I had a terrible, awful, hideous, HORRIBLE night last night

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Wolseley

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Background: our neighbors (an older woman and her teenage daughter) to the north invited us to a fish fry, scheduled for last night. We are great friends with these folks, and my six-year old son loves the gal’s granddaughter; they play together quite often. It was a small party—the older gal, her husband, daughter, son, daughter-in-law, two granddaughters, a friend of the family, and my wife, my son, and I.

We had Kramer, our dog (four year old black Lab), with us, because he loves to play with the gal’s big German shepherd dog; they play tag and race around, grab stick and play keep away with other, just like a couple of four-legged kids.

Well the food was just about ready, when the dogs came charging along, and Kramer was looking behind him at the other dog, and he ran, full-tilt, right into a steel horseshoe stake. He yelped and bounced back, and then kind of staggered…I saw it happen, and then saw that he had this gigantic hole in the middle of his chest. He had staked himself, literally punctured a huge hole in his chest…had a big flap of skin hanging down. I grabbed him and looked it over and saw that it was bad, even though he wasn’t bleeding at all. My son wanted to see and I told him to beat it…this, he didn’t need to look at.

Mommy went inside and called the emergency vet number, and the on-call vet asked what his vitals were; I told her he was shocky and his gums were going grey; I couldn’t check his pulse because he was panting so heavily. She said, “I’d strongly suggest you take him to the emergency animal hospital rather than wasting time coming over here—I’m the only one here, and I can’t do anything tonight in any case.”

So, we asked our neighbor to take care of our son for the evening, because we had to take care of the dog. She said it was no problem, and to get going, so we loaded Kramer into the car of the car, with Mommy next to him, and I drove to the emergency animal hospital----in Grand Rapids, 80 miles away. Mommy stroked him all the way there and kept him settled down and quiet, even though he was obviously in a lot of pain.

Grand Rapids had every major thoroughfare in the whole city ripped to shreds for summer construction and we had to go out of our way to get to the animal hospital. It was $114.00 to even walk through the door; but in a situation like this, you don’t quibble. The vet looked him over and said he’d make it okay, but he’d need surgery; I signed the paperwork and told them to go ahead. It was going to take several hours, so the vet tech advised us to go and get something to eat, if we wanted. We left and I got some nasty burgers from McDonald’s (so much for our fish fry); Mommy couldn’t eat.

(cont’d)
 
We went down to my sister’s place since we were in town, since she had some stuff for us to pick up anyway. I couldn’t sit down when we got there and kept pacing, I was pretty worked up. I called the hospital after an hour, and the vet tech said they’d given the dog some pain medication and he was ready for surgery in about a half-hour. We left my sister’s about 45 minutes later and headed back for the hospital. Thanks to the usual sparkling efficiency of the Grand Rapids public works departments, we got lost twice in the incredible tangle of construction projects, going miles out of our way and having to turn back to get our bearings again—it was dark by this time, and that didn’t help, either.

We finally got there, and Kramer had just gone in for surgery, so we had another two-hour wait. At precisely the stroke of midnight, they said he was ready to be released. The vet said nothing vital had been hurt—his lungs and heart were all okay, but the puncture was very large and very deep, and they had to clean quite a bit of debris (hair, dirt, etc.) out of the wound; they put a drain in his chest to let the excess fluid drip out, and that has to stay in place for the next several days. He has a gash on this chest all stitched up that is about 7 inches long—he looks like Frankenstein’s monster. They gave us pain meds and antibiotics for him, and he will have to be very restricted in his activity for the next two weeks.

All in all, it cost us $700.00 to get him taken care of. Mommy’s payday was yesterday, and her paycheck was $800.00. She’ll need the last $100.00 for gas to get back and forth to work, and we’ll be eating beans for the next two weeks because we have no money for food, not to mention we can’t pay the rent for this month until next payday, but hopefully the landlord will work with us. But, the boy still has a dog, so I guess that’s the main thing.

We got home about 2 AM and got Kramer all arranged and comfortable, then went and got Noah and brough him home and put him to bed. I couldn’t really sleep until about 5 AM, but finally drifted off and slept until about 11 AM. The dog looks okay this morning, but he’s obviously very stiff and painful. Poor puppy. I sure wish this hadn’t happened. I don’t deal well with stress like this anymore, especially when an animal or a child gets hurt like this.

