Murphy's Back

Warning...the pictures that I'm going to put at the bottom of this are gross.

Poor Ginger had a rough day! The morning started after a long night for me. Getting the kids to bed was no easy task. Luckily Lane was awake half way across the world so he could watch football, so he tried to talk some sense into Eden amidst her crazy, insane, terrible attitude when she "wasn't tired." It didn't work - but he tried. Anyways, after the kids went to bed, both dogs decided it would be a good time to vomit in the middle of the night. At different times - of course! And then Hunter woke up at 7...

This morning I let the dogs out in the back yard for about an hour so they could do their business and be outside before it got too hot out. When I went to bring the dogs inside, only Nugget was in the back yard. The back yard gate was left open after the sprinkler guy came to fix them yesterday. I knew right then that something was wrong...Nugget is our runner, not Ginger! Nugget came inside and I immediately went to the front yard and started calling for Ginger. No luck. I called the humane society. No luck. I called again in an hour. Still, no luck. No luck the hour after that, or the hour after that. I drove around for an hour. No luck. {I actually drove 60-70 miles within a 5-10 mile radius today} We went for a walk and posted pictures, and then I drove back over to the humane society with a picture of Ginger...no luck!

I had no luck until I started my drive home. The humane society called and said someone spotted a dog and they told me where it was. I didn't see the dog, but on my way home I got a phone call. Someone had Ginger. She had been hiding in a friend's garage. They assured me that she was going to be ok, but she needed to see a vet. I figured it was from being out in the 100+ degree weather or something similar. Nothing could have prepared me to hear, "she's got a gash on her head and I think she needs surgery." They told me she had eaten and had some water since the gash, but it didn't sink in that that was a good thing. I only heard, "blah blah blah, surgery because of a gash." I knew that I didn't want to meet a stranger at my home, so I agreed to meet her at the humane society - less than 5 miles away - because they had vets on sight. When I got to the parking lot "D" {as I'll call her} was getting out of the car with Ginger in hand.

This is what I saw: ***This is a yucky picture, beware!***

I almost collapsed when I saw her. I was shocked. I heard gash, but didn't realize you'd be able to see her skull! The humane society couldn't treat her because their rescue guys didn't bring her in and she was no longer a stray because I was there. She was alert and wagged her tail when she saw me, so I knew she was probably going to be ok. I still cried for her because she was alone all day and she was so hurt. D was willing to drive Ginger to the vet and wait with her until I could get there. I needed to possibly pick up my kids and take Angie home {poor Angie, I left her alone with 4 kids - 9 months pregnant - for "5 minutes" so I could run to the humane society and see if they had Ginger. 3 or 4 hours later...} Angie told me things were good, hugged me and off I went to meet D and her 2 kids with Ginger in hand at the vet. By the time I got there the vet had already done her exam and we knew that Ginger was healthy, just hurt. Good news/bad news kind of thing. But the bad news was already known - there was nothing new once I got there. The vet can't be sure, but she thinks someone struck Ginger with a "blunt object" to cause her wound. She has no other injuries, no road rash, nothing, so it's the easiest explanation without knowing for sure.

After some happy drugs, a few stitches {more like 20-ish}, a drain, and some meds, Ginger was free to come home!

She's confined to the house for 2 days and can only go outside on a leash {out and right back in, no walks} and has to be in a space no larger than a bedroom if she's home by herself. Tomorrow morning she'll be able to eat and drink water again and next week we'll go back and have her drain removed. Two weeks from today she'll get her stitches out. After that she should be as good as new!

So...Mr. Murphy...could you please take your law somewhere else! I think we've had enough fun with you and your spontaneous visits. I'm ready to coast through the rest of deployment without anymore visits.