Broken Tail. WTD??? Updated! Updated Again

[Jennifer and Jack]

UPDATED. I SCANNED AND EMAILED TWO VETS AND BOTH SAID THE SAME THING THAT IN SITUATIONS LIKE THIS, AMPUTATION IS THE WAY TO GO BECAUSE IT IS NOT GOING TO HEAL ON IT'S OWN AND IT IS PAINFUL BECAUSE EVERY TIME THEY MOVE THE BONES ARE GRINDING... I AM TOTALLY FINE, SLIGHTLY SAD BUT ALL I WANT IS FOR HIM TO BE COMFORTABLE, LISTENING TO HIM CRY LAST NIGHT JUST ABOUT DID ME IN... WE ARE GOING TO MY MOM'S VET AT 3 TO GET BETTER PAIN MANAGEMENT BUT AGAIN, MY VET AT HOME AND THIS VET SAID THE SAME THING, AMPUTATION.... ALL HE DID WAS WAG HIS TAIL TO HARD BECAUSE HE WAS HAPPY TO SEE ME, I COULD SCREAM.... I HAVE NOT DECIDED WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO YET, BUT I WON'T LET HIM SUFFER.... I COULD CARE LESS IF HE IS BALD, AND NO TAIL AT ALL I WON'T LET HIM BE IN PAIN.AND HE IS NOT DOING WELL ON PAIN MEDICATIONS..

UPDATE 2. WE WENT WITH THE ATTITUDE THAT WE WILL DO WHATEVER IS BEST FOR JACK NO MATTER WHAT.. I LOVED THIS VET..I SERIOUSLY WAS CRUSHING ON HIM, OXYGEN, WHEEL CHAIR AND IV'S AND ALL... HE SPENT AN AMAZING AMOUNT OF TIME WITH US... EXPLAINING THINGS, SHOWING US HOW TO DO THINGS ETC.... JACK WAS DEHYDRATED BECAUSE HE HAS NOT HAD ANYTHING TO DRINK SO FIRST THEY DID BLOOD WORK TO CHECK HIS LIVER AND KIDNEY'S AND GAVE HIM A BUNCH OF IV FLUIDS SUB Q ...... HE WAS NOT ABLE TO PULL UP THE FILM OF THE BREAK ON HIS COMPUTER BECAUSE THE DIP STICKS FROM THE ER VET NEVER PUT IT ON THERE IT WAS BLANK.. MOVING FORWARD.. HIS DOSE OF TRAMADOL WAS WAY TOO HIGH WHICH I ALREADY KNEW AND THANK GOD F SHOWED ME THE MG PER KG BECAUSE IT WAS DOUBLE WHAT IT SHOULD BE AND I KNEW IT WAS TOO MUCH...... THE PLAN IS TO KEEP HIM MEDICATED, HE TOO SAID NO SPLINTING, THERE IS NO WOUND ...... EVEN THOUGH HE IS ON PREDNISONE HE IS GIVING HIM METACAM WHICH IS A PRICY NSAID..BUT WITHT HAT COME SUCRALFATE AND AND PEPCID TO COAT HIS STOMACH.... HE SAID THAT THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS ARE THE MOST PAINFUL AND AFTER THAT HE SHOULD BE BACK TO HIMSELF WITH THE AREA JUST BEING TENDER.... THEY  DID NOT MENTION AMPUTATION AT ALL BUT I DID AS MY MOTHER KICKED ME FOR REAL ..BUT THEY WILL AMPUTATE ONLY IF THEY CAN NOT CONTROL THE PAIN OR IF HE IS BITING AT HIS TAIL, NONE OF WHICH HE IS DOING..... SO FOR NOW, HALF THE DOSE OF TRAMADOL HE WAS ON, METACAM,  ADN THEN THE MEDICATIONS TO COAT THE TUMMY.. PLUS THEY GAVE HIM IV FLUIDS...WHEN I TELL YOU I LOVED THIS VET I MEAN I LOVED HIM, HE WAS SMART, ASKED HOW I FELT ABOUT THINGS...... SHOWED ME THERE WAS SOMETHING CALLED A PILL SHOOTER THAT WILL HELP MR I CAN SPIT ANYTHING OUT OF MY MOUTH SWALLOW HIS PILLS... HE IS HOME RESTING.... THEY FEEL HE IS HAVING A LOT OF PAIN BUT WE ARE HOPING BY ADDING THE METACAM THAT WILL HELP......THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INPUT, LOVE AND ADVICE.... IF JACK IS NOT ABLE TO GET HIS PAIN WELL CONTROLLED I WILL TAKE FURTHER ACTION BUT THIS VET FEELS HIS TAIL WILL HEAL CROOKED BUT IT WILL HEAL......

THE SWEET LITTLE BABY WHEN WE WALKED IN TO THE VET RAN UP TO THEM WAGGING HIS LITTLE TAIL AND GREETED THEM ALL WITH KISSES.... I HAVE NEVER LOVED HIM MORE

I am not exactly sure how much more crap we can endure....... Jack has been staying with my mom and I finally got to see him yesterday.. He was super excited to see me, screaming. crying to get to me when he saw me in the car.. he seemed fine but I literally only saw him for a few minutes then had to leave again for a few hours, when we came home he was FREAKING out....... we thought it was because he is a medical alert dog for me and I am beyond sick at this point.. to say the least, I am using a wheel chair but we had not even got it in the house. He was clinging to me then to my mom then jumping off the bed and hiding.. Very unlike him...

