Roxy Prayers Needed

IT is amazing how life can be great one moment and in the blink of an eye, can change for the worse before you know it.

Our lives took a drastic turn Sunday night. As Wes and I were driving home with the top of the jeep off at dusk with our dog in the back seat talking about how beautiful life was, a distant bunny entinticed our sweet Roxy to try her hand at jeep jumping and she did what every pet owner hopes never happens. She jumped out of a moving car to try her hand at catching that blasted rabbit.

Unfortunately, this story didn't turn out good as Roxy's leash got caught on the jeep and she was unable to clear the back. We felt our back tire and her head make contact. A sound and feeling that still makes me want to throw up.

Both of us screaming in the middle of the road as we watched our dog laying there stunned, gasping for breath with blood pouring out of her mouth and nose and her pupils dilated, I thought we were loosing her.

In a panic and not really knowing what to do, we rushed up to the house as Wes carried her in gently telling her to keep breathing.

I tried calling anyone I could as I just had no clarity in that moment.
Finally, thanks to my brother and a friend, we managed to pull it together enough to hop in my car and rushed her to the Emergency Vet on the other side of town. I was driving, or trying to anyways while Wes continued to hold our bleeding and shocked dog. I couldn't cry, but just kept touching her head and covering our little one in prayer.

After what seemed like an hour, we pulled into Reach and rushed in the door.

I tried to legibly fill out the paperwork as Wes worked with the vet tech to get her to the back. Finally, we were left sitting in the waiting room in shock; Wes covered in dog hair and blood and me beginning to feel the flood of tears pouring from my eyes. The floodgates opened.

It felt like an eternity as we sat out there. We were both feeling the instant guilt of "What did we do to our dog?", and "are we going to have to say goodbye tonight?", when we were finally called into the room to talk with the doctor.

We both broke down and sobbed in that little room with the door closed. We had some privacy and we just needed a closed door to let it all out. Again, after what felt like an eternity, the vet came in and said, "Well, she is pretty beat up, but doing well"....News that made my heart jump and that I was not expecting to hear!

No signs of shock. Nose bleed, cut face, and she bit her tongue. Some head trauma, but not terribly severe as she was alert. No broken bones or internal injuries. The problem is that the jump out caused her to have some severe radial nerve damage to her front right leg.
Worse case scenario? Amputation....but that is a decision waaaayyyy down the road...like a year.

Nerves can regenerate. But they do so slowly. very slowly. It will take months.

At that moment, my sweet brother and sister in law (one of the phone calls I made when I didn't know what to do), appeared in the waiting room to comfort us. I am so glad they came. We needed them there. We needed their presence.

They wanted to keep Roxy overnight on IV fluids, do some more tests, monitor her....ok...great...but the next thing to make my stomach turn and feel like puking was: "How much was this going to cost?"....After giving us a high but manageable estimate, we opted to go for a no interest loan for 6 months to cover the cost of that one night. After the paperwork was settled, we went to say goodnight to our loopy and bleeding dog one last time. Leaving her was hard.

We drove home shocked and stunned... with the sting of tears streaming down our faces. IT was hard to walk into an empty house without her.

After a sleepless and nauseating night, morning finally came and we made that LOOONG drive back to Reach to pick her up. We were advised to go to our Vet from there for further treatment and testing....When we saw her, her tail was weakly wagging and she looked like one of those funny animal cards with the big eyes...from the head blow. (we have been told that will go down..and it has...but it def concerned me at first)

We had to leave her with our Vet for part of the day so she could get the rest of the IV fluid and medicines...and so he could look her over. After his assessment, we were told the worse case scenario and the best...and just, "It will take time to really know"...Nothing we didn't already know.

The words, "IT will just take time"...are hard when your life remains busy as ours does a lot. But sometimes the Lord has a way of stopping you in your tracks and making you slow down. Frustrating? yes. But the slow down has come with a closeness to each other that we were running past in our busy worlds. A slow down I am learning to welcome with open arms.

This week we have had to carry Roxy everywhere as her front right leg is unusable right now. I have syringed diluted pedialyte water into her wounded mouth to try and keep her hydrated. We have switched her to canned dog food so she will actually eat...spent hours with her on our bed...just resting, petting, comforting, and telling her to fight. Burned up gas throughout the day running home from work on lunch breaks to drug her, make her drink, and make sure she is ok.

As the days pass, we are beginning to see life in our dog again. She is learning on three legs. Dogs are amazingly resilient at learning to function. She has taught me so much about fighting in this one week. She is an amazing little gal. Never thought I would cry so many tears over an animal.

I have not really eaten for a week. Neither has Wes. Our stomachs have not been right as the trauma of what has happened has disturbed our normal eating and sleeping patterns. But, I am about to state something you may find really weird. I am glad.

As much hell as this week has been, my love for Wes has deepened in a way that I never thought. To watch him gently care for our little one, to hold each other as we cry, to laying on the bed at night talking about our days as we make sure Roxy gets the love she needs...these moments are moments I cannot ever replace or take back. As long as I am doing life with him...all is ok.

Our little world of us and our dog, is just that, OUR little world. And we are swimming through this experience stronger and stronger...not broken. Learning to trust in the Lord in a really new way. He cares for us. He cares for her. She is His creation. And He placed her in our care and we have a responsibility to the Lord for her little life.

I will keep you updated at her progress but just know it is going to be a slow process...she is making GREAT strides at improvement and I have been SUPER encouraged as of yesterday and today. When she isn't drugged, she is Roxy...but we are having to keep her pretty doped up these first few weeks so she can heal.

We love our little one. Keep on praying friends. Thank you.