Strutter's Road to Recovery
Donation protected
There are occasional times when Strutter needs to go out in the middle of the night - which is generally a direct result of me being off schedule with him, as was the case at 2:30 TH night/FR morning. I let him run out in the back yard loose and he always comes right back in. He did not that time, he went out of sight and as I ran to the end of the driveway calling for him, I heard him being hit by a car. I rushed him to the emergency vet, he was limping and bleeding from the nose.... initially the updates were positive. They xrayed his abdomen, chest and front paw and they were all clear. No obvious fractures or contusions. They just needed for him to pee, and after two tries when he still wouldn't, they did an ultrasound. They discovered internal bleeding. Blood in his abdomen and and a mass behind his spleen which they said could be blood or a tumor, but if he was healthy prior, it’s probably blood, as well as pox marks through the spleen. Without surgery, he would die.He got out of surgery at 6pm Friday night. His blood pressure was low initially when they opened him up. He had a large amount of blood in his abdomen - 13oz, which is 1/6 of his overall blood volume. The mass behind his spleen was a large blood clot that they flushed out. His spleen was ruptured and they removed it. It also had an abnormality to it that is unrelated to the accident, a tumor of some sort. They removed it and will test it. It's possible regardless of what that is, that they got all of it. It's also possible that they didn't. It was possible that he would need a transfusion due to the blood lose.
The next 48 hours were critical. They of course could not guarantee anything but felt he should be fine.
His Saturday morning update was great.
He did well overnight, no vomiting, no diarrhea. He had a few occasional arrhythmias but that’s not uncommon for his injuries. His red blood cell count has dropped a little but that is also not uncommon for the type of surgery he had. His incision looked good. He’s somewhat alert but a little anxious. He hadn't had an interest to eat yet but they would keep on that. If he progressed as is, I should be able to bring him home tomorrow. I was allowed to visit for 15 minutes and he looked better than I expected. And I was able to get him to eat :) His Sunday morning update was the same, another good night. He was released this afternoon and I brought my boy home. He is offically out of the woods in regards to his surgery. He's obviously got a big recoup in front of him but we will take that one day at a time. The pathology results will come in on Tuesday but I am honestly not concerned about that at this time. He's home, he's comfortable, he's safe - that's what matters. My heart is full once again.
I cant believe I'm doing this but honestly I have helped out many people in the same situation so I hope some will pay it forward. I will include bills for transparency. Any help at all - sharing, donating, etc., would be so greatly appreciated.
Organizer
Kathleen Lota
Organizer
West Milford, NJ