Easy Like Sunday Morning

If you don't like dogs, move along. This story is for dog lovers and people with a heart.

Sunday afternoon, I called my mother. After a few rings she answered and her "Hello" was almost a scream.
Immediately alarmed, I asked what was wrong and she said "Casey's been hit by a car." Casey is my mom's mutant Cocker Spaniel who, at 65lbs, is the largest I've ever seen of that breed.
Casey has a bad habit of waiting until your hands are full or you're not looking while opening the door, hitting you in the left leg with his enormous head and practically knocking you over to run outside.

That day, my mom was putting up new mini blinds. She was carrying the old ones out to put them in the trash when Casey did his usual trick and ran outside, this time, he ran straight into the street, right in front of a car going too fast down the block.

He was hurt pretty bad. I raced to her house to find that the neighbors helped put Casey on a large board and put him in the back of my dad's truck.
He was in a LOT of pain and very agitated so someone had to be petting him at all times. Knowing my father (who is terminally ill) and my mother (who is 65 yrs old) couldn't climb into the back of the truck, I volunteered and told my mother to drive to the Emergency Animal Clinic which is over 15 miles away.

They had Casey wrapped in a comforter but he was bleeding from the nose and panting heavily.
I caressed his head and told him he was a good boy and that he was going to be ok. We left immediately.
I haven't been in the back of a pick up truck since I was a little girl. Now, I know why. Within a few blocks I knew it was going to be a miserable trip. Every bump, every turn in the road, had us both bouncing and sliding around the bed of the truck.
Once we got onto a bigger road, Mom sped up to about 50 mph. Suddenly, she hit a bump and sped up at the same time. The tailgate fell. There was no barrier now between us and the road and we were sliding toward it.
I guess I could have let go of the dog and held on to the rail to save myself but apparently I wasn't thinking about that because I held on to Casey as we were heading toward the back of the truck and ultimately onto the highway at 50 mph.
The only spare limb I had was my right leg and I used that to start kicking the metal tool box on the back of the truck. After several kicks, my mom heard the noise and pulled over to the side of the road and closed the tailgate.
It didn't work. Another mile down the road, and the gate opened again. This happened 3 times and on the third time I told her there was no way we were going to make it, we needed help.
I wanted to get Casey into the front seat with us but he was too big for us to carry without hurting him further. We had no idea what his injuries were except for maybe a couple of broken legs.

We started trying to call people and finally I got in touch with my best friend.
I think some people will relate to this when I explain how I am usually a pretty strong person. I can handle intense situations or horrible news but if I call my mother, my boyfriend or my best friend, all I have to do is hear their voices and I become a weeping mess. She has been my best friend for 24 years and we've been through everything together and I guess I know that she'll understand, won't think I'm a puss for crying and ultimately do what she can to help me through it.
As soon as she answered the phone, I started crying, trying to explain what was going on through the tears and snot. I'm surprised she understood anything I said because it all sounded like "wahh wahh wwwahh wwwahhh" to me.
She told me to stay where I was and she and her stepson would be there in a few minutes and they were.
He's a contractor so he's got a huge truck and lots of tools and stuff so he helped us carry Casey to his truck, I climbed in the back again and we headed to the clinic.

By the time we got there, I was filthy from the dirty trucks and I was covered in blood. Then I had to sit in a waiting room like that while they examined Casey.

It wasn't until later, going home that I realized how close I came to dying. If we had fallen out of that truck, going that fast, with all those cars right behind us, we would BOTH be very dead or VERY VERY injured.
Even today, I'm still bruised around my ribs and arms and I'm sore as a mofo.
The good news is Casey had no internal injuries and surprisingly he has only one broken leg.
The bad news is that the leg is so badly broken at the elbow that he's going to need orthopedic surgery and it's such an odd break that none of the local doctors know how to fix it.
The only doctor that MIGHT be able to do something is in Houston and he said it'll cost a minimum of $1200. This is AFTER the $800 we paid at the emergency clinic.
We is po folk, we ain't got that kinda money but what the hell do you do? Put a dog to sleep that has a broken leg?
I don't think so.

Right now, he's home and he's in a lot of pain. They have his front left leg strapped to his body so he can't move it and he's on painkillers strong enough to make Courtney Love green with envy.

A friend donated $50 to our cause and that gave me the idea of taking paypal donations. I'm not begging for money but if you have a dime to spare, we would love you for it.
I'm probably going to post some pics of Casey tomorrow so there is proof I'm not lying about some lame dog.

Some people may think a dog isn't worth all of this but who in the hell are we to judge who is worth what?

Posted by De at May 18, 2004 01:53 PM