The whole family was headed up the stairs to get ready... Madi and I were at the top of the stairs to cheer on Jackson as he made his climb. Madi was so overcome with excitement that she whipped around and hit her head on the wall at the top of the stairs. She seemed a little dazed at first, but then went off to play some more... no big deal. She waited in the bathroom while Tom got cleaned up and while I got Jackson changed. About fifteen minutes later, we were all ready and going to head down stairs to load up, and that's when I noticed blood...but where was it coming from? It was on the carpets, splattered on the walls. I checked Jackson; he was fine. We checked Madi and there it was all over her, but we couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from on her. Tom took her down to the garage to do a little exam, while I tried to get things cleaned up. By now, Jackson was getting cranky and hungry... so he's crying and doesn't want me to put him down. Tom is then calling for me from the garage... "We have to get her to the vet. Her ear is cut." So we start to load her up, but didn't know where we were going since our vet closes at 5:00 on Fridays...by now it was about 6:00 PM. We sit there for a while in the truck, and it seems that the bleeding has slowed downed and really almost stopped. We decide that maybe she was okay, and if we get her cleaned up we can tell a little better what was wrong. It did seem to be getting better and we thought we could bandage it up ourselves. As Tom bathed her, she would shake of the water and the blood would just start gushing again. Decision made - she has to get to the vet. Jackson is still upset... I'm trying to comfort him... I'm also trying to help Tom treat Madi... and then get the blood up before the carpets are ruined. Crazy!
Tom calls our neighbor, Kyle, to see if he can drive Madi and him into to Issaquah to a 24 hour pet hospital. All the while, we are going crazy and Madi seems as calm as can be. The bleeding would stop for a while and then she would shake (that's what dogs do) and the bleeding would start again. Tom, Madi, and Kyle get to the vet and they check her out, but there are other animals worse off then her, so they have to wait a little while. Finally, the vet takes her to do a full exam and comes out to tell them that what seemed to be a little cut was worse than expected. When she hit her head, she split the tip of her ear about a half inch. In the ear there is an artery and she just happen to sever it. Freak accident. The vet said that what happens with that artery is that it will start to clot and seem to start to heal and then as soon as dogs do their shake, it breaks the clot and the blood starts flowing again. The only way to fix this is to sew it. So they said she would be okay for awhile and that they would get her fixed up but it would still be a few hours (worse emergencies had come in). So they said they would call Tom when they had her fixed up but it would likely be around 1:00 AM. So Tom and Kyle head back to Snoqualmie... stopping for food first and to rent a carpet cleaner. :) Smart guys! We got the call in the middle of the night and they said she was doing good. They had to put her under for the surgery where they sewed up the artery, glued the cut on the ear and then bandaged her ears up on the top of her head. The vet told us we could come pick her up first thing in the morning.
Tom went to get her Saturday morning and called to warn me that she looked pretty rough... like a war victim. Her head is all bandaged up and she has one of the cone collars on to keep her from pawing at the bandages. The vet told Tom that she had to keep the bandages on for at least seven days, but it would be better if she can make it 10 to 14 days. He also gave us sedatives to keep her calm and antibiotics. The vet also warned...when she comes back to have the bandages removed there is a one in four chance that she will shake and break the clot right away and we'll have to go through this all again. I feel horrible for her! Tom and Jackson do to.
Here are a couple pictures of our injury victim...Poor Madi!
And Jackson doesn't seem to mind Madi's new look. He doesn't like it when the cone catches his head and knocks him over though. 
And this wall was the cause of it all...
I got the majority of the blood cleaned out of the carpets and off the walls by the time Tom got home on Friday night, but I was glad that he got the carpet cleaner. He spent Saturday morning cleaning the carpets in the bedroom, bathroom, the loft, and the living room. All the evidence of the accident have disappeared! Saturday night started another fiasco though... Madi just doesn't like the bandages, so she is constantly pawing at them and rubbing the cone on the floor. Her sedatives wore off about 1:00 AM and she was pacing our bedroom, panting heavily, pawing her head, and dragging the cone. Yay! So we have a bedroom that is a 90 degree sauna, a nervous dog, and no one is sleeping (except for Jackson, thankfully)! Tom gave her some drugs and she started to calm down, but then a thunder and lightning storm came through (totally unusual for this area) and kept us all up. We had to shut windows and then the house just got hotter. Miserable sleeping conditions!! So today we are all walking around like zombies! We are hopeful that Madi will get used to the bandages soon, otherwise it could be a long week to two weeks. And we are also hopeful that it cools down soon, otherwise the Neuberger household will be in a constant state of crankiness! :)
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