Dottie the Survivor

On Tuesday December 11th, I kissed my pups (Dottie and Clyde) as I left for work. The day started out as normal as any other. The dogs excited from the moment my feet hit the floor. Happy for breakfast, pats and snuggles with my partner back in bed before he got up. I gave them their morning cookie and headed out the door. Around lunchtime I received a call and text from Pennsylvania “Your dog Dottie has been located”. No way, I thought. You’ve got to be kidding me. Then my phone rang and it was my vet’s office. “Dottie and Clyde have been hit by a car. It’s serious. Please come quickly. Clyde didn’t make it”. I was in shock; I think I screamed in my car in the parking lot. I called my partner who was closer to the vet’s office. He beat me there. The woman that hit them was there with her husband and three teenage girls that had stopped to assist. They were distraught. They hugged us, apologized, asked how they could help.
The vet took us back. We needed to see Clyde and make arrangements, he told us that Dottie’s leg was bad fractured and she may have a head injury. They had taken some images and didn’t see signs of internal bleeding but they couldn’t be sure quite yet. We were told we needed to transport her to the animal hospital for further evaluation and leg surgery. We waited as they prepared her for transport, loaded her in the back of my car and headed as quickly and carefully as we could to our amazing animal hospital.
Dottie was evaluated, given medication to reduce brain swelling if she had any. The first doc came in to tell us the leg was severely fractured and Dottie had internal bleeding. They needed to do a blood transfusion. Would we authorize that? Yes, of course. Ouch $$. It was too early to decide if we should amputate but it was a possibility to be considered. We needed to authorize a range of services for Dottie to be evaluated. There were a lot of numbers to look at through my tear-filled eyes. There was a lot of risk involved. Could we stabilize Dottie so she was strong enough for surgery? We waited. They told us to go home. No news is good news.
Then they called. Crap. Another transfusion was needed. Dottie was losing a lot of blood. They suspected it was the femoral artery but wanted to rule out anything else. They called later and asked us to come in. It’s Wednesday now and we need to do surgery. Dr. Norris the superwoman surgeon had been consulted and said the leg needed to be removed to try to save Dottie. Would we authorize this? Another range. More numbers. Oh my goodness. Could we do this? Would it be money well spent? Would Dottie survive? Could she be happy with three legs? So many questions. We said yes, we will trust you to try to save our dog.
We were grieving and in shock. Sick. Waiting and more waiting. Dottie made it out of surgery! It was a success and it was the femoral artery that had been lacerated; no other internal bleeding. Now we were on the road to help our tripawd recover.
Dottie did well in the hospital. She came home on Friday. She was weak but getting around ok with assistance from the harness. She came home with Tramadol, Antibiotic (oral and for her eye that had a scratch from the accident), and trazadone for anxiety.
I found this website as I began to research how to support Dottie through her recovery. She was very weak, heavily medicated and while she was great the first day, she began to get weaker. I was trying anything to get her to eat. She was going potty on pads on her bed. I was exhausted emotionally and physically.
Yesterday (Monday) I called to talk to the surgeon. I was very worried. She ordered an appetite (Entyce) and ordered us to discontinue her tramadol. Slowly throughout the day, Dottie started to wake up. She began eating. This morning we woke up to a tail wag!
We are taking this day by day. Dottie needs to build up her strength. We are caring for her incision site which has been weeping some especially after she goes out and uses the bathroom. But she’s alert, eating and drinking and responding to our voices. She even got up off her bed by herself today–she’s going to have to monitored closely the next couple of days. Naughty Dottie! 😆
We are going to take this day by day with Dottie and are looking forward to her spunky self coming back and helping her navigate the world with her 3-pawed self.
Thanks for being here. We will keep sharing as Dottie’s journey continues.