Jack’s story part 2

I write now, absolutely sick from what I am about to tell you.  Today was supposed to be a big day for us.  We were supposed to drive up to the vet for the staple removal and a brief follow up exam to see how things were healing.  We had followed the discharge instructions and after care restrictions to a “T.”  We had done everything right.  They took Jack back and we waited anxiously for his return.  When the nurse came out with Jack we were so all very happy, we were told we had to have af follow up discussion with the surgeon.  The staples had come fine and the outside of the wound was healing just fine.  We we all ready to go home and move on to the next stage of Jack’s recovery.

However when the vet examined Jack’s leg he found that something did not feel quite right.  They took Jack back for another set of x-rays to see what was going on with the plate.  My wife and I both got a sick feeling.  Jack was brought back to us in a few minutes, but we knew something was not right.   We anxiously waited for about 15 minutes for the Vet to come back into the room.  We both had a feeling that we were about to get bad news.

He showed us the x-rays and started to show us the first x-ray.  He explained, in depth, the first procedure that was done.  Because of Jack’s weight (he’s a bit bulky for a mini-schnauzer weighing in at about 28 lbs. whereas the typical mini-schnauzer normally tops out between 15-18 lbs. from what I’ve read. )  The problem comes in with the size of plate and type of fracture that Jack sustained.

There are different size plates, the larger plate would not have been appropriate because the screws would have been too big for the bone, so a smaller plate was used.  The smaller plate fit the bone, but the further complication is where the fracture is in relation to the placement of the plate and the screws that secure the plate to the bone.  The fracture was so severe that there was no bone where the middle screw would have been installed, hence an inherent weakness in the plate, which was bent by Jack’s weight.  So despite all our efforts over the past few weeks, the plate was bent and Jack requires a second surgery to remove the original plate, and replace it with two of the same plate to give it the appropriate strength.

Needless to say we’re just sick over this.  Please visit www.help-jack.com for more info and updates.  Jack will have surgery today or tomorrow depending on if they can fit him in.  Our son is heartbroken, as are we.  Jill (Jack’s sister) is so out of sorts…  Its just a sad story overall.

Jack’s Story

The events that I am about to relate to you are part of a recent family tragedy that has left us terrified, anxious, and outraged. This is a true story of egregious animal cruelty and with the recent events regarding abuse of animals that are all over the news, I hope this heightened awareness will help get our story some attention. When I obtain written police reports and information from our Veterinary Surgeons, I will post links to the documentation to corroborate what I am writing here.

On Thursday August 2nd, while my wife and I were at work, our babysitter let our dogs out to run in our “Dog Safe” stockade fenced back yard. They were out for approximately 15 minutes around 3 p.m. EST, before barking and a huge commotion caused our babysitter to run out to the back yard to see what was going on. She heard an air-gun being fired and both of our Miniature Schnauzers (Jack and Jill) barking and running around frantically as if in fear.

Our babysitter ran to the side of the house where we have a 6 foot chain link fence with a gate, to see a middle aged adult white male, wearing a black baseball cap, running out of our driveway with a hand held air gun -evidently he was surprised by the appearance of a human – rather than an animal to abuse, he turned ran through our driveway, onto our street and around the corner. He was on foot, and it appears as if he lives near by. Unfortunately our babysitter did not get a good look at the man. Not only could this man have hurt our precious dogs, but he endangered our babysitter and our seven year old son. This one event, as terrifying as it is to our family, is not even the worst part of our story.

After this attack, our babysitter called her father, but did not call 911 nor did she inform us of this incident until the real cruelty to our poor 3 year old white male Mini-Schnauzer occurred. If we had known about this issue we might have been able to be more proactive earlier, and possibly prevented the great pain and suffering that was to occur for Jack, but alas, we were not afforded that opportunity and fate took its course.

Then one week ago today Jack and his baby “Sister” Jill were playing in the back yard. I was out shopping for groceries, and my wife had gone to do some yard work in the front yard. It is not uncommon for us to let our dogs play in the fenced yard, which they always enjoy and where they have always been safe. She heard a shocking yelp and ran through the house to the back yard and found Jill trembling with fear by our back door. Jack was not there. She searched the yard and he was hiding under our shed. She ran in to call our family that lives nearby for help, because at that time we were still not aware of the previous incident with the air-gun.

