Our "Christmas Break"

It all started the Wednesday before Christmas. I was gone during the evening so I wasn't there until the end of it all, but from the story Nate shares is Milly was being her typical stubborn self and peed on the floor. Nate disciplined her and then picked her up to go take her into the bath to clean her up. As they were about to the tub, she started going to the bathroom again but this time on Nate, so his instant reaction was to drop her. Unfortunately it wasn't a soft landing for Milly in the porcelain tub. I got home as she dropped in the tub and I heard her yelp. She was pretty mellow after, so Nate cleaned her up and we just watched how she was doing the rest of the night. Thursday, the next day, I was off work so I got to spend the day with her and see how she was doing. We could tell her back leg was hurt but couldn't tell if it was broken or just tweaked from the fall. Being with her all day and watching her continue to limp and be very lethargic I knew I should take her in to the vet.

Around 4:00 that afternoon, this x-ray was taken of Milly's right femur. Sure enough it was broken pretty good! We had only 2 options... Either put her to sleep or do surgery! With it being 3 days before Christmas at this point, there weren't too many options for surgeons available. The vet we took them to weren't willing to be flexible with payments and I didn't have Nate to make a decision, so I took my chances of being able to find a surgeon the next day. They helped stabilize Milly's leg as much as possible, gave her some pain meds and off we went for the night. I spent that night calling around. Eventually I found Cottonwood Animal Hospital on Highland Drive and I scheduled an exam with the surgeon, Dr. Bagley, for first thing in the morning.

Off we went Friday morning, 2 days before Christmas, bright and early to meet with the Dr and get his recommendations. He agreed with the two options, but encouraged us to do surgery with her only being a puppy and having so much life ahead of her. Well, a long day of tears, lots of worrying and doubts, and a lot more money than anyone should or would ever want to spend on a puppy, we chose surgery and Dr. Bagley got to work Friday afternoon. A few hours later we were informed she did great through surgery and he didn't see any complications that would come of the surgery. They kept her over night and Nate went and picked Milly up Christmas Eve. They offered to keep her over Christmas but we figured it would be more fun to have her with the family for the Holidays. This is what her back leg looked like right after surgery. She had a shaved back end and leg and 7 staples for the incision.

The doctor gave us plenty of meds, and this little lady was drugged to the max to keep her mellow and off her leg for as long as possible. We had to keep her from walking on it and doing pretty much any activity on her leg for 2 weeks (which is impossible for a puppy!). After two weeks, Milly had a check up to remove the staples, but still limited activity. With it being now 5-6 weeks after surgery and updated x-rays taken of her femur, Milly has been given privileges to get back to normal activities. She still walks with a slight limp every once in awhile, but I am sure with time she will be back to 100%. Her hair has grown back perfectly and you would never know she went through so much. For her surgery, the Dr had to put a steel plate to hold things into place, so he said they might eventually need to take those out but until it bothers her, we will just keep it in.

I don't know if  Milly would consider herself lucky or not, but with us almost putting her to sleep, I would consider herself very lucky. Since then she has been great on house training, so if anything good came out of all this, it was definitely the most expensive house training I bet anyone has ever paid for! This for sure made our Christmas a memorable one. A huge thanks to Dr. Bagley. I don't think Nate and I have met a better veterinarian!