#3 - And the Surgeon says....

Monday, the 9th of June 2008. The surgeon at the Ft. Wayne Veterinary Emergency Hospital finishes his rounds usually about 10 am so we had to wait until after ten to find out what their recommendation is going to be. I finally was able to pick up the phone and call. The folks down there are very nice and demonstrate real concern when they talk to you. It's nice to know we've got those kind of people taking care of our family member. I can't even tell you the name of the doctor that came to phone, I just wasn't worried about that part, what I was worried about was, is my dog was going to recover from this horrible wound.

The doctor told me that they were treating it with a 'sugar' bandage. The sugar is suppose to bring the white blood cells to the surface which promotes healing. They felt this was the best treatment after cleaning it and trimming off the dead tissue. They wanted to continue this treatment for another few days then attempt surgery to close the wound on Friday. (I couldn't imagine how the would possibly be able to close such a huge opening, there was't any skin to cover it! ) They worked up an estimate on the charges. (cringe) $2200.00! I think I held my breath for a few minutes after that until I could feel the blood returning to my face. We were going to have to find an alternative plan. I knew her care there was good but she was 45 minutes away and just getting there and back was 100 miles, with gas prices the way they are and actually the shape our poor little car is in it wasn't even convenient to go see her not to mention coming up with that kind of money. For the first time since the shooting I was faced with the reality of the question, "am I going to have to put her down because I don't have any money?" What a heart wrenching thought that was.

I decided to call some of the local veterinarians to see if any of them would take on Abby's care. I knew it would still not be a "cheap" endeavor but maybe a bit less up here rather than at the fancy hospital in Ft. Wayne. I called the vel she had seen off and on over the years for regular doggy care I was told that he didn't do that kind of surgery. He had looked at her file which had been faxed to him from the Ft. Wayne hospital, it looked more like reconstructive and it was more than he wanted to take on. I appreciated his honesty and asked about another vet in the area that I had heard dealt with larger animals, I was told that the vet I was asking about did do more complicated things and I might want to call him. That was the seed that was planted which led me to The Pokagon Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Matt Zimmer, his wife Susie and their very caring and capable staff.

I spoke with Susie and explained Abby's condition, she asked me to have Ft. Wayne fax her chart so we did that. She said the Dr. would take a look and they would let us know. Later that day I received a call back from Susie, she told me the Dr. would like to see Abby so he could assess her wound. It was agreed that Harry would go to Ft. Wayne and pick Abby up the following morning bringing her to the Pokagon Veterinary Hospital. We called Ft. Wayne and made the arrangements.