thesameguy
June 25th, 2014, 08:24 PM
Friday 6/13 my ex-roommate and good friend texted to say that her SO had developed some sort of problem resulting in the total loss of vision from one eye. It subsided as they arrived at the ER in the middle of the night, then returned combined with fainting and upset stomach. Then fine again as if nothing had happened. Diagnosis: We have no clue, but our best guess is a pinched blood vessel on the back of the eye, and it could happen again, there's nothing we can do at this time.
Saturday 6/14 started weird and all day nothing felt right - details aren't important. In the evening I decided to try and salvage the day by refilling the BBQ propane tanks and having some steak for dinner. Got to the propane place and just as I got out of the car the dog jumped out, ran across a street, and got hit by a car. I cannot explain what I felt as I watched it happen and won't go into it. We rushed her to the doggy ER unsure what to expect but knowing it could have been MUCH worse. They treated her and scheduled a meeting on 6/16 with a surgeon and cautioned us about keeping her clean and dry, because she was bleeding from exposed muscle.
Monday 6/16 the surgeon showed us she had a small fracture in her RR tibia and her medial collateral ligaments had been - literally - vaporized. Seeing her on an OR table sedated with her leg spread wide open is about the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my life - and I work at a PI law firm where graphic imagery is part of the job. It's different when it's yours, obviously. Can't imagine having to deal with that for a child, although who knows - Sammy might as well be my kid.
Tuesday 6/17 we brought her back for surgery - removal of shattered bone and installation of an Arthrex FiberWire synthetic ligament and a pair of Arthrex Corkscrew bone anchors. I spent all day and all night learning a lot about the canine tarsocrural joint, injuries, treatments, and prognoses. It helped some having a shitty background in examining xrays (again, PI law firm) and having a good friend who has spent his life developing some badass medical implants.
Wednesday 6/18 we got her back, wrote a $5000 check and thanked the vet for letting us do it. There could have been internal or spinal or cranial injuries - a ligament that is prone to damage in dogs anyway (terrible design - a clear cut product liability case if ever there was one) was lucky. It was lucky it was a 2014 Camry and not some old car with metal bumpers or a truck with ground clearance. Her butt bounced off the front and she had a severe case of road rash. It could have taken hours or days to see a vet and infection could have set in, instead of taking 50 minutes to have her on a table being cleaned up and evaluated. I just keep telling myself those things. I have been trying to avoid being angry that the driver failed to see Sammy cross a sidewalk and a lane of traffic and stop directly in front of her car and could have easily stopped had she not been speeding (~40mph in a 30mph). She wasn't even on the brakes until she hit Sammy. The 30 or 40 feet saved by going the speed limit would have made all the difference. Anyway... it could have been far worse.
Sunday 6/19 Sammy was getting over the sedation and morphine and starting to act normal again, just in time to receive a call that my mom was in the ER with heart arrhythmia. She was medicated, stable, and being kept overnight for observation with no immediate threats, but no immediate explanations either.
Monday 6/20 Mom was discharged with the only probable explanation being a weird OTC supplement side effect so it's been replaced with a different one. I've got such mixed feelings about the state of medicine right now.
Wednesday 6/25 we had a followup visit with the vet, who I've since learned is incredibly accomplished. Writes papers, teaches veterinary medicine at UCD, specializes in exactly the type of surgery she rendered for our puppy. Not a big fan of corporate medicine, even for animals, but our neighborhood vet (who is excellent) just could never afford to keep a person like this on their payroll. I consider us genuinely blessed that we had access to her. Sammy is healing well and shows no signs of infection or undiagnosed injury. The long term is very promising with a return to full joint functionality but an elevated risk of reinjury due primarily to the bone loss. In three weeks she'll be on a splint. In the interim, restricted activity and a 24x7 watch to be sure she doesn't compromise the surgery site intentionally or accidentally.
