Cooper: Week 1

Last Saturday was, as of today, the worst day of my life.

Kevin's family was in town (thats not the bad part ;) ) and we went out to dinner in Seal Beach and after went fishing on the pier. Shortly after arriving at the pier, Kevin got a call from Sam our landlord, that Cooper had gotten out and had been hit by a car.

Worst moment of my life!

As soon as Kevin told me, we were practically running down the pier. We left Kevin's parents and 80 something year old grandma out in the cold. They said they were content fishing....

We flew to the emergency veteranarian, after many phone calls to find out where animal control had taken him.Not knowing how he got out, how or where he got hit or how bad it was was nauseating. Luckily Kevin drove since I dont think I could have made it.

We arrive at the emergency vet in Garden Grove, filled out paperwork and then they made us wait close to 2 hours, still not knowing anything. Not knowing if he was alive or dead or in pain....Finally Kevin got up and asked the lady behind the desk and she said that he had a broken leg and he was stable and we would have to wait for the more severe cases to be seen first. 'Was that good?' I thought. We figured it was a good thing that we were waiting, meaning he wasnt a severe as some of the other cases brought in. Finally, we were brought into a room where the vet, very nice and actually with a sense of humor, told us that he had a broken leg and that they still need to do x-rays to see the extent of the damage, including if he had any internal organ damage. UGH! She told us that the break was in his femur (the upper thigh bone) and that it cannot be fixed with a cast. 'Perfect' I thought. When I had heard that it was just a broken leg, I counted my blessings and thought he would just have this bulky cast to lug about for a few weeks. But no, he had broken it in a way that requires surgery!

So after waiting another hour, we pay the outrageous bill for the emergency care and go home without our Coop. I picked him up the next day and we had him at home for a brief night, where not much sleep the night before or that night was to be had. On Monday I took him to the orthopedic surgeon who was to repair his fractured femur. They quoted me the amount for everything and explained the procedure. Dr. Grant made everything seem comfortable and I really did trust him to do his best for Cooper. He said he would do the surgery that day, even though it wasnt scheduled. He called about 7:45pm and explained that the surgery went well, but he had to do a little bit more than planned due to some cracks in the bone.

They kept him there for one week, even though they told us he could go home Thursday, it kept being pushed back for lots of different reasons.

FINALLY, he came home today and has been resting as comfortable as can be with a steal plate in his leg, itchy incision and a 'party hat' as the vet techs called it.

This is week one for his road to recovery. In two weeks he will have another xray to see how he is healing and hopefully by then he will be able to walk around the house and not be on bed rest.

I want to say thank you to Kevin's parents and grandma because they waited for us on that cold, windy pier until midnight! They didnt complain and said that they had a good time fishing and had plenty of blankets to keep them warm.

OH, and another thank you to all of our neighbors and some random strangers. If it hadnt been for them, Cooper may have run away and been hit again. Apparently he ran on 3 legs to get away from everyone, even though they were trying to get him help. Three of our neighbors ran over to him when it happened and after finally catching him, they called Animal Control. Thank God for them because I cant imagine what would have happened without them!

I post Cooper's progress throughout the weeks. I cannot wait to post here pictures of him running after his bunny or the frisbee!! I will just take time.

I thank God for not taking him from us. :)