The Island Vet

On Sunday morning, we were getting ready to go to the beach and I sent Rachel out to the car to find Hannah's water bottle.  A few minutes later, Rachel came rushing into the house saying, "Mom!  Holly's hurt!"  I didn't even know she had Holly outside with her.  Holly was in the front seat of the car.  When Rachel picked her up, she jumped out of Rachel's arms. 

It totally wasn't Rachel's fault.  It isn't the first time she has jumped like that.  However, this time she landed wrong.  When Rachel brought her in, Holly wouldn't put any weight on her left hind leg.  I was afraid it was broken.  We grabbed Holly's crate and she went right in.  I got on the computer and looked up vets in the area.  The local vet was closed since it was Sunday.  Their recording directed me to the emergency vet hospital in Naples.  I called P.K. in tears.  I had no idea how much it would cost to fix Holly's leg or if she would have to have surgery.  I called ahead to the emergency vet to make sure they were open and to make sure I had the correct address.  They told me it would be $95 just to see her.  I told P.K. what happened and he said, "I can't understand what you are saying."  I am usually pretty calm in a pinch, but I think the combination of the girls crying, being in a strange place and not knowing for sure what was wrong was a lot to take in.  I got myself under control and told him again.  Being the calm person that my sweet hubby is he said, "Just fix the dog."  I told him again that I had no idea how much it would cost and he calmly repeated, "Just fix the dog."

Here she is in her crate on Rachel's lap on the way to the vet.

The nurse took us to an exam room and took Holly's vitals.  She left us there to wait for the doctor to come in.  The girls sat on the floor with Holly to keep her company.  Once the doc came in and examined Holly she found that Holly had dislocated her knee.  So sad :(  The doc took Holly out of the room to get someone else to hold her while she fixed her knee.  She came back and said she wanted to give Holly an injection of pain medicine and do some x-rays to make sure there weren't any fractures.  I ran Hannah back to the house and Rachel and I grabbed lunch.

When we arrived back at the hospital, we were told that thankfully there were no other injuries.  Holly was feeling "really good" from the pain medication.  She was given pain pills and an anti-inflammatory to take at home.

When we got home we opened her crate to take her out of the car and this is how she looked.  She was drooling down the left side of her mouth.  It was soooo pitiful.  We just shut the crate and let her sleep it off.

We've (Rachel would want me to say...I've) had a very stressful week with Holly.  The vet ordered two weeks of inactivity.  That means Holly has been in her crate except for short potty walks.  A couple of times when I have gone to pick her up, she screams like she is in pain.  That kills me.  It is hard to not be able to explain why she has to stay in her crate all. the. time.  Rachel has been very helpful.  She is more relaxed with Holly and the injury than I am.  All the kids have been great with her.  They will do activities in my room where they can sit next to her while she is in her crate.  Aaron even read to her.  They have all taken turns just sitting next to her crate and rubbing her head.

We took her to a regular vet on Marco Island this morning to have the leg rechecked.  I was so nervous that he suggested I might have to be sent to the waiting room.  Huh!  It is funny because I have never been like that with my kids.  Even when Rachel broke her leg, I wasn't as nervous.  I think because we could communicate about when it hurt or the best way to move her. 

When my kids were little, there were many occasions where I had to force medicine in them or hold them down to suction their noses.  I would staddle them and hold their arms with my knees and hold their heads with my hands.  The difference is they didn't try to bite me.  We have to crush Holly's pain pill into a fine powder and roll it in a piece of turkey.  Crazy.

The vet this morning took her to another room to examine her leg.  He said Holly didn't limp at all and she even let him trim her nails.  He explained to us a bit more about how the knee needs to heal.  He said she needs another week of inactivity and probably 4-6 weeks of taking it easy to totally heal.  He said because we can't explain to her that she needs to let it heal, when it starts to feel better she is going to try to go staight to normal activity and it will hurt.  Bummer, but sounds just like people.

She finished her pain meds yesterday and the vet said she should be fine at this point with just the anti-inflammatory and we can use it until it is gone.  My plan is took keep her restricted in her crate for another week (or two weeks from this past Sunday) and then set her up in the kithchen where she can get out and walk a bit, but there is nowhere for her to climb.