THE DARTH SAGA
Editors note: This was originally a series of postings that I made
on the TM-Debate List. I have put them all together for this version.
Doug
PART ONE: THE ACCIDENT AND RESCUE
Ann and I took Darth and Delenn up to Lake Tahoe yesterday for a romp. The idea was for Doug and Ann to do a short scuba dive, and then play with the dogs. We went to a Nevada State Park with a sandy beach. Signs said “No Dogs Allowed” but the woman at the gate took our money and let us in since we were just going to do one dive and leave, we were not spending the day. We found a shady spot to park and tie the dogs to the back of the van while we unloaded dive gear. But down by the beach, two men collecting garbage told us no dogs allowed in the park. Upon leaving we had our money returned and we asked where we could take the dogs. We were told that down the road about three miles was another beach.
We found the beach parking lot as described. We climbed down a long and somewhat treacherous path to a rocky but very lovely swimming beach. It was clearly too far to drag scuba gear, so we decided to just swim with D&D. We saw other dogs in the area but went to our own private swimming hole. D&D were swimming happily (I have checked the pedigree charts, but I still can’t find that Newfy blood) and romping about. Darth enjoyed pouncing on Delenn from a rock, and dunking her completely under.
Delenn had gone ashore to shake off on Ann. I was swimming with Darth, not far out, but we were just barely around the point in a rocky area. All was going well until a wave hit us. Darth got his right rear leg caught between two rocks. I could tell that he was in pain, and that the leg was being twisted. I swam over and tried to help him, but he was mad with pain and bit me. Yes, I could have gotten his leash and used it to muzzle him, but the beach seemed too far away. Darth was flailing about in the water, writhing in pain and clearly in a total panic. In the heat of the moment, I decided that I HAD to get him free NOW, and so I ignored his repeated bites, and managed to free his leg.
I helped him to swim back to shore, and Ann met us and helped us in. There was a calm lagoon type area next to the exit point. Darth stopped there, standing in hip deep calm water; he did not want to put weight on his leg. We decided to let him stay there for the moment, and Ann got the leash, and we muzzled him. Lucky Ann received just one puncture wound in the rescue. I had several, but I didn’t think that any of them were serious.
Now we just had to get Darth back up the hill, so we could take him to a vet.
Stay tuned for PART II: THE EVACUATION.
Doug
THE DARTH SAGA
PART II: THE EVACUATION
Those who have read PART I of this saga know that we were now faced with evacuating Darth up a steep hillside. Ann stayed with Darth, and I ran up to the van to get the first aid kit. I took Delenn, so that she could be in the van and out of the way. Delenn and I took off up the hill, at a measured jog, cognizant of the 6,000 plus foot altitude and rough terrain. Somewhere about a quarter of the way up the hill, it was clear to me that carrying Darth up this hill was going to be difficult, if not impossible. Half way up the hill, I decided that, even in my prime, I could not do it, and now, at age 40, I was clearly much too old for this sort of thing. Three quarters of the way up, I decided that, even with help, Darth’s wound would take a serious beating. By the time I reached the top...Well, you get the idea.
I tied Delenn to the back of the van, she hopped in the back, and I left the back hatch open. I grabbed the first aid kit, and went back down the hill. On the way back down, I saw some boats at a nearby beach. Hmmm, I thought. When I got back to Darth and Ann, we used a bandage to put a better muzzle on Darth. There didn’t seem to be much we could do with the leg when he was still standing in the water, but we did our best. Ann had the same idea about the boats, and so I ran over to the next beach to see if someone would help us with a water-borne evacuation.
As I approached, I was deciding which boat owner I should ask for help, when another boat pulled up to the beach with a family and a yellow retriever. Perfect! I thought. Sure enough, they were very nice and willing to help. They told me that there was no road access to this beach, and the nearest place they would be able to drop Darth off and get him into the van would be at Sand Harbor, about 3 miles away. This still seemed to be, far and away, the best option for Darth, so we hopped into the boat, and set off to get him.
