a soft spot for her now too. I really will be kind of sad when she passes away. In fact, this morning, when I dropped her off at the vet, they explained that there is always a risk when you do surgery, especially on older dogs like her, and that sometimes they don't make it. It's one of the warnings they always have to make sure you are aware of. Anyway, as I was leaving, it made me kind of sad, and I really was hoping she'd be okay & will still be around for a while longer...