Discussion/Off-Topic Post #1

[ddk_mod]

THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED.

Please head over to Discussion Post #2!

Comments

Re: Medical Q&A part 2! & PSA: Rib fracture care

[(Anonymous)]

Would it be alright to just ask for a story if you have time?
I'm curious about the train

TW!!!!! Bad things happen to a dog!!!!!

[(Anonymous)]

(OP)

Not a great case. She was a young adult German Short Haired Pointer who vanished during a quail hunt. Her family found her a few hours later near the train tracks. She had lost most of one hind leg and half of the other, and she had some pretty significant lacerations. They rushed her in.

She was in extremely critical condition in shock and septic, and we actually recommended euthanasia. They weren't ready say goodbye. We fought to stabilize her overnight with fluids, dextrose, pain meds, antibiotics, meds for her blood pressure, etc.

She pulled through to the next morning, but after having a night to consider what they would be looking at as far as cost of surgeries, a couple of weeks of hospitalization, then months of homecare or boarding with their primary care vet, extensive PT, a wheelchair, then quality of life concerns (which I personally don't think would've been an issue post-recovery)… anyway, they ultimately decided to let her go.

Re: TW!!!!! Bad things happen to a dog!!!!!

[(Anonymous)]

Holy shit. I didn't think she was gonna make it past the second paragraph. I can't even imagine how much work you put in.
I don't know much about dogs, her surviving the initial injury is surprising to me
Is that more like 'human survives leg amputation' odds or 'flight attendant survives 30,000 foot fall' odds?

Re: TW!!!!! Bad things happen to a dog!!!!!

[(Anonymous)]

(OP)

It was definitely a long night with few breaks, but we were able to keep her comfortable long enough to let her family say goodbye on their own terms.

I couldn't say for certain what the odds of her surviving the accident were, but they must've been pretty slim. Nothing like a 30,000 foot fall, but certainly worse than a simple amputation. I would think that a typical, healthy human would be more likely to survive being hit by a train than a medium sized dog, just because of body mass.

That she survived those particular injuries for several hours before receiving medical care is certainly unlikely, but not shockingly so. The injuries to her limbs involved crushing; that helped temper the bleeding, which is certainly the aspect of traumatic partial limb loss that is most likely to be fatal very quickly.