I'm going to use this blog as a place to journal the recovery of my dog, Lady. Lady is a Shetland Sheepdog. I first met her in April of this year when she was unloaded from a transport van full of dogs from Bowling Green, KY. You see, I am a volunteer with the Danbury Animal Welfare Society (DAWS), in Danbury, CT, and Lady was one of the dogs we saved by bringing her to Connecticut.
Lady was going to be adopted, but when the family brought their other dog in to meet her, she got scared and somehow mangled her left hind leg. The break was really bad, just above her ankle. This was late April. I knew then that I wanted to adopt her and help her heal and give her a happy life.
The first attempt at repair was with wire. Didn't work and it turned into a compound fracture. Three weeks later, the second attempt at repair was to use a rod. She was on bed rest at the vet clinic for 2 months and we brought her home right after July 4 and finalized our adoption of her on July 12. Her splint was removed July 19 and when I took her for what I expected to be the final checkup on July 30, an x-ray revealed the leg had broken again. I was told that the vet could no longer care for her, actually, the words were, "We're done." I think they wanted to just tape up her leg and kick me out the door. I had a meltdown right there in the vet clinic.
The vet placed a call to Dr. Palmisano at the Emergency Clinic & Referral Center in Norwalk. We rushed Lady there on Friday afternoon for a consult. He said there was one more shot at saving her leg - to attach a KE device, an external skeletal fixation device. There were no guarantees, but he said that he considered amputation to be the last option, and I agreed. He said the bone quality may have deteriorated beyond the point where it was viable, but it was worth a shot. We decided to get the surgery and try one more time to save little Lady's leg. The surgery would be Monday - today.
My to-do for the weekend: Give Lady lots of kisses and hugs and find a new vet.
Lady's to-do for the weekend: Sit there looking adorable, wondering why she's confined to her x-pen and why she can't go sit by the pool with her Aunt P and why her mommy is flipping out.
This was the longest weekend I have ever lived through. I didn't want Lady to move and all she wanted to do was give me kisses and play with the bunnies that run around our yard. She was confined to her bed and everyone who came by gave her lots of attention and treats.
This morning we took her back down the 16 agonizing miles of Rte. 7 in Connecticut to Norwalk and checked her in. She tried to jump in my lap which made me completely lose it. That was 8:30 a.m. I came home and dove into my work and waited for the phone to ring.
It is now about 5 p.m. The surgical liason at the hospital just called and said Lady was being wheeled out of surgery. She was very positive about the surgery and said that Dr. Palmisano was also more positive than he had been during our consult. I hung up the phone and burst into tears.
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