Preston's continuing hard luck
You may remember Preston The Hard Luck Hound who we've been fostering since May. Preston lost his tail last fall after a series of injuries. And then he broke his foreleg getting his toes caught between the boards of a deck. He's been healing pretty well these past 10 months although he's clearly still on the road to recovery.
But this morning when we took him out, he wasn't putting his bad foot down. Usually Preston walks with a limp. On good days, it's slight. When he's tired, it gets worse. But he rarely avoids using his leg. At first we thought his bones were aching in the heat.
By 11 am, I knew something was wrong. He'd only lift his head when Bob came in the door. He usually is the first dog to the door when anyone comes in or goes out (or, you know, stands up or comes downstairs...). I called the Foster Coordinator, Christine, to ask her what to do. To the best of our knowledge, he hadn't bumped his leg or anything. When I touched it, however, it was swollen and hot. So I called Christine who called the vet and we lifted Preston into the Hundenwagon and rushed him over there.
As it turns out, he's got a fever and an infection. They injected him with antibiotics and I'm to give him oral antibiotics at home. But the problem is that there's something weird on the X-ray. It could just be the infection, but it could also be a tumor. Something is eating away at the bone next to the steel plate that's holding his leg together. The vet said that this infection has been going on for over a week, so it's not something that just popped up this morning. He just wasn't manifesting symptoms until now. Best case: they take out the plate, clear the infection, and he heals fine. Worst case: he loses this leg that we've tried so hard to keep.
The three vets at the office all looked at his X-ray and suggested I go straightaway to see the surgeon. So I took the X-rays and drove there next.
That was kind of funny. I dropped off the X-rays and said, "I need to make an appointment for my dog to see the doctor ASAP."
The receptionist said, "I have no appointments available until next week."
I said, "Oh. That's not good..."
She said, "What is your pet's name?"
"Preston," I said.
"Not Preston the greyhound!" she said. "Can you be here tomorrow at 11:30am?"
Fame. Gotta love it.
Preston says: "Yay for Four Legs!"
I'm trying to be uber-rational right now. I have to be until we know more. The appeals for help will come later. Right now, if you have it in your heart to pray or think good thoughts about this doggie, please do. Everyone who's met him says he's the sweetest big goof that they've ever met. And if these things had happened to him while he was still racing, he'd not be here with us today. He brings a great deal of silliness into our lives and I don't know what we'd do without him.
So please think of Preston, the Hard Luck Hound, at 11:30 tomorrow morning when he sees his surgeon.
