Jacqueline and the Big Spill

Had a Scary weekend.

It was just after ten in the morning on Saturday when I picked up Jacqueline to take her to the couch with me while I read the paper. I picked her up like I always do, under the chest with the palm of my hand. Usually she then sits up and places her front paws in my palm but some how some thing went terribly wrong, and she fell about four feet to our hardwood floor.

She started screaming as soon as she hit, and she wouldn’t stop once I picked her up again. She looked bad, and I raced her out to the truck to take her to our vet. My wife joined us in the truck, and took Jacqueline from me so that I could drive. Jacqueline had stopped screaming and yelping, but she looked like she was trying to go to sleep. Her eyes just kept closing, and she was a little unresponsive.

My wife kept talking to her, and gently jostling her to try to keep her from going to sleep as I made the five-minute drive to the vet’s in just less than three. The vet was just about to close, but took her anyway.

After what seemed to be forever, the vet came out and told us that she looked ok, that she didn't have any swelling, but that she was going to be given an IV an catheter, and transported over to the Emergency Pet Hospital just a few more blocks down the road for observation. We waited a bit longer, and soon they brought Jacqueline out to us, along with the IV bag, and we drove her down to the hospital.

They admitted her, and told us that she actually looked pretty good, but that they were going to keep her for eight hours just to be sure.

It was probably the longest eight hours of my life.

After three hours I called and asked how she was doing, and again they said she was doing well. They also said her doctor was going to be off at eight, so we should call before then to see if we could pick her up. We just drove over at 7:45 instead.

We arrived, and waited. Finally, they let us into the back where they keep all the patients. Jacqueline, who until we arrived evidently hadn’t been very animated, sprang to life and started wagging her tail. They said she hadn’t eaten, but that she did pee, and if we could get her to eat, they would release her. We couldn’t get her to eat, but they released her anyway.

She is home, and she is seemingly no worse for the wear. She did finally eat, and she slept most of yesterday, and acted a little sick in general, but this morning she seems to be her old self. My wife quipped that I neglected to take any pictures of the experience, and that made me laugh for the first time since I dropped her.

Now, I use two hands whenever I carry her anywhere.

Oh, and God, you rock!

Posted by Jeff at August 1, 2005 8:38 AM