Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Cam vs. Car Part 2 (#4 in Dog series)

So in telling the tale of Cameron's encounter with a fast-moving car, I asked the question, "How bad could it be?"


Well, clear the room of any faint-stomached people, because here's your answer:


Hind right leg, in pieces.


Hind right leg, still in pieces.


Hind right leg, with bones wired together.


Another view, showing that wires protrude from leg.


One leg shaved for IV access, the other bandaged.

A view of the external fixator device, with some gauze covering ugly stuff.




The leg, with some good healing of the road rash.


Poor guy looks so miserable in his inflatable collar.
So $4K later, we had a dog with a functional leg and a wicked desire to lick at it constantly. So he wore cut-off socks over his leg for a while, which helped a bit... We also had a dog with an odd primitive suckling reflex every time you brushed up against his cheek. I think it was his left... He didn't do that before the accident. To me, that's evidence of brain injury. (Any other TBI therapists want to weigh in on this one?)


But we are blessed that we have best-in-the-world veterinary care 10 minutes away, and surgeons who weren't so ready to push for amputation. They did an amazing job putting Cam back together. I'm truly grateful. And the vacation fund that was drained to fund the patch job? Well, we had a baby on the way. I used up all of my vacation time on maternity leave, so we weren't going anywhere anyway.


Today, Cam rarely strays from our side at the Arb. Is he lazy? Or does he just remember this all too well?

2 comments:

  1. Awwwww........he remembers! Maybe not the details, but that leaving you = bad.

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    1. Honestly, I just think he remembers "other dogs! AAUUGGHHHHH!"

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