It Could Happen to You: Part 2

I woke up early the morning after June's accident even though we didn't get to bed until almost 4:00am.  I immediately grabbed my phone.  No missed calls.  No voice mails.  I called the emergency vet.  I explained who I was and that June was my dog.  The polite lady on the phone didn't really say anything, so I choked it out, "Is she still alive?" The lady assured me that she was alive!  We would've already been notified had she passed in the night.  Although we were far from out of the woods, she made it through the first night.  I couldn't wait to go up there and visit her, which I did that same day.  I needed to tell my baby girl how proud I was of her that she fought through the night.  She fought to stay alive.  She fought for us.  Now that is pure love.

Ben and I took care of Cooper that morning before we headed back to Virginia.  We couldn't wait to see our sweet girl and tell her how much we loved her and how proud of her we were that she had fought through the night.  We sat in the waiting room for several hours before they took us to see her. 

We walked into the back to see her.  She wasn't well enough to move into an exam room for our visit, so we were in the back where all of the vets were working.  The vet that walked us back explained to us that we needed to be calm and keep her calm.  Although she had made it through the night, she was still in pretty bad shape.

We were surprised when we saw her.  She was laying down in a crate and was heavily sedated.  Even with her sedation, she perked up when she saw us.  My heart melted that she was happy to see us even with all of her pain.  We opened the crate and sat down next to her.  I was honestly scared to touch her.  I was afraid I would hurt her.  June had a pink cast on her left leg.  She had tubes of oxygen in her nose.  She was shaved down in several spots where her injuries were.  She had stitches on her hind legs.  My poor sweet girl.  I only pet her on the top of her head.  That was the only place I figured wouldn't hurt her.

We were only with her for literally five minutes, but it was worth the several hours of waiting.  We got to see our baby.  She knew we were there for her.  She knew she was loved.  We left with heavy hearts, but we had hope.  Hope that our baby girl would come back home to us safe and sound.

June stayed at the emergency vet for a week.  One of us went to visit June daily.  We would drive up after work, wait, and love her for a few minutes before leaving.  We felt it was extremely important to her recovery that she knew how much we cared.  We wanted her to fight.  The only day we didn't see her was the day of her surgery.  The vet assured us that she wouldn't even know we were there.  She was going to be in surgery to have rods put in her leg.  She would be sedated all day long.  That was a very long day.  The next day, we went to see her.  On day eight, we brought her home.

Cone, metal rods, stitches, and a broken shoulder.  Poor June!

It was so good to have June home!  It was a little stressful because we didn't have vets monitoring her 24 hours a day.  I was so afraid that something would happen to her.  I was afraid of a blood clot coming loose or unexpected internal injuries that hadn't been caught yet.  (Did I mention I am a worrier?)  Ben was unable to take leave to stay home with her and I worked a job where I had no vacation or sick time to stay home with her.  My mother in law saved the day!  She flew out from Indiana to stay with June during her first week home to take care of her.  She was an angel for helping us out!

She had to wear a plastic bootie  to keep her bandage dry.

Slowly but surely, June recovered.  It took time, but our sweet little girl made it through!  She fought for us.  June is now our bionic doggy.  She has metal in her leg, but you would never know it by how fast she still is! 

June's external metal rods are gone now, but she still has her internal ones.

We of course fixed the little hole under the fence where June escaped the backyard.  We put in stakes too just in case.  We also make sure to be extra careful around holidays.  June is always inside with us except for supervised potty breaks.  Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our kids.  They are our entire world.

***

Please keep your pups safe and have a plan for emergencies.  You never know when an accident could happen to you.  And thank you all for your kind words in my first post about June's accident.  You are all so caring!