So we decided to go ahead with the bone-doctor consult, & the 24-hour care hospitalization. I figure we give her the best possible shot and then if it still too bad at least we know we tried absolutely everything. I am so heartbroken right now.
We are going to go pick Pumpkin up and take her to the 24 hour hospital. I hope all she needs is to put some meat back on her bones, then see about getting her limbs fixed. I feel crazy for doing it, but her life has been so hard. It doesn't seem fair to give up* on her when she crawled back to us for help.
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Update #2: Thank you so very much for all of your warm thoughts & prayers for Pumpkin. We got him (we found out it was a him!) stable, and they are inserting an E-tube to give nourishment directly to his stomach. We have to see if he will tolerate the reintroduction of nutrients. If we can't get him to respond to the nutrition then that will be the end. So its a waiting game until Thursday. We bring him home tomorrow and continue the syringe to E-tube processed food introduction sessions.
We also got to see that he has a hernia the size of a half-dollar in his abdominal wall. Right now this is not an immediate concern but it might be come one if his bowels get stuck in the hole & become twisted. If that happens surgery needs would become immediate. We would have to make the tough decisions pretty quick. As far as his bones are concerned the orthopedic believes that he was hit by a car in the last couple of weeks & deteriorated from there due to it being so painful for him to move. The joints in his front and back paws (on the right side) are fractured and disjointed.
Our options at this point are 2 surgeries. They would want to take care of the front paw & hernia at once. Then give some recovery time & take care of the back leg at a later date. The problem with these two surgeries is that it is 6K total to do it all. We don't know if we would be able to swing that much money. I would feel absolutely awful not doing it for money concerns, but I talked it over with H. It is looking like we can't swing both surgeries. We do have the option of fixing one leg & the hernia, then putting a cast on the other leg to see if the joint heals by itself. The surgeon didn't recommend this because it can cause a lot of pain in that joint in the long run because it doesn't address any cartilage concerns. It is looking like we might have to do this way though. Its either that or put Pumpkin down.
We are leaning towards fixing the hernia & one leg (most likely the back leg) & taking our chances with the front paw cast. This is where we are at right now. It all depends on how he responds to the food introduction. If he doesn't make it past tonight or until thursday with the food issue or the hernia causes issues between now & then... then surgery won't even be in the cards.
Once again, I'm sorry for the really long update. This is where we are at so if you don't mind, those prayers & thoughts are a great comfort to me (and H, & our housemate) who dearly love our little stray Pumpkin. I hope we can work something out that will enable him to remain here with us, but if nothing works out we will have to say goodbye. I am honestly dreading that possibility, but that is reality. Thank you for letting me vent & get this off my chest. I am so emotionally drained right now. I was hoping this year would be free of loss or at least emotionally a little easier, but the best laid plans of Mice & Men- right?
I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to send good thoughts and post. From the bottom of my heart it helps me deal with this. Thank you.
