Happy New Year! I am an 11 year old Westie and my name is Sailor, but I may need to change it to Lucky! Not only have I been lucky during the past several weeks, but I know I have been very fortunate and blessed to have Dr. Brian Burnham & Dr. Liz Bolbach taking care of me. I have been through a hard time, but ALL of the people at Perry Animal Hospital have a lot to do with the fact that I am still here. I love them so much!
It all started out as a bright, sunny day in November so I was busy running & playing outside with my dog brothers. The delivery truck dropped off a package and the wheels had some very interesting smells. I am quite curious so of course I had to check them out. Oops, oh no! I guess I was a little too close and the driver didn’t see me when he drove away. Oh my goodness, that really hurt! My mom & dad rushed me to the vet and they were right there waiting for me which made my parents feel much better.
Dr. Burnham checked me out carefully and knew that I had some broken bones and a dislocated hip. They gave me some medicine so I started to feel better. I stayed with the special people at the vet so they could take care of me during the next few days. The worst part happened during the next week. The blood vessels on my back had been damaged so a large part of my skin wasn’t living any more. This was not good at all. It didn’t really hurt but it did feel strange. My parents were really worried because there was a lot of skin to repair and it looked so terrible, but Dr. Burnham did it!! He fixed me! Dr. Burnham, Dr. Bolbach and their staff worked very hard during my 2 hour surgery. They stitched me up and called my parents to tell them that I did great.
My new nickname was “Franken-sailor” (instead of Frankenstein, you know) which we all thought was pretty cute. I had lots of pink stitches across my back so I looked like my nickname for sure. I was doing so well that I was able to go home the next day. Boy, was I happy to be home, even though I had to stay in my kennel with that crazy lamp shade thing on my head and some tubes on my back. I got pretty sick again with an infection, but of course Dr. Burnham knew exactly what to do. I felt so much better after they gave me some great medicine and cleaned up all my wounds.
A couple of weeks ago I had another surgery and Dr. Burnham fixed my dislocated hip. I am back at home now sniffing around my yard and starting to get back to normal. It’s been so much fun to play with my brothers and chase the cat, too. I wish my hair would hurry up and grow back because it’s really cold outside lately! I am hopping a little on my new hip, but I am so happy to be here and to be home! One of my favorite things to do is lie on the front porch in the sunshine. What a great life!
The people at Perry Animal Hospital are awesome! When I was there (which has been a total of about 16 days) they took the best care of me every single day. They talked to me, petted me, fed me and loved me (and let me tell you I was a very scary looking dog!) They even called my parents often and answered all of their many questions. My mom says she has learned a lot from them, because they explain everything very well and always take time for her. Our whole family loves them so much and we are very thankful for all that they did for me!! Like I said, I am ONE LUCKY DOG!!