The motorboat was typical for it’s size, about 20 feet. Our next problem was going to be how to get Darth to the boat, and into the boat. Because of the rocks, the boat would not be able to land, and the lift up the fantail was not going to be easy. Fortunately, the kids had a small round raft that I thought I could use to float Darth out on.
We found Ann and Darth, and together, Ann and I got him on the raft. Ann told me that Darth had tried to walk a few times, but flopped back down and just lay in the shallow water. Feeling around, she thought that the hip might be dislocated. I gave Ann the keys to the van, and told her to meet us at Sand Harbor. As I swam the raft out to the boat, I was reminded that my career as a competition swimmer, lifeguard, and Water Safety Instructor was over 22 years ago. Nevertheless, with some help from the people in the boat, I got Darth aboard.
Darth was calm for the trip to Sand Harbor, and Ann met us at the dock. We got Darth out of the boat and onto the dock, and thanked the boat owner’s profusely and told them that we could take it from here. We did exchange names, but in the heat of everything, I have forgotten them. I then took out the van barrier that we use to keep D&D in the back of the van. I got some teenage boys to help us, and we put Darth on it, and used it like a stretcher. Darth was still in pain, but reasonably calm as we carried him to the van. We put Delenn in the back seat, so that she would not step on Darth. We were getting quite a crowd by now, and the ranger offered to help us out. We asked him where the nearest vet was, and he radioed from the dock and had some calls made. Incline Village would be closest, but the vet there was closed for the weekend. The next best bet was in King’s Bay, 15 minutes down the road. The ranger called the vet so that they would be ready for us, and even provided us with a copy of a map to the vet from the yellow pages. With that, we set off.
Stay tuned for PART III: THE VET
Doug
THE DARTH SAGA
PART III: THE VET
The story continues. Having finally gotten Darth in the van, and holding directions to a vet, we set off.
The ranger had told us that we should try to get to the vet before noon, because the vet charged an emergency fee after 12:00 on weekends. It was a 20-minute trip, and the time was 11:50, so I did not think we were going to make it. The vet turned out to be very nice, however, and did not charge the emergency fee because we had called ahead. He kept his assistant in the office, (she normally goes home at noon) and so did not have to recall her.
The vet was Dr. Justin Quecke (pronounced “Quick”). Dr. Quecke was very nice, and helped us get Darth on a table with wheels, and roll him into the office. We were given some antiseptic to wash out our dog bites, and as he talked to us, we were starting to feel better about the whole ordeal. It turns out that Dr. Quecke knows our vet, Dr. Eugene Borman, very well. In fact, Patty, Dr. Borman’s current assistant, used to work for Dr. Quecke in southern California, but she moved down to Fair Oaks, and got a job with Dr. Borman, while Dr. Quecke moved to Tahoe. Patty even came to visit Dr. Quecke in Tahoe, and brought along Dr. Jennifer Sweet (another vet who works with Dr. Borman, we have used her as well).
Then came the bad news. Dr. Quecke said that he could not be sure, but believed that the hip might be dislocated. This scared us quite a bit, because that is what Ann had come to believe on her own. Dr. Quecke then explained what he would have to do for Darth, and all the repercussions and costs. I really blanched when he mentioned the “A” word. He said that there was just no way that he was going to be able to get a good x-ray on Darth’s injury without anesthesia. Even if he could, he would need anesthesia to get the hip back in the socket. We explained that TM’s have a history of problems with anesthesia. We were very nervous about this, but he offered his phone so that we could call Dr. Borman’s office for a second opinion.
