Wednesday, November 18, 2009

the broken toe...


So first thing Tuesday morning, Gracie and I were at the vet's office for her bandaging. The vet showed me the x-ray, which clearly showed a fracture in her toe. It started as a hairline on the outside and then curved straight up to the joint and on that end was a complete split in the bone through to the joint. Granted, this was all magnified like 75 times, so it looked much bigger than it was. But still, it was definitely broken.
Short term reality... 4-6 weeks to heal with a pressure bandage on it to keep it stabilized. No splint because it is so low in the leg that we would risk another break from her trying to walk with the splint. Tramadol pain killers for 4 days (yay!) and then anti-inflammatory meds. Stopped the Prednisone and added a calcium-rich supplement to help with the bone healing. Still on the antibiotic. Bandage on most of that leg with instructions to keep it dry and Gracie calm (really?! that should be interesting). Oh, and we have to keep her from messing with the bandages. That should be REALLY interesting. When they brought her back to me after bandaging her leg, she wouldn't put it down and kept pawing the air, occasionally hitting herself in the chin while doing this. She was biting at the bandage, too. Poor thing has no idea what is on her leg and was trying to shake it off.
Long term reality... She could develop arthritis in the joint that the break affected later in life. One more thing to add to her list.

We got home and I was quick to get the pain pill in her so that she would settle down a little bit and sleep, especially since I had worked the night before and was on again that night. The quicker she sleeps, the quicker I sleep.
She was biting and tearing at the bandage later in the afternoon. She does not like it and was determined to get it off. She has torn pieces of the purple bandage off already. We've tried spraying some bitter apple on it with no success...doesn't seem to phase her. We are trying desperately to keep her out of the 'cone of shame', aka the E-collar. If we do have to use something to keep her away from it, I'm thinking we will try the donut (a version of the E-collar but it is only an inflatable ring around the neck).

So that's where we are. Poor Gracie has only one good leg right now but she is a trooper. She's not letting it slow her down too much. Please pray for her to heal safely and quickly.

5 comments:

Kris D. said...

I think what you're doing for this little silver sweetie is just amazing. Thanks so much for sharing her story. She's lucky to have such great caretakers in her life. I hope she will live a long and happy life.

Anonymous said...

How is her toe doing? My weim has broken her toe twice!

Krista said...

Anxious to hear how Gracie is doing. Hearing about her progress by reading your delightful posts helps me deal with my depression. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

How is Gracie doing? I miss hearing about her.

hannah said...

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