I examined his hip from top to bottom last night because I noticed he was not sitting right ..... his hip was okay... (remember he has an old hip injury)  but he was acting freakishly weird around me and we just assumed he knows how sick I am now anyway...sorry dang steroids got me a mess.. moving forward, I woke up this morning and noticed Jack's tail was not right.. it is quite obvious ..but to someone who is dealing what I am dealing with I don't know if I saw it last night and my mom is beside herself with worry for me so she has no clue.

So off we went ..me, my 9000 pieces of medical equipment, my mom, Jack and Molly to the ER by her house.. You can see the break it is toward the bottom and makes a C shape in his tail.

He is unable to get his tail to go up and was in a lot of pain, they gave him doggie morphine but because the bone is separated  they could not splint it because it would be applying pressure and cause a lot more pain.... It doesn't make sense to me since it is so broken, I know it isn't the end of the world but I LOVE his tail and I hate for it to be slumped over forever.

The worst part is I can't drive right now and my family and friends are with me around the clock and now of course I want to get Jack to an orthopedic doctor to see what they can do for him but  I won't be able to get him there until I get back home which will be at least a week or so...

I know we have had a lot of doodles with tails amputated recently or at least a few... Jack has no score, scratches, cuts or bruises anywhere on his tail.

He was at the groomer the day before my last admission to the hospital but I specifically remember his tail being up, his tail is always up....   and the ER vet said the break looks new.. plus he has swelling.

Believe it or not I am not overreacting.. I probably just don't have the energy to and I am so grateful he it is not life threatening but we have no idea how this happen, the vet said it is usually a break that i done by closing a tail in the door....but my my swears she didn't and she would have heard it, plus when I intially saw him yesterday I would have known his tail was bent like this I think......

So for those of you who have had dogs with broken tails...... what did you do? I have insurance so I can do anything and have it covered . the vet didn't think the orthopedic dr would do much more.

We were a sight for sure at the ER vet, my mom freaking over me, Me Crying over Jack, Molly Just freaking and Jack stoned on Morphine..... 

Any advice?

[Stella]

Hugs to you both. Hoping for good health for both of you.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

Oh just saw this!  Hope Jack is feeling better soon!!!  

[Pat and Traveler]

Oh, no!  So sorry to hear about Jack's tail!  I know you'll do the best thing for him, but you sure don't need this worry.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

How are you both doing today? Hopefully, both getting the rest needed to be on the road to healthy living again.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Thanks for asking....we are plugging away both of us....my mom is exhausted in the other hand and I feel so bad for her....

Jack seems to have the pain under control......I even cut back on one of his narcotics to twice a day instead of three times a day...the addition of Metacam has helped immensely. My mom has walked Jack a few times his tail goes up totally each time..it is crooked though .........


The problem is...Jack won't eat or drink...it's like a show here and we are standing on our heads....I wasn't as concerned about foods as fluids.......


Last night Karen suggested scrambled eggs and I did that and made a water mush in it and he ate it.

Today we gave him liver treats and I flooded his bowl with chicken broth ...that was after refusing ice cream.....peanut butter ....eggs......his regular food sardines...mollys food.......uggg

He is so mad because he hates to take medications..so he won't come near me and he doesn't trust me to give him any food because he thinks medicine is in it....he will only take from my mom who refuses to,give him medicine because she doesn't want him mad at her.

I just called his vet here to see how much fluid he really needs to take in or if we are going to run him for more IVs....to my fault whenever I think Jack is just being stubborn ......it could be he is in pain....the vet said to assume pain being the cause of not eating....


I am doing okay....I have a very big "last ditch" effort additional testing with an airway reconstruction surgeon at the end of this month....my entire family from NJ and SC will be there...this will be the fist time my parents are in the same room since I was 16 years old.....do I k kw how to bring the family together or what?????

It is Incredibly hard for me to go have this test done...I will be admitted to the ICU afterwards but no surgery other then all the surgeons together going into my airway ..then discussing what if anything can be done with a reasonable belief I will survive ...fun right??????? So we would love your prayers for this as I really don't like the surgeons at all they are extremely rude and obnoxious and I have been through too much to deal


So as I was updating the vet called back they want us to increase his steroids because he is low cortisol and he may need more stress dose...she is concerned his lack of eating if from Addison's and if he isn't better tomorrow we will go back in.

Oh and that $70.00 bottle of Metacam discontinued!!!! To risky with his increased steroids...anyone need it for their dog??

How is that for an update??? LOL

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

((HUGS)). First, I absolutely love your attitude! Without going into it all, my husband has some serious health issues....and if we don't laugh and make jokes about it all, we'd be in the looney bin for sure! Re your surgery, you and yours, will surely be in my prayers.
Not sure if this could possibly help, but.....when my older Golden started refusing all foods, dog, cooked" whatever", we decided to try FreshPet dog food. It's fresh and in the refrigerator section. It is the ONLY pet food that has never had a recall. Dylan took to it and loved it! I feed Enzo in the morning with it. Maybe Jack would consider it ? Any port in the storm, right? ;)
Continued prayers, good vibes and thoughts and I'll even throw on some fairy dust, if it works!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Fresh Pet is a good food, but for the sake of accuracy, it's far from the only pet food that has never had a recall. Most of those on our Food Group Recommended Brands list have never had a recall. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I hope you get good news at the end of the month.

[Robin and Libby Louise]

Hoping for a great outcome when you meet with the surgeons.  I have my fingers crossed and Libby has her paws crossed for both you and Jack.  You are a very strong woman!  Keep us updated!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Glad to read Jack's updates and hope the meds work and he feels better soon.