As (bad) luck would have it Dr. Borman was out of town for the weekend, but Dr. Sweet was in. She said that the best thing to do would be to have it worked on up there. Dr. Quecke was good, the hip could be cared for quickly, and she would have to use anesthesia on Darth anyway. Further, the Fair Oaks office closes at 2:00 PM on Saturday. It would take us a little over two hours to make it home, and it was already about 12:30 now. She would wait for us and treat him, but then Darth might not be ready to go home right away. He might have to spend the night in the office with no one there to watch him. Faced with these choices, we decided that the best thing to do would be to have Dr. Quecke treat Darth now. I did take advantage of the phone call to Dr. Borman’s office to make a follow-up appointment for Darth with Dr. Borman for Monday morning, however.
Dr. Quecke said that we would have to get Darth on the scale and weigh him for the anesthesia. But we got a break there, because we had taken D&D into Dr. Borman’s office to get weighed just yesterday, and the vet scale read 103 pounds for Darth. Dr. Quecke was satisfied with this, and calculated the dose accordingly. He said he would use an anesthesia that was quickly reversible, Rombum, technical name of Xylezine (not sure of the spelling on these). Darth would not be completely out, but would be relaxed and unable to move. He also said that he would use Torbugesic to reduce to pain. So we went ahead and tranquilized Darth, and took a hip x-ray.
The results were good; he told us that the hip was not displaced, and that he could see no fractures. We breathed a big sigh of relief. Dr. Quecke said that the hip might never have been displaced, or it could have just slipped back in when Darth relaxed under the anesthesia. Dr. Quecke said that, although the x-ray was not exactly the same orientation that they use for OFA, it was close, and it looked like Darth’s hips are going to be fine when he grows up. (Darth is now only a little over 7 months old). He then took a second x-ray, so he could get good coverage of the entire leg, to check it for fractures. The results were negative, but he pointed out where there MAY be trauma to a ligament. He said we should have Dr. Borman look at the x-ray, and that he might want to take another one, but it could easily wait until Monday.
Then he hit us with another tough decision. He said that he could give Darth the antidote to the anesthesia, and Darth would get right up. But he said that his recommendation would be to just let it wear off naturally, because Darth would be calm and immobile for the trip home. He said that it would depend on his metabolism, but it would wear off in a little more than two hours. Although he recommended against the antidote, he said that he would respect our wishes. We agonized over this decision. Darth’s respiration and heartbeat were strong, and he was able to move just a bit and open his eyes. After one final check, we decided that it would be best to let him sleep on the way home. We could check on him several times on the way home, and run to a vet for the antidote if necessary. Dr. Quecke assured us that Darth was doing fine, and that it would not be necessary.
We used a sheet as a sling to load a somewhat groggy Darth back into the van, and got ready to drive home. Dr. Quecke said to just keep the sheet. As a final warning, Dr. Quecke said that Darth would not recognize us when he first came out of the anesthesia, and that he would be disoriented and might bite us. This was an unnecessary warning, because I was still bleeding from several earlier bites.
We stopped on the way home several times to check on Darth, but he was always ok. We got Darth home without incident. He was awake with his head up when we arrived home, but he was still groggy. So, we told him to stay, lifted him with the sheet, put him on our rolling crate cart, and took him to the backyard. There, we took him off the cart, and put him in one of his favorite shady spots. We left him a bowl of water, only a little, because Dr. Quecke said he would be nauseous if he drank too much.
At this point, we felt that there was nothing else we could do for Darth at the moment.
Next: The human doctors
Doug
THE DARTH SAGA
PART IV: THE HUMAN DOCTORS
Well, Darth’s accident (and our dog bites) occurred around 11:00 AM on Saturday. By the time we finally got Darth home, it was around 4:00 PM. I was all for calling it a day. We could just sit around, and make sure that Darth was ok. But Ann thought we should see a doctor. Now, I have never been much for doctors; nothing personal against them, but I have always avoided them at all costs. When I left the Marine Corps after 14 years, the doctor could not believe that my medical record was so thin. “THIS is your record?” she said.