When she ran to the back door, she found Jack standing, holding his left hind leg. His head was slumped down, eyes were glazed over and he would not move. At that point, she knew something was terribly wrong, and carefully picked him up. He yelped and howled with pain as she carried him to the couch and laid him on his right side. She immediately called the local emergency animal hospital, and they advised her to bring him in as soon as possible.

Shortly after, I returned to the house and my wife and son were both in tears, Jack was laying, whimpering in pain. I carefully lifted him up and carried him to our car, my son was severely traumatized and thought that Jack was going to die. Our son and Jack have a special relationship, they play like brothers, and our son refers to Jack as his little brother, so this was a very harrying ride. My wife drove as carefully as possible to minimize any additional damage that might have been done to our poor Jack.

We arrived at the hospital and brought Jack in. I held Jack for over thirty minutes as we waited to be seen. Finally a nurse came to take him, he was shivering and whimpering. Our family was all on the verge of tears as they took him back for his examination. We waited anxiously for word, consoling our son and praying that Jack would be okay.

After waiting for an hour, we met with the Veterinarian who reviewed the situation with us. Jack was diagnosed with comminuted diaphyseal fracture of his left femur. We were told that this would require surgery, but the surgery could not be performed at the facility, it would require an orthopedic specialist and we were given two possible locations that would be able to handle the operation, but both were an hour away. We were also told that the surgery would cost at least $3,000.00, not to mention the initial triage and examination which cost us over $300.00.

We are not a wealthy family, but there was no question in our minds that we would have this surgery performed and save Jack, however we needed to find some time to figure out how we could pay for the surgery and still have money to feed our family, pay our mortgage and our other monthly bills. We were able to put a patchwork solution together that is tenuous at best to this day. We were able to get our son to a family members house so that he did not have to witness Jack suffering through an hour long ride, none of which was smooth or easy for any of us in the car. Least of all Jack.

We arrived at the second facility at around 8 PM. I had been carrying Jack in my arms, and he whimpered and grunted in pain through the whole ride. He was such a little trooper, but he was still scared, shivering and in pain despite having had pain medication administered at the first facility. He was checked in and taken into the back, my wife was distraught and so was I, we have not been without Jack for a night since he had been fixed when he was just a pup. It felt like we were leaving our child in a hospital, in pain, and with an uncertain future.

We returned home around 10 PM that evening. We were still in shock and dismayed. We could not find anything in the yard that would have hurt Jack we were at a loss for an explanation for what had happened. We both spent the night online researching the fracture, surgery, and trying to patch together a budget to accomodate the cost of the surgery. We were also trying to determine how to handle the post operative period, since we both work and Jack will need constant care and attention for a while after the surgery.

Monday morning crept up slowly and we started making phone calls to let every family memeber know how Jack was doing and his prognosis as we knew at the time. We received a call from the Vet, inquiring as to the specifics of how the injury may have occurred. The vet was very concerned because of the severity of the fracture, the femur was shattered hence the term comminuted (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=comminuted%20fracture) and was inquiring as to how this could have happened. She had eliminated his being struck by a car due to the fact that the trauma was located to one site, and there were no signs of other bruising or cuts, etc. She indicated that the fracture appeared to be the result of a blunt force trauma (i.e. a bat or a heavy piece of wood, etc.)

By this time, family members had begun to trickle in, and our babysitter came in as well. She related to us the story of what happened the prior Thursday and immediately called the Police to file a report of the incident. The responding Police Officer and I combed the back yard and found no evidence of BB’s or Pellets, he indicated that did not necessarily mean that the offender did not fire something else from the weapon, but at this point it is mere speculation. We did find, however, two freshly broken pieces at the top of our fence where it appeared that someone had scaled the fence to get in and then get out.

