Life Savers

It seems strange that while I'm here at my place of employment for the purpose of preventing death, my friends Lynn O, James and our veterinarian Jeanne Olson ended up being the true life savers, and I'm eternally grateful to them for their fast and effective actions.

Abner is a yearling on my team, and while I'm at work he boards with Lynn. Yesterday he was off his chain for some free-run and play time while Lynn was doing some work in his area. James came by with his dog Regime, and Regime and Abner were enjoying a rough and rowdy game of "run amok" when Abner somehow impaled himself on a post.

Lynn reported that he was bleeding in spurts. She caught up to him and held direct pressure over the wound. Meanwhile James corralled Regime and put him safely into a nearby pen, and then drove Lynn and Abner to Raven Veterinary Service as quickly as he dared.

Lynn wrote "Jeanne (on her day off) was hosting a SNIP clinic for cats and had more than a dozen kitties in various boxes waiting for their turn scattered about the clinic. We arrived (a bloody mess, and I mean bloody and I mean messy) and we got Abner in and on a pad on the floor with a blanket and a heating pad. Jeanne administered rescue remedy to all three of us (James, me and Abner) and went back to her surgery while we let Abner warm up and stabilize some. (By then the blood had clotted in the open vein so as long as he was still it didn't seem to be bleeding much.) He lost a LOT of blood. My word I didn't know there was that much blood in a dog.

Anyway, he got some injectable Rimadyl to ease the pain, and between cat surgeries Jeanne managed to get an IV into him and we started him on a fluids drip. He stabilized more (Jeanne was afraid to knock him out while he was so shocky.) Finally, it was Abner's turn. Oh, I forgot to mention that Jeanne had called Marie. She hadn't heard much of the message but she heard enough to know that she needed help. So Marie came over and was support staff pre-, during, and post op. Me, I snuggled with the guy while he was still awake and kept him calm, but once Jeanne knocked him out, I went out and scooped poop. James observed and actually pitched in on the surgery as well.

It was a two hour adventure and a horrid mess to begin with. But Abner is alive and resting in my kitchen on a mattress on the floor. James used Jeanne's digital camera to take a few photos. (Before, during, and after.)"

Last I heard, Abner is resting on a mattress on the floor of Lynn's kitchen, and Lynn is sleeping right beside him. I'd much prefer he were resting here with me, but I'm afraid that after I brought my puppies with me to my place of employment last winter for socialization my employer changed the rules to prohibit anyone from doing so in the future, and if I were to be caught with a 'pet' on the property it would not be conducive to continued employment.

Poor Lynn has a lot to do the next few days, and having to nurse a badly injured dog isn't going to help her get it done. Abner needs to receive both injected and oral medications twice a day, along with infusions of subcutaneous fluids. He'll also need watchful eyes to prevent him from messing with his numerous stitches.

I'm afraid there isn't a damned thing I can do to help her, either. I'm not even allowed to go down to help out during my "off duty" hours as I'm limited in how far I can be away from the facility, in case of an emergency here. James is planning to help her out as much he can, and I'm sure that will help the situation but it isn't a 100% solution.

All I can say is thank goodness that Lynn and James were right there, and that they kept their wits, did a great job of first-aid, and got him to the vet in time to keep body and spirit together.