Hey all,
On Tuesday night, April 26, 2011, my sweet baby Maggie was run over by a truck. I decided to begin this blog to document her progress, recovery, and story; hopefully helping someone out there in the same situation as other blogs I ran across have helped me already. It helps me keep a positive outlook. Maggie is a 2 year old Jack Russell Terrier and the love of my life! She is such a sweet, loving and playful dog with a huge personality. BUT, my dad said this and I'll repeat it: I think she believes she is a cat with 9 lives (she might be on number 3 or so, she needs to chill). This dog has been through hell and back already and pulled through some pretty tough ordeals. She's definitely a trooper, and I know, I just know she'll come out of this leaving us impressed.
My cute little thing taking a nap.
Right after she was run over (I wasn't present, I was housesitting), my mother told me she was yelping and began dragging herself by her front legs, and was bleeding from her rectum. My parents jumped in the car and headed to the Emergency Vet Clinic. My dad even got pulled over by a state trooper he was driving so fast. Dad jumped out of the car (surprised the officer didn't freak out..) and ran to his window to tell him the situation. All he said was "Go, be careful but hurry." He didn't even check to see if they had a dog in the car, I'm guessing he must have a dog he loves at home! They called me after the vet had already seen her, which at first I got mad at them about but now I'm thankful I didn't have to see her in that condition. My father called me and told me, I freaked out. I'm surprised the neighbors didn't head over to check on my screaming. All I could say was "Is she alive?" I immediately jumped in the car and headed down the street in tornado weather (thankfully the vet was about 2 blocks from the house I was at). Her injuries were expectedly very extensive.
The X-Rays revealed a broken pelvis that was completely detached from her spine. S1, S2, and S3 vertebrae of her spine was broken. Her tail was broken and moved up about 2-3 inches and was parallel with her spine. Her hips were really out of whack, curving severely to the left. Her bladder was not visible, therefore possibly ruptured. She had no anal tone, meaning she suffered nerve damage from her broken spine and may be incontinent for the rest of her life. She was heavily sedated, her eyes were extremely glazed over, but I knew she knew who I was. It didn't look like my Maggie was in that body. I hugged and kissed her as much as I could, but didn't spend much time with her because she needed more pain medication. I didn't want her in pain, she was whining continuously. I said goodbye, and my family and I drove a quiet drive home.
The next morning, my mom and I had to transport her to our regular vet, Dr. Henderson, at 7:30. Good news - she had anal tone by the morning! When they took her temperature rectally, she tensed up which is such a good sign. She did urinate overnight but they weren't sure if it was voluntary or not, but no blood was present so that was a promising sign that her bladder wasn't ruptured. Trying the optimistic side, I can't believe being run over by a 5,000+ pound truck only did this to my 8 pound darling.
This is the day after in the car on the way to our regular vet. Still very sedated.
Dr. Henderson took a look at her X-Rays once we got there. He informed us that he would be keeping her for the next few days to manage her pain and assess her and her nerve function. He told us that most pelvic fractures in canines heal themselves, with the ability to walk, void, etc preserved. But, he told us that Maggies was so severe that hers would not. We could try to help her, but he sees little progress being made by that. An option we could look into would be surgery, but there is no surgeon in our area, we would have to go to a specialist at least 3 hours away or more, costing us approximately $5000. He also told me to go to www.caninecarts.com and familiarize myself with them. That just killed me. I realized that this is just going to be a long (and stressful..) waiting game. Every dog will heal differently, and there is nothing we can do but wait until we see progress, or not, and see how she is coming along.
The next day, I went to visit her in the morning. I was so excited to see her bright eyes and smiling face back! She wasn't as doped up on pain meds as before, and showed signs of excitement and happiness. She was licking my face and trying to get up and come to me. She did stand up, her left leg can hold a bit of weight (not much) and her right leg is worse. She has sensation in her left foot when you touch it. Her right foot though, she doesn't. When she tried to stand her right foot folded over and she kept trying to pick up her right leg to get it right, but she couldn't. Dr. Henderson told me she has not eaten at all, and they have removed her fluids they were administering subcutaneously. Later that day, they planned to take another X-Ray to determine if her bladder was intact or not. While I was there, she ate almost a whole can of dog food! She wouldn't drink water, so I would put some on my finger and stick it in the water bowl while she was licking it. She drank a good amount too!
Bright eyes and happy face are back!
I called the vet later and he told me her bladder is intact! It was visible on the X-Ray! She urinated right before the accident, I think that is what saved her bladder. I went to see her again that day, and the tech told us she had not had a bowel movement yet, but did urinate. Once again, they still aren't sure if it was voluntary or not. Her whole bottom half is very swollen and her whole belly is purple and bruised. She has been taking her outside but she won't urinate outside. She told us we could take her outside for some fresh air. She walked!! I mean, if you want to call it walking, but she did. My poor sweetheart, she was trying so hard. She is very unstable, and will walk about a foot then plop down. It was hard to watch. Her hips just kind of swing back and forth and her coordination is way off. I just wanted to cry, but I feel like she is a human and I need to show her my strength. I can see the confusion in her eyes and wondering what the hell is going on.
She has incredible willpower and I am hoping for the best. Keeping my fingers crossed. I will keep all of you who are interested updated. I will head to the vet in just a little bit and let you all know.