The Police have begun their investigation into the matter, and we’re awaiting a written report and further information. Our concern is that whoever attacked Jack will come back again or perhaps hurt a person. It is not uncommon for unstable, aggressive people to start out by hurting animals and then graduate to hurting people. We now all sleep in one room with Jack and Jill nearby. Jill will not go outside alone, so we have to walk her. Both my wife and myself have had to take time off from work to care for Jack since he returned from the hospital. The ramifications of this horrid attack continue to ripple through our lives.

This tragedy comes just a few months after I returned to work after having spent nearly 3 months in the hospitilization for complications stemming from an inherited disordorder called Porphyria (For more information on Porphyria please see – http://www.porphyriafoundation.com/links.html).

While I was recovering, my wife took time off of work to care for me. We are still paying medical bills and additional costs for prescription medications for my medical condition which had been straining our budget prior to this brutal attack on Jack.

Please Visit – http://helpsavejack.blogspot.com/ for more information

Jack’s Story

The events that I am about to relate to you are part of a recent family tragedy that has left us terrified, anxious, and outraged. This is a true story of egregious animal cruelty and with the recent events regarding abuse of animals that are all over the news, I hope this heightened awareness will help get our story some attention. When I obtain written police reports and information from our Veterinary Surgeons, I will post links to the documentation to corroborate what I am writing here.

On Thursday August 2nd, while my wife and I were at work, our babysitter let our dogs out to run in our “Dog Safe” stockade fenced back yard. They were out for approximately 15 minutes around 3 p.m. EST, before barking and a huge commotion caused our babysitter to run out to the back yard to see what was going on. She heard an air-gun being fired and both of our Miniature Schnauzers (Jack and Jill) barking and running around frantically as if in fear.

Our babysitter ran to the side of the house where we have a 6 foot chain link fence with a gate, to see a middle aged adult white male, wearing a black baseball cap, running out of our driveway with a hand held air gun -evidently he was surprised by the appearance of a human – rather than an animal to abuse, he turned ran through our driveway, onto our street and around the corner. He was on foot, and it appears as if he lives near by. Unfortunately our babysitter did not get a good look at the man. Not only could this man have hurt our precious dogs, but he endangered our babysitter and our seven year old son. This one event, as terrifying as it is to our family, is not even the worst part of our story.

After this attack, our babysitter called her father, but did not call 911 nor did she inform us of this incident until the real cruelty to our poor 3 year old white male Mini-Schnauzer occurred. If we had known about this issue we might have been able to be more proactive earlier, and possibly prevented the great pain and suffering that was to occur for Jack, but alas, we were not afforded that opportunity and fate took its course.

Then one week ago today Jack and his baby “Sister” Jill were playing in the back yard. I was out shopping for groceries, and my wife had gone to do some yard work in the front yard. It is not uncommon for us to let our dogs play in the fenced yard, which they always enjoy and where they have always been safe. She heard a shocking yelp and ran through the house to the back yard and found Jill trembling with fear by our back door. Jack was not there. She searched the yard and he was hiding under our shed. She ran in to call our family that lives nearby for help, because at that time we were still not aware of the previous incident with the air-gun.

When she ran to the back door, she found Jack standing, holding his left hind leg. His head was slumped down, eyes were glazed over and he would not move. At that point, she knew something was terribly wrong, and carefully picked him up. He yelped and howled with pain as she carried him to the couch and laid him on his right side. She immediately called the local emergency animal hospital, and they advised her to bring him in as soon as possible.

Shortly after, I returned to the house and my wife and son were both in tears, Jack was laying, whimpering in pain. I carefully lifted him up and carried him to our car, my son was severely traumatized and thought that Jack was going to die. Our son and Jack have a special relationship, they play like brothers, and our son refers to Jack as his little brother, so this was a very harrying ride. My wife drove as carefully as possible to minimize any additional damage that might have been done to our poor Jack.

We arrived at the hospital and brought Jack in. I held Jack for over thirty minutes as we waited to be seen. Finally a nurse came to take him, he was shivering and whimpering. Our family was all on the verge of tears as they took him back for his examination. We waited anxiously for word, consoling our son and praying that Jack would be okay.

