March 20, 2015

Deployment Problem #287: Not having a second opinion

I don't know what the first 286 problems of deployment are, but I'm sure I could come up with them.

Remember what I said the other day?  "It is a truth universally acknowledged..."

It is very true.

Currently I have my leg propped up with ice on my shin.

And I don't want to say that I ran over Jett with the four-wheeler, so I'll say that Jett ran into the front wheel of the four-wheeler while the four-wheeler was moving and it went over top of him.

Sounds much better, right?

We have a lot of cacti in our field and Scout never fails to get something lodged in his paw everytime I take them for a run.  His reaction is always the same: stop, drop, and wait for human-mother-person to come pick him up and fix the problem.  So I stop the four-wheeler when we are way down at the edge of the property line, I run to Scout and pick him up, I carry him back to the four-wheeler.  I try to get the cactus out of his paw but it looks like I'm going to need gloves and tweezers.  I could only get part of it out.  So I hold him on my lap and we start off back to the house.  Jett, meanwhile, is darting around and stopping and starting and going left and right and left again.  Scout is squirming and I'm trying to prevent him from hurting himself and me.  Cactus is really annoying.

And then Jett darts out from somewhere behind me and boom.  I don't really want to talk about it because I think this is going to give me nightmares for a very long time.  But he squealed once and ran about 20 feet away.  I don't even know where I hit him, honestly, because it was that quick.  He had a bit of a limp in his back leg for about 10 seconds and then he just sat there and looked at me as I threw Scout onto the ground, scooped Jett up, and started toward the house.  I threw both dogs (gently) into the cab of the truck, and went into the house to call the vet.  They were closed.  The answering machine said to call a particular emergency vet.  I did.  The woman who answered said they were a walk-in clinic and she was very nice.  I google-mapped the directions and we left.

I contemplated calling Scott.  We'd just finished Skyping before I'd taken the dogs outside.  I knew I needed to tell him what had happened just in case something was wrong. I didn't want to spring that on him afterward.  However, I knew Scott was probably asleep by now and he had a full day of sight-seeing ahead of him.  He'd been given a rare day off and I didn't want to ruin that for him.  (We can talk about the unfairness of the situation later.)

And then I realized I had no one else to call and got all depressed.  I could've called my parents but what could they do?  For that matter, what could Scott do even if I did call him and wake him up?  This was on me and I hated that not only did I not have someone to give their opinion, I didn't have anyone to help me.  It's an awful feeling.

45 minutes later, I pulled into Powers Pet Emergency and Specialty after fighting through the rush hour traffic.  Jett seemed fine.  Like, perfectly fine.  Like, just happy to be going for a car ride.  If you ask me, Scout was the annoyed one because he had to wait in the truck while I took Jett into the clinic.

I was fearful of internal damage because, like I said, I have no idea where he actually got hit. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him.  Nothing broken, no yelps of pain.  The only thing he reacted to was the thermometer and after that he wanted nothing to do with vet-lady.

Awfully smiley for being at the emergency vet

My instructions were to have him rest and not use stairs or jump up on furniture.  If he started showing signs that something might be wrong, I was to take him back for x-rays or follow up with the regular vet. He was running around the exam room and sniffing everything and pulling on his leash in the lobby.  They probably thought I was insane for bringing him because he seemed perfectly fine, but he got hit with a four-wheeler for goodness sake. I almost felt like they didn't believe me.  Either that or they were ready to send him off to puppy-protective-services.

Keeping Jett still is easier said than done.  He hasn't been acting like he's hurt.  He still wants to run and jump and do whatever.  The vet told me to take him on a leash when he goes outside.  Yeah, right.  I mean, for the first couple of days, I carried him up and down the stairs to the fenced-in area and he'd just take off!  I mean, if he was in pain, he wouldn't be doing that, right?  I can't force him to stay still, can I?

Anyway, I finally got home at about 9pm on Friday night.  The dogs were upset because they'd missed dinner, and I had to sit down with my computer and a glass of wine and type out a nice long email to Scott.  Then I got to sit up half the night and make sure Jett stayed alive (my own doing, those weren't instructions).

Oh, so back to the beginning of this post.  Why do I have ice on my shin?  I definitely tripped on the porch steps when I ran in to get the truck keys on Friday night.  Pretty sure I cracked my tibia (my over-dramatic diagnosis).  It's ironic that this story is about Jett getting hurt, yet he seems perfectly fine and I'm the one icing my leg.  He's the one with the prescription for pain pills though.

One month of deployment down...

*This happened last Friday.  He seems to be better now, and maybe we'll try running again this weekend.  He does not like walking on a leash while Scout gets to chase rabbits.*

**Also, dog-love is very close to my heart these days because I rushed my dog to the ER for pets and was prepared to pay whatever it took.  This is probably why I got so riled up over that thing I wrote about yesterday.*

10 comments:

  1. Aww! I'm glad he's okay though!

    I absolutely hate that feeling of having nobody to call & share your news with. Deployments suck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can totally relate to that "I have no one to help me who would I even call and what could they even do" type feeling :( I'm so sorry you went through that alone! I'm a perfectly competent person, but sometimes just having a second opinion is necessary. I'm glad Jett seems to be fine (I hope scout is too? From the cactus?) But I HATE that you hurt yourself. I have a massive bruise on my shin from trying to climb up on the counter at work to put something away (why does everyone in my life have to be super freaking tall and I'm just the shrimp left to climb on counters? This is my life).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh no, how stressful! Our dogs are the same way, they bounce back so quickly ad easily from things that it's hard to tell if they're really hurt or not! Glad to hear he's ok!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would have taken him to the vet too! I'm really glad that he is okay.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I absolutely would have taken him to the vet! Dobie had arthritis and before it was diagnosed, he would limp and yelp and it was awful until the vet checked him out and told us what was wrong. And, like you, I stay up half the night watching him. I love my dogs and I will do whatever I can to keep them healthy and alive as long as possible.

    Not having a second opinion sucks but you're smart and know to trust your instincts.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm glad Jett is okay (how's Scout's paw?) but you should probably make sure you're not running and jumping on the furniture and such after smacking your leg like that! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gah. Sorry you did that on your own. I would've taken him too. I'm glad they're both okay!

    I was at the emergency vet with Gus last night, got home at 3:30 a.m., and got up at 5:45. I told MFD I was going and said this is going to be expensive and he said whatever. We're those people. We'll pay.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had a similar situation happen. Kirby fell 5 feet from the top of the scratcher (their favorite toy and a serious eye sore in the house. We no longer have such a contraption). I thought maybe he had a seizure or a broken bone or something. I scooped him into his crate and dragged him to the vet. Upon arriving and releasing Kirby from his crate, he cowered in the corner of the office. He refused to budge for the vet. She felt him for broken bones but he was completely fine. I took him home and then got zero sleep because every single time Kirby jumped on the bed, Chomps hissed at him. Yeah. No family anywhere. No friends to help. My husband was in Oklahoma working on a grad degree. I don't even know why I let my husband go to another state for grad school. That was a mistake that will not be repeated. I know it's different for you. I want to thank you and your husband for sacrificing for my freedom. Yeah, long story. Sorry about that. Estherdavison@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hope you all are on the mend. I hate that this all happened while you were alone. I thought about it and realized that I go to my hubby for second opinions constantly so j can relate to wanting one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I know exactly how you feel! I ran into this when my husband was deployed, and then on occasion during his multiple TDYs...

    ReplyDelete

Comments make my day!