How a Piece of Metal Ruined my Saturday

Picture it: A somewhat warm December day in sunny Colorado. Mr and MrsHoppy decide they are going to get a lot done outside before it gets too cold. Hang Christmas lights, scoop dog poop, trim the bushes and cut back all the roses lining the deck. Sounds innocent enough right? Right? RIGHT???

Since we had planned to attend the Parade of Lights in Denver that night MrHoppy got to work in the front hanging lights while I was in the back taking care of the yard work. I was actually really enjoying myself. I could just picture how beautiful our house would look when it was finished and it finally got dark. And how great it would feel to get those pesky Winter chores I've been putting off out of the way.

Bisa and Gizmo were hanging in the back with me all day. They started to get wild so I was smiling to myself while they played, running back and forth. "They love each other so much" I thought. "It's so nice they can play even with the huge size difference".

And then I heard a HUGE yelp. MrHoppy heard it from the front yard. I turned around and saw our big girl limping to the deck, holding her rear right paw up off the ground. S-H-I-T. I knew right away what happened. While running around she caught her foot on the metal edging. The cut was already bleeding by the time I got to her. MrHoppy burst into the backyard and knew exactly what happened too.

How do we know this you ask? My Dad's dog had the same injury in March. She severed every tendon in her foot on the edging in his yard and had to undergo a $2,000 surgery and 8 week recovery. It was deja vu since I was the one that found his dog and took her to the vet when she was injured.

I immediately started crying, ran inside, grabbed a paper towel so we could try to see how bad it was. Ummm, it was bad. We could see white which I thought was bone but MrHoppy assured me was her tendon - still where it should be. So we were hopeful.

I called the vet in our town that is open until 5PM on Saturdays (thank GOD) and we rushed her there. They were busy with emergencies so we had to leave her and they said they would call with an update as soon as possible. I cried the whole way home. I just knew it was going to be bad. I felt like we would never catch a break. To my surprise they called an hour or so later and said she was ready to come home. No tendon or muscle damage but it did take 3 staples to close her up. She was bandaged but just fine. She was to wear the bandage until Sunday night.

I was SO relieved. You can't imagine how bad I felt thinking about surgery, $2,000, a long recovery for my baby. Because that's really what they are to us - our babies. I didn't mind that we missed the parade. I would much rather have my girl home, safe and sound.

Fast forward to Sunday night. Time to remove the bandage. I was horrified when I removed it and saw that one of her toes was not the way it should be. Just laying flat against the ground. And then I looked closer and the 2 outside toes were just not right. At all. Just like my Dad's dog whose toes never healed perfectly after her surgery. But worse. I cried again. I knew the tendon had been severed and they missed it. I also knew there wasn't much that could be done. 

This morning I took her back to the vet. They confirmed that at least 1 tendon was severed, the toe pretty much isn't attached to the functioning foot. The outer toe is damaged as well. I was so upset but felt better when he assured me it shouldn't cause her any long-term problems. He said surgery would probably do more harm than good. Tendons are like rubber bands so the end could be pretty far up into her leg. They didn't advise it. It's also a good sign that she's already walking on it and adjusting. It just looks so weird. 

It may be selfish but I want her to be OK for me also. She is my running partner. Mostly in the Summer but we both look forward to our runs together. If she isn't able to do that anymore after we see how she heals I'll be devestated. I've been emotional about it. I feel guilty that we didn't take out all the edging in our yard after what happened to Schatzi. I feel like it's my fault. And I also feel like we can't catch a break. I thought we had on Saturday with the initial vet report. But I guess we didn't. I'll just keep hoping it heals well and I have my girl back in the Spring. It may look funny but if she can use her foot normally, that's OK with me.