No Walk For You!

Monday night we decided to take the dogs for a quick walk. Just the two of us. We were going to run over and pick up something from Starbucks and come right home. Let the dogs stretch their legs.

One thing led to another and a million bad circumstances came together and in a split second Jake was hit by a car. There was nothing we could do. Terry nearly got hit by a car trying to get to him. Jake's feet never stopped moving. He was hit and then ran faster than the wind the three blocks home. We found him in a puddle of blood on our doorstep. His entire back leg a mess. It was absolutely devastating. We couldn't get ahold of our vet. We rushed him to an ER vet. We could not pay. They don't bill you later or take payment plans. I came to understand the absolute heartbreak people go through who can't pay on the spot to keep their pet alive. Our choices were limited. There looked to be nothing left skin, tissue, and muscle wise clear to the bone. At best this wound would have to be cleaned and dressed every few days under sedation and the tissue would have to re-granulate and form new healthy tissue and eventually scar tissue would form to cover it. A skin graft could be done later to try to fix the skin and fur but that would be primarily cosmetic. We didn't care about cosmetics. This is something that would take months to heal and a lot of money. To just clean and dress the wound, start antibiotics, and have an x-ray was all we could come up with the money to do. The doctor gave us some scenarios of what might be wrong and what might have to be done to his leg should there be joint damage or broken bones anywhere. There was talk of a $2500 surgery.

Then when we freaked completely out and didn't know what to tell this doctor to do from this point as we didn't have $2500 in our wallets there was a horrid discussion of what if we have to put him down because we can't pay for anything but that. It was terrible. The kids were horrified. Unfortunately that is something that happens. People come in with a pet with a very bad situation and the cost of what has to be done is so huge that they have no other alternative. It is so horrible.

The vet was so upset at the prospect of us having to put him to sleep for monetary reasons. He said if things were so bad that we could not afford to pay for the operations or the care of the wound for however long it was going to take to heal that he would gladly take him for us as he could care for all of it himself and he loved Boxers and raised Boxers and did not want to see Jake die. We agreed that would do that just to save him if it comes to that. We also don't want Jake to die.

So he did the x-ray. No broken bones. Scenario instantly got better looking. He suggested we could take him home pretty drugged up and stable and rush him to our vet in the morning because it would put us in an easier position and maybe our vet, if they could even take care of a wound of this magnitude, could work with us on the cost. He would but he was not in private practice. He has to follow the rules of the ER hospital. Even with all that he kept taking off the costs of a lot of the things he did for Jake so that we could pay to take him home. We understood. We borrowed the money and took him home. Jake never made a peep even when his meds wore off at about 4a.m. he just looked so pitiful. I cried all night. At 4 I was up trying to find a way to pay for taking him to our vet. We were on our way to our vet before the office even opened.

I had a mini breakdown as we carried him in and told them the whole thing and about the cost and how I don't have any resources left to pay for that big of a bill and how I didn't want to put Jake to sleep. They understood. It is something they see very often I am sure. They helped me apply for a CareCredit account in my name which I was sure I would be denied as I have no job. In the meantime, Jake, upon getting ready to be put in a crate there, could hold it no longer and urinated for the first time and we realized he had actually been holding it as not to soil his crate or our truck. Poor baby! We didn't know if he could even be moved let alone go outside to pee. I had put towels down and everything thinking he would probably pee in the crate and he didn't. That worried us because we weren't sure if he had internal damage. So this was a very good sign. They assured me they would take good care of Jake and we would talk about money after he was seen. Easy for them to say. I signed an estimate paper agreeing to pay not five minutes later. I didn't know how. So we waited. The doctor came out after having read the notes from the night before and decided Jake would have to be sedated to even unwrap the bandage. We agreed. So he sent us home to wait.

We waited on pins and needles all day. After several unsuccessful attempts to call and get an update at 3p.m. they were in there now working on him. They called me back a little later to tell me that I had been approved for the CareCredit account. This helped to relieve my anxiety a bit. I at least had a couple thousand to work with now. It had been a very busy day. A Yorkie had swallowed a sprinkler head and a large breed dog of some sort had swallowed a red ball and the waiting room was sitting full of regular appointments. So we kept waiting.

Finally, at 5:30 I knew they would be closing at 6 so if I was going to get ahold of anyone I had to call back and bug them. I found out Jake had been in surgery and they had actually been able to stretch enough skin from the sides of the leg around and mostly close the wound. He was now dreaming of pink elephants and resting comfortably and doing fine but that we could come and take him home at any time now. This was excellent news. He did very well last night and has been absolutely amazing since. He is even walking on the leg and up and about and wiggling his nubby and eating fine and drinking fine and going outside to potty and is even in pretty good spirits. I am sure the drugs are helping. He is on a lot of meds. We have to take him back in Friday for a dressing change and I don't know how that will go. For now he is home and that is all that matters.

Everyone in our house is now banned from taking a walk.

Posted by gwendolyn on May 25, 2005 at 10:52 AM