Duke's Emergency Medical Care

Our family has endured a very stressful past 48 hours, but that is nothing compared to what our sweetest Duke has endured.  On Thursday morning, Duke and our other two dogs went to Bryan Park to get exercise in the woods, far back by the stream, as we do almost daily.  In five years of this routine, Duke has always been close by.  Thurdsay, he didn't come around a corner in the woods when I called him.  After looking for him on foot and having a good friend on bike look for him throughout the park, I decided to come home quickly with our other two dogs to get my bike to be able to cover more ground.  As I was hauling my bike to the park in my car, a man where I usually park asked me if I was looking for a dog.  He had just seen Duke cross over very busy Lakeside Avenue not far from the park.  The man and another woman I see at the park often told me they were going to drive around looking for Duke.   Behind the buildings Duke had run toward was Interstate 95.  I was in panic mode.  My mind wasn't thinking clearly and I was desperate.   I feared the worst and drove to 95 and pulled over to see the area behind the buildings better, and was so relieved when I saw a fence was there preventing access to 95.  In the meantime, Bruce (my husband and Duke's 'dad' was on his way from work to help me in the search).  As I started to take an exit to head back toward where Duke had last been seen, I received a call and a man told me he was on 95 and Duke had been hit by a car and was badly injured.  I called my Bruce who was close by and told him where to go on 95.  He was able to get to Duke before I could.  95 was backed up because the men who had seen Duke get hit (the person who hit Duke did not stop) had flagged down a state trooper.  Three state troopers had blocked off three lanes of traffic and directed traffic so Bruce and the men could get Duke into Bruce's car.  I called our vet's office and told them to expect us and I went there to meet Bruce.  The men had followed Bruce to the vet and helped us get Duke out of the car and into the clinic.  At the clinic, he was assessed, given strong pain medication and x-rayed.  We then had to tranfer Duke to the Dogwood Emergency Vet.  After what seemed like forever the vet gave us the news that Duke had signs of severe head trauma, his pupils were not responding.  His right hind leg was very badly injured and would more than likely have to be amputated.  He also was suffering from a pneumothorax (his lung was leaking air into his chest cavity). We were able to see him and we were devastated.  He was conscious but did not seem to recognize us.  It was touch and go.  At 11:00 that night, we came home with broken hearts and fearing the worst.  We had a night of little rest and many tears.  Our children were obviously devastated and I couldn't stop thinking of all the "If only I had..."The next morning as we were leaving to go back to the vet we got a phone call we were not expecting but were elated to receive.  Duke had turned the corner with the head trauma and his pupils were back to normal.  The vet was encouraged, but guarded.  We had thought we were going to lose Duke and this news was welcomed with cautious relief.  When we got to Duke, he seemed to be resting comfortably, with bandages and IV fluids with antibiotics and strong pain medications.  The doctor explained that the plan was to keep Duke over the weekend and keep him stable and reassess him for surgery on Monday.  By now, the vet bill was up to $6000.00, which we had to pay before ongoing treatment could continue. 
We have been to visit Duke three times a day since Thursday night.  Saturday morning, he was alert and recognized us and the doctor was very happy with his progress.  We meet with the surgeons on Monday morning for his surgery consult.  If he is cleared for surgery, he will need to stay at the emergency vet for another 2-3 days following surgery. 
Asking for donations is not easy and we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't need to.  We will happliy pay back each donation as we can.  If you are able to help, our gratitude would never be able to be expressed in words.  We know everyone has their own struggles and I know positive words through this struggle of ours would be so helpful.  Please keep Duke and our family in your thoughts and prayers.  We are already so thankful for our friends who have been checking in with us daily for updates on Duke. 

All of our love,

Andrea, Bruce, Jackson, Sophie, Liam, Sullivan and our other four legged family members, Willa, Rudy and Trixie.