Ann had a different idea. She thought that some of my bite wounds would need stitches, some of the deeper wounds were still bleeding, she claimed. I said that they were not bleeding; they were just oozing a bit. She said that in any event, we would need tetanus shots. I said, “No way, it is better to leave wounds like this open, so they bleed and clean themselves out. And tetanus shots are good for 10 years. I’ll check my shot record. See! I got my last tetanus shot in....um...1979.”
Ann said nothing, but fixed me with that familiar stare that informed me that any further resistance would be futile. So, I agreed to go see the HMO doctors. I said we should just go, and bleed all over them until we got served. But Ann thought we should call first. So we called our HMO, and suffered several long phone interviews with several different bureaucrats, until a lady finally told us that we should come into the Urgent Care Center. “I told you we should have just gone in and bled on them.” I said.
I’ll spare you the details of the pain we had just trying to find the Urgent Care Center in the huge complex. Apparently, it is a well-guarded secret; it was not listed on any of the maps and directories. We finally got there, but only because one of the nurses walked us there. As it turns out, you have to go to Emergency before you can be triaged into Urgent Care anyway. I have to admit that whenever we actually talked to a real person, they were very nice and helpful. Of course, once at Emergency, we had to fill out forms duplicating all the interviews that we had already conducted over the phone.
At length, we got to the triage nurse. She told Ann that her single puncture wound was relatively shallow, and would not need stitches, but she would still need a tetanus shot. Ann felt vindicated. The triage nurse told me that some of my punctures would require stitches, and that I would need a tetanus shot as well. Ann gave me her best “I told you so” look. I said that I still did not think that I would need stitches, and I should just get the shot and go home.
Almost four hours later, Ann had her tetanus shot, and I finally got in to see the doctor. He looked over my wounds. Counting them up, there were two punctures on my foot, one on my knee, and 14 on my hands and wrists. The doctor looked over them and said “Well, we like to leave wounds like this open, unless they are really gaping. Some of these are fairly deep and still bleeding a bit, and we could stitch them, but I don’t think that you really need stitches.” It was not my turn to give Ann my best “I told you so” look. But, predictably, the doctor had further words. “You will need a tetanus shot, and some antibiotics in case of infection. I recommend that you see your physician in 48 hours.” Notwithstanding the fact that I had never seen my personal HMO physician and the fact that the one that Ann had selected for me had already moved on, Ann felt triumphant.
I was getting tired of all this, it was now after 8:00 PM, but the doctor mercilessly continued with his interview. In the process, he repeated the questions that we had already answered several times. “Do you know the dog that bit you? Do you know if he is up on his shots?”
“Oh yes,” I replied. “He is our dog, and he is up on his shots. He is a friendly dog, but his leg got stuck between two rocks when he was swimming at Lake Tahoe. I managed to free him, but he was panicked and in pain, and he bit me. His leg was twisted, and we thought the hip might be dislocated, but we took him to a vet up by Tahoe and had him x-rayed. The vet said he would be ok.”
The doctor gasped in alarm. “You went to the vet FIRST?”
There was a long and pregnant pause, the doctor looked me right in the eye, and I returned his gaze. He laughed, and I could tell that he wanted to say something else, but he decided better of it. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics, and called in a nurse who bandaged my wounds and gave me the shot. And with that, we went back home.
Almost over now, stay tuned for Part V, the aftermath.
Doug
THE DARTH SAGA
PART V: THE AFTERMATH
When we finally got home from the HMO, it was almost 10:00 PM. Instead of going in the door, I walked through the gate into the backyard, hoping to see Darth where we left him. But he was not there. I opened the back door, coming in from the deck. This was not my normal entrance. This was not the normal ritual of controlled greeting that we have mastered. My reward was to be jumped on by both Delenn AND DARTH. I grimaced in pain, because Delenn managed to jump right on my wounds, and I wondered to myself “What happened to all the training that we gave these monsters, you would think that they were never trained not to jump on people.” I was happy that Darth seemed to be doing so well, though. He had a very minor limp, but otherwise seemed ok.
