Friday, February 6, 2009

Poor, poor Moses

Here is a story for ya...

The day this picture was taken, about a month ago, we had some friends over to play, when Moses (my brother's dog who we are watching) was running with a stick in his mouth and tripped and fell, evidently in some pain as he whimpered for about 5 minutes afterwards. The kids all ran in to tell me, I checked it out and saw no blood whatsoever, no wound, no signs of any stick to the back of the throat. We all thought he was OK.

Next day he looked like this.....We had to carry him in a wagon to get to the car to get to the vet. She checked him over real good. The vet inspected thoroughly and did not see anything in his throat either. He did, however, have a fever, which we chalked up to some unrelated infection, put him on antibiotics, and sent him home.



So about a week ago, his neck swells up to the size of somewhere between a grapefruit and a cantaloupe. Took him to the vet again, still no sign of injury anywhere. We assumed he got bit by a spider or a snake, and again, treated him with antibiotics and waited for the infection to go down.

Then I told you how the abscess bursted all over my carpet a couple of days ago, and has been draining since. So imagine my utter horror last night when I saw, sticking straight out of Moses' swollen and bloody neck, something that looked like a bone!! Both John and I were afraid to look but I did manage to muster up the courage to poke around to see why a bone was sticking out of his neck....

It wasn't a bone...It was the STICK that has been lodged in his throat for a month, that finally managed to exit through a hole in his neck. Oh my! 

In all my years of nursing and parenting I have never seen anything quite like this. I am thinking it is a miracle he is alive. And for your amusement, and since now we know he is going to be OK, here is the culprit....the two inch stick fragment.

And that, my friends, is why your mother always told you to never run with a sucker in your mouth!!!!

17 comments:

Jester 6 said...

WOW! That is a big stick to be stuck in his throat. I must say, I'm glad it happened at your house and not mine. My stomach would not have handled digging that out. Of course my first reaction was "just another reason to not have pets". . .hey, what else would you expect ME to say. :)

Marlita said...

Gives a whole new meaning to "Don't run with scissors.. I mean a stick"

Bethany said...

Oh no Moses! That is horrible! Poor, poor Moses. :(

Anonymous said...

Glad it happened at your house and not mine. That's where all those years as a nurse paid off, right? Glad he is okay. I can't believe that the vet didn't see anything. CRAZY. So excited that he is okay.

Susan said...

Oh, poor Moses...would a follow-up trip to the vet be a good idea? If not, I hope you'll give the vet a call to report what happened. An x-ray on the first trip would have saved everyone - especially Moses! - a lot of time, trouble, and pain.

I hope Moses will recover fully and quickly. He's been through quite an ordeal..

Best wishes,
Susan in Ky
Digging out as the snow and ice finally melt...

Leah Spring said...

Oh no! Poor Moses! If you've ever watched "Emergency Vets" last year they had a similar case. The stick broke of, punctured the esophagus, and ran ALONGSIDE it, but it didn't show up on xray right away. (because only rarely does wood show up on xray) How awful he must have felt!

M'elle said...

Chocolate labs keep life interesting! My husband came with one - she ate a bunch of our wedding favors a few days before the wedding. 6 months later when my husband and I were re landscaping the backyard we found some of them. Cute little bows still tied - tulle and all!
Glad the little guy is going to be ok.

JUST A MOM said...

Did you pull the stick out?

Alison

Erin said...

Hi Charissa!

Just wanted to invite you to check out my blog. It's fairly new, but you and I have a lot in common, and I have thoroughly enjoyed browsing through your family adventures! Happy Blogging!

jennifer... said...

HOW did the vet not find that?!?

kirsten said...

your such a good icu nurse!

RoverHaus said...

Well, since his name is Moses, it really isn't about a stick, but about the staff, huh?

Beth said...

Wow! and Eww! That is amazing. Way to go Moses. No bullrushes for you!

Amy...who wanted 4. said...

Whoa!!!
Freaky!

Janell & Kenny said...

O poor Moses I felt so bad reading this...if only animals could talk!!!!! Like when I came home from work and saw blood coming out of Checkers our cat's mouth. She acted very wooosey. So I rushed her to the vet. Someone hit her in the face w/ a ball bat or kicked her in the face or and chipped her tooth. Two days later our neighbors cat had the same thing happen only he didn't survive. Poor Moses!!!!

Valerie said...

Poor Moses! Wow! Did you dig it out yourself or have the vet do it (I probably would've doubted the vet's competence at this point and dug it out myself. . .but then again, I find icky things like that quite fascinating!).

Yvonne said...

Holy-Fagoli!!! That's huge!!! Poor guy......I'm glad he's feeling much better!!