We have a prayer request today. Last night our precious little Sadie went out as usual to do her business and Luke left her out a little longer than we usually do. When he went to call her, she was nowhere to be found. We looked as long as we could, drove up and down our road calling to her, but eventually had to leave for our Christmas Eve service without finding her. I was worried the whole service and as soon as it was over we rushed home. She was here waiting for us, overjoyed to see us when Luke noticed she was limping. She had a very bad cut/tear on the back of her wrist on her left front leg.
We immediately called the vet who said we should come in, so we took her to the hospital. They ended up putting her under anesthesia, exploring and flushing the wound, and stitching it up in a "T" shape. The vet said we were extrememly lucky (translate blessed!) because the laceration came withing a hair of several major tendons and one major artery in the leg - if it had hit the artery, she probably would have bled to death before we got home. Scary! They also took an x-ray to make sure the leg wasn't broken, which it isn't (praise God!). She also has a scrape and nasty bruise in the armpit area of her right front leg which they cleaned up. If only animals could talk so we would know what happened to her!
We arrived back home with her at 1am this morning. She slept restlessly all night, frequently whining quietly and sometimes crying out. At 5 I got up to console her - that was about the time they told us her pain meds would wear out, and she was not a happy camper. This morning Luke left to help with chores at the barn at 6:45 and I tried to coax her to eat so she could have her pain medicine (it has to be taken with food). I finally found the trick - some chicken I had bought for Luke! I never thought I would be cooking tiny pieces of chicken at 7am on Christmas morning and hand-feeding them to a dog, but this morning I felt like a hero when she gobbled them down after refusing everything else.
The pain meds have started to kick back in but, being a hound, she is a big crybaby about everything. They told us she would have to go outside within a couple hours because they gave her IV fluids during surgery, but so far she cries loudly every time she tries to stand and then gives up and lies back down. So that's our next hurdle. Here she is sleeping on her bed with her poor bandaged leg and the food and water she won't touch. You can also see the bruise on the inside of her bottom leg:
Please pray for our sweet little doggie! We are praying for quick healing and that she doesn't pull any stitches. Also that this pain med. really helps because it is so sad to hear her cry and she has the most pitiful look on her face ever! Right now I am off to attempt a trip outside again, and then to finish my cooking for Christmas dinner.