The vet had told us not to feed Darth his regular food. He would need something light, because he would otherwise be sick from coming out of the anesthesia. Ann fixed Darth a special dinner. Now, one would think that Ann and I would be smarter than this, but no. We paid special attention to Darth and set the dinner down for him before feeding the Alpha Bitch, and without sending them to their separate stations like we normally do for special treats. Predictably, Delenn felt slighted, and pounced on Darth. Darth usually gives into Delenn, he never takes anything from her, but now that he is the larger TM, he defends what is his. Darth thought “Hey, this is MINE, they gave it to ME, and I am keeping it”. A fight ensued, in which Darth proved that he was still clearly the strongest, bad leg or no. We managed to break up the fight before anything happened, and sent them to their separate stations (like we should have done in the first place).
So ended the evening. The next day, this Sunday morning, Darth looked pretty good. He walked with almost no limp. In fact, I am a little jealous, because I think that he is in less pain than I am. By the afternoon, D&D were romping together as usual. In fact, Darth even seemed a bit more focused than usual, if you know what I mean. Delenn still has shown no signs of coming into heat, but we have no doubt that she is close now. Certainly Darth has no doubts.
But that is another story, so I will close this one. But we are happy to report that Darth seems to be fine. As for myself, I feel much better as well, still a little stiff in the hands and wrists, but the pain is gone (and you see that my typing skills have not been seriously affected). I will write you a brief epilogue when I get home from Darth’s appointment with Dr. Borman late Monday morning.
Doug
THE DARTH SAGA
PART VI: EPILOGUE
Ann and I took Darth to our vet, Dr. Borman this morning. Ann took an extended lunch; I used my sick leave. Well, if I am not really sick, I am injured, right? Besides, the HMO doctor told me to have the bites seen by a doctor in 48 hours, and Dr. Borman IS a doctor, isn’t he? And hey, he has seen many more dog bites than those HMO quacks. :-) Actually, the bites are much better now, but I am NOT going back to work today, so tell my boss that I’m sick. (Cough, cough)
The prognosis for Darth is outstanding. Dr. Borman looked at the x-rays, and then poked around Darth’s hip. He was able to find one tender spot, but he does not think it is serious. Most likely, there is no ligament damage at all. It is probably sore and stretched muscles caused by the struggle, and quite possibly muscle spasms. He also said that, although Darth is still a little young to be sure, his hips look great from an OFA standpoint. If there IS ligament damage, it is so slight that surgery would not be an option anyway. Dr. Borman said that the best thing to do is to keep Darth from romping and running for two weeks. His normal walks are fine, but jumping (including jumping into the van), running, and playing roughhouse with Delenn are out.
This last prescription won’t be easy, because Darth is a wild puppy, and his injury does not seem to slow him down at all. Still, we worry, because we can see him occasionally favor his right rear leg. Since Delenn will be coming into heat soon anyway, we are experimenting with locking one of them in the kennel. Initial tests reveal that this is NOT going to be a popular idea with D&D, but it is not so bad for Darth. We locked Darth up first, he complained for a while, but came to accept it.
Delenn is really the one we want to lockup in the high security kennel, though. We want to protect her from other male dogs as well as Darth. When we locked Delenn up, all hell broke loose. She whined, bit at the fence, and threw herself at the gate. Darth ran to her in a flat-out sprint. (I cringed, thinking of his hip). They exchanged some words, and then Darth sprinted back down the hill and up the steps to the deck, finishing with a cannonball entry through the dog door. (I cringed again). He then slid to a stop at my feet, and barked excitedly. I thought I was watching an old Lassie rerun. “Doug! Doug! Come quick! Delenn is trapped in the Kennel!” (I almost gagged.) I managed to calm Darth down, but Delenn never did stop whining until I gave up and let her out.
Well, with that I will close the Darth saga; he seems to be doing just fine. I do want to get in on the anesthesia thread that this has started, but that will be another post.
Doug