A Little Trauma

Yesterday was one of the longest days of my 65 years on the planet.

I was upstairs doing my morning thing and Mark was already out in the driveway shoveling yet another truckload of dirt when he busts in the house and tells me that Gladie is missing.  I jumped up and do the first thing I always do when I think I will be running around the neighborhood like a crazy woman screaming for a dog...put on my bra.  TMI

I headed out the front door and go towards Mr. Bill's house.  She usually will come when you call her and then go belly up and turn into jello.  She didn't come.  I went back in the house and look in all of her hiding places.  She is a stinker and full of spunk.  No Gladie anywhere.  I go to the garage and check her hiding places there...she is stealth when you one the garage door, you never know that she has slipped by you.  I go back to the backyard and whistle and call her.  Then I hear a very faint cry.  Imogene and Ollie tear across the backyard to lead me to her at the back gate.  I find her impaled on a piece of rebar sticking out of the ground about two feet.

I guess she was in shock because she was just sitting there with an awful look on her face.  I held it together and was thankful that the dogs lead me to her instead of Mark.  I would have been looking for two missing people because he would have been passed out right beside her.  

I checked and there was no blood.  I thought that was odd because there is always blood.  Then I figured out what had happened and realized that I had to get her off of the rebar and to the vet right away.  She let me pull her off the rebar, something I never want to do again!  

I carried her to the front porch and laid her down and finally looked at her injury.  On the inside of her leg, there was a hole about as big as a quarter.  Still no blood.  I didn't try moving her to see the other side. Mark drove up in the car and ask if she was okay.  I said no and then lost it.  I picked her up and we headed to the vet which is three minutes from the house.  They were far from being open but just so happened that the vets daughter was out in the parking lots pulling weeds.  It was her first day at work.  Mark ever so calmly told her that we had an injured dog and that we needed to see the vet.  That's when momma bear was unleashed.  'My dog impaled herself on a piece of rebar and she needs the vet now.'  This girl tore, I mean ran as fast as she could, to the back door to tell her dad.  A few minutes later he was letting us in the door.

Gladie wasn't too happy about that old cold table and she was a little hesitant to let them check her out.  Two minutes later she was back in the back getting some happy juice.

I was out front talking to Dr. Kirwin when the surgery team walked in.  They were already scheduled to be there on this day and at this time.  God's timing is all that I am saying.

What seemed like an eternity Dr. K himself called to let us know that she was the luckiest dog that he had ever seen in all of his years of practice.  No internal organs or muscles were touched.  There was a lot of debris and she did tear away a lot of tissue probably trying to release herself.  He had to trim a lot of skin on the inside.

So she will get the drain taken out on Monday and be in the cone of shame for four weeks until the stitches and staples come out.

No playing with her siblings which is the hardest part of all.  No water so we should really have a great time at the lake.  No jumping...you should see what the living room looks like with everything turned upside down.

Lots of couch time with me.

And good afternoon naps on the camping blanket.

It is going to be a long few weeks.  Imogene and Ollie are so confused by the whole thing.  Michael has been a great nurse's aid but makes a face when he looks at the incision spots.  They do look a bit gross.  We borrowed a huge kennel so Gladie and her cone friend could fit through the door.  She doesn't mind it al all.  She even slept until 7:30 this morning.  It was trial and error with trying to figure the best way to get her to eat and drink water.  We are using plates that will fit inside the cone when she stands over them.

We figure that she was chasing a squirrel out of the yard and when it jumped to the top of the fence she tried to jump to the top of the fence only to come down on a piece of rusty rebar.  Which by the way, Murph removed after he heard what had happened to his girl.  There is no more rebar in our yard!!  But there are still squirrels and I know the dogs will continue to chase them and I know the squirrels will continue to eat our cherry tomatoes.