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I Thought I Was Going to Have to Bury My Best Friend

The Surgery

By kaitlyn odomPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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I met this precious baby boy on August 19, 2016. One day while sitting outside enjoying the Georgia weather and playing with the best dog in the world, whose name is Thor, a tragedy happened.

What was a normal day was turned upside in a matter of seconds. Thor was running and playing outside, and I saw him limping. If there is anything you should know about this dog is he NEVER gets hurt, and when he does he has a good way of hiding the pain and pretending that nothing ever happened. I called him over to the concrete and see blood EVERYWHERE.

In serious situations, the best thing to do is not panic, and I won't lie all of what I've learned throughout my life flew out of the window at that moment. I laid him down, freaking out, trying to see what had happened. He was gushing blood, my boyfriend and I were holding pressure on it, and nothing happened, still gushing blood.

I knew I needed to call the animal hospital and ask them what they think I should do. As soon as they answered I explained the situation and they told me to bring him in immediately.

My heart dropped as I loaded my 75lbs of pure muscle into the car, seeing him just wagging his tail reminded me that everything was going to be alright. Breathe in... Breathe out... I said to myself over and over again driving as fast as I could while still trying to obey the law.

Arriving to the hospital, the nurses started freaking out, which only made me lose it. They immediately took him from me and took him into the back room. I waited what seemed like an eternity only for a surgeon to walk in and tell me that my best friend, the one who has been with me through thick and thin, the one who sits beside me for hours while I have anxiety attacks just to make sure I'm OK has to be taken in for emergency surgery. Doctors are telling me that he has lost so much blood he might not make it if they don't get started right away.

I was crying more than I ever have. At that moment, I felt lost. Being only 19 years old with a dog who is your entire life, unemployed, and broke I thought I was about to lose everything. I called friends and family only to be turned down on help, I talked with nurses and doctors who told me I could sign up for a carecredit card and make monthly payments only to be turned down because I wasn't 21. I was broken and hurt.

One of the surgeons walked in to talk to me and told me he had ripped a major artery in his toe and needed stitching to close the artery back up and sew his toe back togethe and that she could not send this poor little boy home or he wouldn't make it through the night. She was an angel sent from heaven above when she told me she would work something out with me on payments because she could see how distraught I was over Thor.

Recovery

Two days later he came home, still loopy off of the meds. He wasn't himself for the next three days; he had no emotions in his eyes, and he didn't want to even eat or drink anything. I felt so bad as he is a very energetic pup who likes to do nothing but sleep, eat, and play.

Four days after the initial surgery and $700 later, I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom only to see blood tracked down the hallway and all over the kitchen floor. I ran to Thor and immediately checked his foot. He had gotten his foot inside the cone that he was wearing 24/7 until the stitches were to be taken out and chewed half of the stitches out. I called the hospital back and 3am we are back in the Emergency room for round two of surgery; $1400 later, I prayed that everything was OK.

One of the doctors came out and spoke to me when they finished the surgery and told me that I needed to keep him off of his feet and that I would have to give him "doggy Xanax" three times a day. I came from a home where my mother was hooked on Xanax, and I really did not want to have to be giving it to my dog.

Thank the lord that he was with my dog all through this journey. Three weeks later my son is doing better finally putting all of his weight down on his foot again and back playing like normal. He still has some issues with it every now and again, but I am thankful every single day for the surgeon that was kind enough to work out things with me otherwise I don't know if I would have had another day with my baby boy who means the WORLD TO ME!

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About the Creator

kaitlyn odom

Hi my name is Kaitlyn! I live a very hectic and crazy lifestyle I like writing because it keeps me sane!

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