Chasing Charley

Today is 2 weeks post amp and we went to Dr. Jim (the vet) at lunchtime.  First I stopped by my office to show Charley off a bit.  He has so many “friends” here who gave him lots of hugs and kisses.  Charley was pretty fired up to be in the car, out & about on the town!!

Dr. Jim was “tickled” with how Charley’s incision is healing!  Hooray!  They removed the stitches & Charley was a very good boy.  He’s still bandaged up because there’s some seeping from the incision, but we’ll see how that’s going in a few days.  I’m looking forward to the days when there is NO bandage there and NO t-shirt.  Another couple of weeks, I’m guessing.

Charley is licking and scratching at his bandage quite a bit – which is just part of the healing process.  I don’t want him to break open that incision site on accident (we’ve had enough of our dramatic races to the vet’s office…..), so I’m going to be extra cautious.

Dr. Jim suggested I wean Charley off the Tramadol “tomorrow or so.”  I think I’ll be a little gentler than that.  We’re on 4 pills/day now.  Maybe we’ll do 2 days at 3 pills, then 2 days at 2 pills, etc.  I don’t want to shock his system too much!

I guess I have to get ready for my wild dog again, huh?  Though I don’t love the circumstances, I have come to love the lazy dog that Charley has been during his recovery.  I could cook in the kitchen & feed dinner to the kids without constantly bumping Charley off the counters w/ my hip or hollering, “Charley!!  Get!  Down!”

But that is not life w/ an English Setter.  Not even one with 3 legs, I guess.

Charley is our much-loved English Setter.  He came into our home shortly after my husband moved out — the kids and I needed something to fill the void.  That was more than 2 years ago.

On Tuesday, October 5, Charley and I were in the backyard together.  I was pulling weeds, he was investigating my yard & that of the neighbor’s.  For whatever reason, Charley ventured a little further than he usually does — over a berm that borders our neighborhood and a busy street.

I heard the crash.

Charley was hit by an SUV going about 60 mph.  The driver said Charley jumped out from behind a bush.  I know the driver didn’t even have time to react — it happened so fast.

To make a long story short, Charley sustained radial nerve damage in the accident and lost feeling/control of his left front leg.  He spent 2 nights at the animal clinic and came home.  We worked together to figure out eating, going potty outside, etc.  Charley was his happy self and was learning how to get around on his own, dragging that bum leg along with him.  We were going to wait 2-4 months to see if the radial nerve would regenerate so that he could use the leg again.

His left front leg had a bandage on it because there was also a large gash beneath the elbow area in addition to the nerve damage.

I came home from work yesterday to find that Charley had chewed through the bandage and had destroyed most of his lower leg.  The sight was pretty horrific and luckily I was able to shield the kids from most of it.  I shuttled them off to friends’ houses quickly and with the help of a neighbor, I loaded Charley into the back of the car and raced off to the vet.

I returned to the same vet office that saw Charley on the night of the accident (the on-call vet in the area that night), though this time we were greeted by a different vet, Dr. Jim.

Dr. Jim carefully carried Charley into the exam room and examined the leg.  Muzzled just for a precaution, Charley wagged his tail throughout the exam.  The nerve damage was actually a blessing at this time — Charley had no pain due to the mangled mess of his lower leg.  Dr. Jim noted that there was more joint damage from the accident than they had realized during his initial exams last week.  Given the damage Charley had done to the wound, the joint damage and the nerve damage — Dr. Jim said that the radial nerve was extremely unlikely to regenerate/heal at this point.  The best course of action was to remove the leg.

And so the decision was made.  During the last week, I had prayed for clarity in how to deal with Charley, how to help him heal & recuperate, how to support my children through this ordeal.  The decision for amputation was one that needed to be made, but it was very clear what needed to happen to help Charley live a long and happy life.  For this I am very grateful!

Charley was sedated almost immediately and the surgery began shortly thereafter.  I returned home to clean up the mess and comfort the kids.  Dr. Jim called at 7:30 p.m. to tell me the surgery went well and again at 10:30 p.m. just to let me know that Charley was wagging his tail.

Charley is supposed to come home with me late this afternoon/evening.  I’m currently waiting on the phone call from the vet and I’m researching canine amputation care.  And so our journey begins once again….

Dr. Jim assured me that Charley’s recovery would be complete — his life would be full and active.  He even told me that I could take him bird hunting!  Though I don’t think that particular activity is in my future (it never really was….), I’m really looking forward to chasing Charley again.