The Saga of Eddie

I feel incredibly guilty as I have known for over 2 weeks that I needed to do SOMETHING about that fence. I got complacent and was relying on simply watching Ed, either from the deck or the window whenever he was outside. Yesterday I came in the house for no more than 2 minutes, but that was more than enough time for him to make his grand escape.

Eddie has gotten out 3 times previous to yesterday. On the most recent of these, I found him myself after driving around for a half hour. The other 2 times, someone has found him and called me, one time within minutes, the other time it took about an hour. So, when it was already going on 2 hours yesterday, the dread really crept in. Yesterday was a fairly nice day and there were lots of people outside putting up Christmas lights, etc. while I was driving around. Once it got dark, people would go in and no one would be out to see my little guy. I was also worried that no one had called because Eddie had somehow lost his collar. If that happened, my only hope was that he'd be turned in to animal control in the morning and I could claim him there.

It got to be 10 p.m. and I was getting ready for bed when the phone rang. A couple had been out driving and had found Eddie in the road. Thank God for them. They stopped their car, blocking other cars from hitting him again. They had tried to call me once already, but I had missed the call because I had the water running in the bathroom and I didn't hear it. When I didn't answer, they had called animal control and the police. Once they got ahold of me, animal control said they weren't coming now that the owner was there. He was less than a half-mile from my house.

I'd been on scene just a couple of minutes when the first police car arrived... yes, I said the first. Must have been a slow night around here as eventually there were 3 on the scene! I guess Eddie CAN stop traffic... just a little late! The police officers were very helpful, finding the number for the emergency vet, and even calling for directions and to let them know I was on my way.

On the outside, Ed looked okay, just a few cuts and scrapes, but, of course, I was worried about internal injuries and broken bones. So was the vet. She was particularly concerned because he had scrapes on both his shoulder and his hip, designating that his whole body had been hit and not just one end. While her initial examination showed his legs didn't appear broken, she couldn't yet tell about his pelvis, and he seemed to have a lot of pain in his abdomen. I gave the okay to do blood tests and x-rays and waited the hour they said it would be before they knew more. The whole time I was thinking about what would be the limit... not only how much could I justify spending to put my baby back together, but also, would it be enough? Would he still be in pain and have lasting effects? If he would, I knew I'd have to make that most difficult of calls about what to do.

Once the x-rays and tests were done, the news was mostly good: no broken bones, and his bloodwork was primarily normal. One liver enzyme test was incredibly high, but she said that was normal for a dog who had gone through trauma, and that he would likely recover from that with medications and fluids. She did find a lot of bruising on his lungs, but, again, he should recover from it without a problem. The third concerning area was that she couldn't see his bladder on the x-ray, which could simply mean that it was empty, or it could mean that it had ruptured. Considering that the rest of his organs looked good, she though it was probably just empty, and I agree... he probably hadn't had much to drink in close to 10 hours.

I actually had the option of taking him home last night, but the vet recommended that he stay overnight so they could monitor him, keep him on fluids, and keep his pain managed. I agreed. They expected to transfer him to my regular vet this morning, but they feel that he will need another 24 hours of monitoring, and my vet's office doesn't have staff 24/7 like the emergency vet.

I had taken today off work, expecting to have to chauffer Eddie to the other doctor, but now I am using the day to fix the fence by placing brick pavers along the bottom of it. I have it about 1/3 of the way done and now need to go get more bricks. I need to do another 1/3 (2 sections) to feel really secure. The rest can wait until spring as it is not loose like the rest was.

So, please keep thinking good thoughts for my little boy; he should be home tomorrow. As I said in the spring when Coal got sick... "Here's where being a mom sucks!"