Predicament #2
Predicament #1 on the first day our men were all in Washington was a dead battery in the truck. I was praying and hoping that our Predicament Posts would end there. But, Predicament #2 came near the end of our second day that our men (mostly Ryker) were all in Washington.
Saturday night we came home from an outing. It was late. We were tired and all looking forward to bed. It was also very cold in the common house as the fire had not been kept burning all day.
We all had our focus on getting into bed because it was so cold. But then Larissa discovered that Darby had a laceration on her left flank. She’d apparently caught her flank on something and ripped a hole in her side the size of a clementine mandarin orange. It wasn’t actively bleeding but sure looked like it hurt real bad.
Darby is our family dog, but she chose Ryker as her master. And he chose her as his dog. So, while she loves us all, Ryker is her guy. I know she was missing her guy in her time of need.
Callan is our resident animal doctor, so I called her back to the common house to look at the wound and decide what course of action to take.
I called Rick and Ryker and conferred with them. I googled emergency vet clinics and asked if this was something that could wait until morning or if waiting would make it so that successful suturing would be in jeopardy. And……..to see what the approximate cost might possibly be. Yikes!!!! I certainly wasn’t prepared for the $$$ answer!
We decided to spray it with hydrogen peroxide, thought about betadine but found out that we were out of it (note to self……stop and pick some up before Festival kids in 3 weeks or so), and then filled the hole with Neosporin, covered it with a gauze pad and then wrapped her body and the gauze with bright yellow animal wrap. We had some on hand because it is much cheaper than the human bandage wrap found at the local drugstore. And it comes in much prettier colors : ) Yes, we humans use animal wrap when needed : )
Darby is the absolute best dog we’ve ever had. She totally trusted us to care for this obviously painful wound. Never a whimper, never a question. Her eyes darted back and forth to each of us as we cared for her. She knew that we loved her and were helping her. Such sweet eyes of trust.
We wrapped Darby up for the night and headed for our beds hoping to eventually find some warmth. It took awhile for my feet to defrost once in bed. Thus it took awhile to get to sleep as well.
The next morning we got up to get ready for Church, reluctantly, as it was v.e.r.y. cold outside our beds. I called the local vet who has a vet on call for the weekends and waited for a call back.
Just as we were heading out for church the call came in. It would be $70 more for taking her in on Sunday than if we waited until Monday. But, the potential for infection and for the skin not healing well was greater if we waited.
We didn’t want Darby suffering, so we decided to fork over the extra $70. We broke into two teams. One headed for Church, the other for the vet’s office.
Once at the vet’s office, it was decided that the wound was large enough and in need of exploration that it warranted Darby being put out. That meant she had to stay the day for surgery and the night for observation. The good news is that Callan and I then headed for Church and only missed a little of the service.
We waited for a call giving us an update on Darby’s condition. Turns out she couldn’t just lacerate her side, but in addition, she pulled away from whatever punctured her and tore the skin away from her flesh to approximately the size of a basketball! Yikes!!!!! No wonder she didn’t want to walk to the truck this morning. We had to carry her. Poor girl…….. On the drive to the vet, she lay on blankets on the back seat of the truck. I periodically talked to her, reached back and scratched her nose. She would nuzzle my hand and bury her head in my hand. Such trust she had in us.
Her trust made me think of my trust in my Heavenly Father. In times of trial and pain, do I trustingly welcome His loving care for me? Do I hunker down and feel his comforting arms around me as Darby did with us? Or do I bite and snarl as other dogs might have done with me today? Knowing that God is sovereign and that everything He brings into my life is for my good and His glory, my response should be like Darby’s. Total and complete trust in God to care for me as He deems best.
So, we are Darbyless tonight and she is all alone at the vet’s office. I’m sure she misses us as much as we miss her. She’s due to come home tomorrow with drain tube intact, which is due to come out in 3 days.
I didn’t ask about the bill total today. I really don’t want to know. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own……so I will save that trouble for tomorrow and pray for the Lord’s provision to care for our sweet Darby.
We took a walk around this afternoon to see if we could find blood on anything that might give us a clue as to what cut her so badly. It was a clean cut so that indicates something sharp. And the fact that she had so much skin pulled loose from flesh means that she had to pull away from it to get loose. Ouch!!!!! But, so far, we’ve found no blood on anything.
Our speculation is that she was chasing a cat and caught her side on something sharp. Chasing cats is a close favorite to chasing rocks for Darby. And we weren’t here to tell her no so that’s a distinct possibility.
We’ll see if the Lord reveals to us the cause. Whatever the cause, we’re thankful that her injuries should heal up just fine. And, I’m thankful for the reminder from Darby of what total and complete loving trust looks like.
Sherrill said:
Thank you for this lovely post on God’s care and provision. We are in a spot right now that it takes much effort to remember this. It feels as if just when I find joy in chasing rock or rabbits, we get knocked down and need to remember. ” Knowing that God is sovereign and that everything He brings into my life is for my good and His glory, my response should be like Darby’s. Total and complete trust in God to care for me as He deems best.”
Pam Marshall said:
We finally bit the bullet last Thurs. and took our 12 yr. old cat, Juliet, to the vet because she wasn’t eating and barely drinking water. We had tried all kinds of cat food, even opening up one of our cans of tuna and giving her the tuna water and some bits of tuna. A few days before she had gobbled that up when we were using tuna for Sunday’s dinner. I’m thinking, she’s getting ready to die (although none of her other actions spoke otherwise.) I asked Catrina if she wanted J to be seen by our vet and she said yes, and also was willing to pay for any vet costs. To make a long story short, after spending about $360 for an x-ray, blood work, an IV because she was dehydrated, anitbiotics for her gut, etc, etc., the diagnosis is: she’s just an old cat that is a finicky eater. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH! The vet got her to eat a brand of cat food they sell, watered down like gruel. And she’s been fine. I am grateful she is still alive, that we don’t have to put her down (been there, done that before and keep praying I’ll not have to go down that path again), yet is it worth it? My daughter was willing to use her funds, and did it with a smile, and now is glad she did. I guess if she and her sister didn’t have the job they get paid for to feed the 25 horses at 3H on Sundays, this story would have ended differently. Only God knows. He is kind and merciful by showing us He is even in the little things, like in our case, of letting us still keep a well-loved cat. But J ultimately belongs to Him. Your “predicaments” help me to keep my life in perspective, Laralee! If we had a dryer, you could do your laundry at our house. I’m waiting for some sunshine this week to do our sheets/towels, but it doesn’t look like that will happen until Saturday….
Pam Marshall