After waiting for an hour, we met with the Veterinarian who reviewed the situation with us. Jack was diagnosed with comminuted diaphyseal fracture of his left femur. We were told that this would require surgery, but the surgery could not be performed at the facility, it would require an orthopedic specialist and we were given two possible locations that would be able to handle the operation, but both were an hour away. We were also told that the surgery would cost at least $3,000.00, not to mention the initial triage and examination which cost us over $300.00.

We are not a wealthy family, but there was no question in our minds that we would have this surgery performed and save Jack, however we needed to find some time to figure out how we could pay for the surgery and still have money to feed our family, pay our mortgage and our other monthly bills. We were able to put a patchwork solution together that is tenuous at best to this day. We were able to get our son to a family members house so that he did not have to witness Jack suffering through an hour long ride, none of which was smooth or easy for any of us in the car. Least of all Jack.

We arrived at the second facility at around 8 PM. I had been carrying Jack in my arms, and he whimpered and grunted in pain through the whole ride. He was such a little trooper, but he was still scared, shivering and in pain despite having had pain medication administered at the first facility. He was checked in and taken into the back, my wife was distraught and so was I, we have not been without Jack for a night since he had been fixed when he was just a pup. It felt like we were leaving our child in a hospital, in pain, and with an uncertain future.

We returned home around 10 PM that evening. We were still in shock and dismayed. We could not find anything in the yard that would have hurt Jack we were at a loss for an explanation for what had happened. We both spent the night online researching the fracture, surgery, and trying to patch together a budget to accomodate the cost of the surgery. We were also trying to determine how to handle the post operative period, since we both work and Jack will need constant care and attention for a while after the surgery.

Monday morning crept up slowly and we started making phone calls to let every family memeber know how Jack was doing and his prognosis as we knew at the time. We received a call from the Vet, inquiring as to the specifics of how the injury may have occurred. The vet was very concerned because of the severity of the fracture, the femur was shattered hence the term comminuted (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=comminuted%20fracture) and was inquiring as to how this could have happened. She had eliminated his being struck by a car due to the fact that the trauma was located to one site, and there were no signs of other bruising or cuts, etc. She indicated that the fracture appeared to be the result of a blunt force trauma (i.e. a bat or a heavy piece of wood, etc.)

By this time, family members had begun to trickle in, and our babysitter came in as well. She related to us the story of what happened the prior Thursday and immediately called the Police to file a report of the incident. The responding Police Officer and I combed the back yard and found no evidence of BB’s or Pellets, he indicated that did not necessarily mean that the offender did not fire something else from the weapon, but at this point it is mere speculation. We did find, however, two freshly broken pieces at the top of our fence where it appeared that someone had scaled the fence to get in and then get out.

The Police have begun their investigation into the matter, and we’re awaiting a written report and further information. Our concern is that whoever attacked Jack will come back again or perhaps hurt a person. It is not uncommon for unstable, aggressive people to start out by hurting animals and then graduate to hurting people. We now all sleep in one room with Jack and Jill nearby. Jill will not go outside alone, so we have to walk her. Both my wife and myself have had to take time off from work to care for Jack since he returned from the hospital. The ramifications of this horrid attack continue to ripple through our lives.

This tragedy comes just a few months after I returned to work after having spent nearly 3 months in the hospitilization for complications stemming from an inherited disordorder called Porphyria (For more information on Porphyria please see – http://www.porphyriafoundation.com/links.html).

While I was recovering, my wife took time off of work to care for me. We are still paying medical bills and additional costs for prescription medications for my medical condition which had been straining our budget prior to this brutal attack on Jack.

The unexpected costs of Jack’s surgery and medical care have put my family in financial distress. If you can spare a few dollars to help us defray the expenses of Jack’s surgery, please feel free to contribute. All funds will be used towards these expenses and ensuring our family can continue to support Jack’s ongoing medical needs. Our family would greatly appreciate any donation, be it $1, $5, $10 or $2o. Every penny helps.Thank you

Thank You Sincerely