I'm mostly off the grid right now - one day a week at work and the rest of the time literally staring at the dog. It's a weird experience. I don't recommend it. I also don't recommend taking "shortcuts" through residential areas but if you must stick to the speed limit. However, I'm a slightly bigger proponent of Camrys than I used to be.
Saturday 6/14 started weird and all day nothing felt right - details aren't important. In the evening I decided to try and salvage the day by refilling the BBQ propane tanks and having some steak for dinner. Got to the propane place and just as I got out of the car the dog jumped out, ran across a street, and got hit by a car. I cannot explain what I felt as I watched it happen and won't go into it. We rushed her to the doggy ER unsure what to expect but knowing it could have been MUCH worse. They treated her and scheduled a meeting on 6/16 with a surgeon and cautioned us about keeping her clean and dry, because she was bleeding from exposed muscle.
Monday 6/16 the surgeon showed us she had a small fracture in her RR tibia and her medial collateral ligaments had been - literally - vaporized. Seeing her on an OR table sedated with her leg spread wide open is about the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my life - and I work at a PI law firm where graphic imagery is part of the job. It's different when it's yours, obviously. Can't imagine having to deal with that for a child, although who knows - Sammy might as well be my kid.
Tuesday 6/17 we brought her back for surgery - removal of shattered bone and installation of an Arthrex FiberWire synthetic ligament and a pair of Arthrex Corkscrew bone anchors. I spent all day and all night learning a lot about the canine tarsocrural joint, injuries, treatments, and prognoses. It helped some having a shitty background in examining xrays (again, PI law firm) and having a good friend who has spent his life developing some badass medical implants.
Wednesday 6/18 we got her back, wrote a $5000 check and thanked the vet for letting us do it. There could have been internal or spinal or cranial injuries - a ligament that is prone to damage in dogs anyway (terrible design - a clear cut product liability case if ever there was one) was lucky. It was lucky it was a 2014 Camry and not some old car with metal bumpers or a truck with ground clearance. Her butt bounced off the front and she had a severe case of road rash. It could have taken hours or days to see a vet and infection could have set in, instead of taking 50 minutes to have her on a table being cleaned up and evaluated. I just keep telling myself those things. I have been trying to avoid being angry that the driver failed to see Sammy cross a sidewalk and a lane of traffic and stop directly in front of her car and could have easily stopped had she not been speeding (~40mph in a 30mph). She wasn't even on the brakes until she hit Sammy. The 30 or 40 feet saved by going the speed limit would have made all the difference. Anyway... it could have been far worse.
Sunday 6/19 Sammy was getting over the sedation and morphine and starting to act normal again, just in time to receive a call that my mom was in the ER with heart arrhythmia. She was medicated, stable, and being kept overnight for observation with no immediate threats, but no immediate explanations either.
Monday 6/20 Mom was discharged with the only probable explanation being a weird OTC supplement side effect so it's been replaced with a different one. I've got such mixed feelings about the state of medicine right now.
Wednesday 6/25 we had a followup visit with the vet, who I've since learned is incredibly accomplished. Writes papers, teaches veterinary medicine at UCD, specializes in exactly the type of surgery she rendered for our puppy. Not a big fan of corporate medicine, even for animals, but our neighborhood vet (who is excellent) just could never afford to keep a person like this on their payroll. I consider us genuinely blessed that we had access to her. Sammy is healing well and shows no signs of infection or undiagnosed injury. The long term is very promising with a return to full joint functionality but an elevated risk of reinjury due primarily to the bone loss. In three weeks she'll be on a splint. In the interim, restricted activity and a 24x7 watch to be sure she doesn't compromise the surgery site intentionally or accidentally.
I'm mostly off the grid right now - one day a week at work and the rest of the time literally staring at the dog. It's a weird experience. I don't recommend it. I also don't recommend taking "shortcuts" through residential areas but if you must stick to the speed limit. However, I'm a slightly bigger proponent of Camrys than I used to be.