Sept 27, 2004

Bummer Time.

Yesterday in late afternoon, Eric drove down to the Holiday mart to get some diet coke and while he was gone, I was getting ready to work on the spoiler commentary.  Nathan looked out the back door and said, "Spooky has blood on his tongue."  I was surprised the dog was outside because I've been extremely diligent about putting him on the chain even if he just goes out to pee.  I went to the door, saw that he DID have blood on his tongue and figured he'd cut it on a tuna can or killed a bird or something.  Looked down and he had almost no back leg.  I freaked out.  It was very, very badly broken, twisted the other way and bleeding a good bit so that it was little more than a blood stump.  He was being very calm, just sitting up on his butt as if he was waiting to come inside.  I do NOT handle pet injuries well at all and started becoming very hysterical.  I called Eric and he was 10 minutes away.  Praise God for cell phones.  I was shaking and crying and hyperventilating and Delena took care of me, bringing me water, rubbing my back and holding my hand when I couldn't even speak.  Eric took him to the 24 pet hospital in Shingle Springs (I didn't even know such a thing existed) and while they were there, Spooky started having blood from his nose and mouth (we were optimistic that the previous blood had been from him licking the wound).  They don't give ongoing care, but only stabilize and that was going to cost just over $1000 for the night for x-rays and tests, not including setting the leg or any surgery he might need.  Cash and carry, no payments.  Of course, we don't have that much money to our name even.   The choices, other than paying this, were to bring him home, knowing he would die.  Have him put down or sign him over to the animal hospital.  As soon as we do that, a fund from the ASPCA kicks in and they pay for all of his medical support, then adopt him out if he makes it.  The last one is what Eric chose to do.  We can call and check on him over the next few days.  Eric wanted to at least give him a fighting chance.  I asked if *we* could adopt him and Eric figured it wasn't likely or everyone with a large vet bill would just do that, but I intend to try and find out where and when he's adopting out if we can.  It was tremendously horrible and both Eric and I were having extreme mental breakdown.  I guess The Universe has a good time showing me how to eat my words on that dog.  I never wished him harm and I definitely didn't expect to realize how attached I'd grown to him until he was gone.  After being so strong for me, helping Eric get the tourniquet on him and into the car, Delena absolutely collapsed when I told her he wasn't coming home.  Nathan was very upset and questioning if HE would be left at the doctor if he got hurt.  Dylan pretty much refuses to believe Spooky's not coming home.  None of us slept well and my stomach's a mess.  "What I Did Sunday Night," By Katrina Rasbold

So I'm not going to be around too much today.  Going to try and heal my family and make some sense of this.

Love,
K

PS:  I forgot to mention that the vet says he thinks Spooky was hit by a car. 

Updated:  Eric called the hospital and was told that Spooky made it through the night and is in stable condition.