If you guys could pray for this whole situation, I’d sure appreciate it. 🙂
 
My sister is hanging in there. She had cancer surgery a couple years ago and she’s kind of gone downhill since then…she’s dealing with severe pain a lot of the time, and they have her scheduled for at least four operations coming up this summer. If you could keep her in your prayers as well, that would be great; and my other sister, too—she was just diagnosed with severe liver problems, and because of this, she can’t take any anti-inflammatory painkillers for her rheumatoid arthritis.

A healthy bunch, we are…(sigh)
 
Hope this is a better day. Prayers for all of you.
God Bless
Prague
 
I’ll say a prayer to St. Francis for all of you and your dog.

God bless
 
Wolseley said:
We went down to my sister’s place since we were in town, since she had some stuff for us to pick up anyway. I couldn’t sit down when we got there and kept pacing, I was pretty worked up. I called the hospital after an hour, and the vet tech said they’d given the dog some pain medication and he was ready for surgery in about a half-hour. We left my sister’s about 45 minutes later and headed back for the hospital. Thanks to the usual sparkling efficiency of the Grand Rapids public works departments, we got lost twice in the incredible tangle of construction projects, going miles out of our way and having to turn back to get our bearings again—it was dark by this time, and that didn’t help, either.

We finally got there, and Kramer had just gone in for surgery, so we had another two-hour wait. At precisely the stroke of midnight, they said he was ready to be released. The vet said nothing vital had been hurt—his lungs and heart were all okay, but the puncture was very large and very deep, and they had to clean quite a bit of debris (hair, dirt, etc.) out of the wound; they put a drain in his chest to let the excess fluid drip out, and that has to stay in place for the next several days. He has a gash on this chest all stitched up that is about 7 inches long—he looks like Frankenstein’s monster. They gave us pain meds and antibiotics for him, and he will have to be very restricted in his activity for the next two weeks.

All in all, it cost us $700.00 to get him taken care of. Mommy’s payday was yesterday, and her paycheck was $800.00. She’ll need the last $100.00 for gas to get back and forth to work, and we’ll be eating beans for the next two weeks because we have no money for food, not to mention we can’t pay the rent for this month until next payday, but hopefully the landlord will work with us. But, the boy still has a dog, so I guess that’s the main thing.

We got home about 2 AM and got Kramer all arranged and comfortable, then went and got Noah and brough him home and put him to bed. I couldn’t really sleep until about 5 AM, but finally drifted off and slept until about 11 AM. The dog looks okay this morning, but he’s obviously very stiff and painful. Poor puppy. I sure wish this hadn’t happened. I don’t deal well with stress like this anymore, especially when an animal or a child gets hurt like this.

If you guys could pray for this whole situation, I’d sure appreciate it. 🙂
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? You make $800 a week or a month?

Catholig
 
St. Francis please pray for Kramer and his family and please dear Mother Mary look after this family and pray that they get what they need daily and that the worry and stress lifts from her heart and she has the peace of God that excels all other thoughts.
Ravyn
 
Praying for your family. I’m glad it wasn’t a child who ran into that stake. How difficult your night must have been.
 
I’m so relieved that your 4 legged friend will come through it alright!

I’ll say a prayer to speed his healing and help you with the rent!

PS - Do you call your wife Mommy? That’s what my husband calls me, but not in front of people. 😛
 
redtech said:
I’m so relieved that your 4 legged friend will come through it alright!

I’ll say a prayer to speed his healing and help you with the rent!

PS - Do you call your wife Mommy? That’s what my husband calls me, but not in front of people. 😛
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🙂 Yes, but I only call her Mommy when I’m on the Internet. When I’m talking to people face-to-face, I always call her She Who Must Be Obeyed (really—I’m not kidding!) but that’s a lot to type out every time on a keyboard. 🙂

Thank you everyone for your prayers—I appreciate it, and I’m sure that my little boy—not to mention the dog—appreciates it, too.
 
Lord heal this little boy’s dog Kramer and rebuild him up to a healthy and full of vigor condition . Let the dog be totally healthy ! Thank you lord and bless the family as they are concerned over the dog;s health . Thank you lord , in Jesus’s name , amen . I hope Kramer feels super in a few days . / John
 
How awful! I’ve had a sick dog the past week and I know the stress that having your pup hurt can cause you! You, your family and Kramer in my prayers!! :gopray2: :gopray2: :gopray2:
 
Praying for you and the troubled hectic pace slows down for you all. May rest and relaxation be yours and the whole family. May you be comforted by God’s grace and the love of family.
 
What a rotten night, and poor Kramer! I pray he heals quickly.

Might should paint that horseshoe stake a bright orange or red so it stands out. Dog’s don’t see color like we do, but they do see contrast. I would be worried a child would hurt themselves as well from not seeing the stake.
 
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