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lizbits · 12-28-2008, 02:59 PM

I have a 6 month old yorkie, I just got him early December. Well, we were visiting my boyfriend and he got too excited and leaped out of my friend's hands. He hit a table with his left paw on the way down, and cried and cried. And then I cried and cried. I wanted to wait to see if maybe it was just a sprain but his paw looked all loose and he was in a lot of pain. He started acting wierd: overly sleepy, sad, not walking on the leg. So, we took him to the emergency vet at 1 AM.
Once we got there they took a look at him and agreed his leg looked too loose, so we got him in for an x-ray. It turns out he had a distal fracture of both his radius and ulna. The vet showed me the x-ray and it looked terrible. He said we would probably need to see a surgeon to get him completley fixed up, but for now he would put him under and move the bone(s) back in place and splint the leg. The vet also told me that he would need pain killers and anti-inflamatory medication until he got the surgery that he needed.
My baby came out of anasethsia about an hour later, looking surprisingly chipper, and with a big bright yellow splint. I took him home, but only after paying the mere 600 dollar vet bill. I finally got to bed around 5 AM.
The next day he was still acting wierd, a reaction to being under anasthesia I suppose, but mostly he was shaking and sleeping a lot. I did my best to comfort him. I cried and cried, and he tried to comfort me. I made an appointment to consult with a surgeon. I was able to get an appointment that day in the early afternoon.
The surgeon was at a large animal hospital, and I had never been to a place like that before. The receptionist treated me terribly, which was great. I brought the x-rays from the emergency vet and finally got to talk with the surgeon. He seemed like a nice guy. We looked at the x-rays together and he explained that surgery would be necessary because the puppy's bones were still growing (he pointed out the ephysial plate at the bottom of the ulna) and because the fracture was diagonal, that the bones might not heal correctly and break easily again. He wants to put a pin in the middle of the ulna, running along the inside of the bone that will stay there for good. In addition, he wants to put six pins up and down the leg, plastered together with bone cement. This amount of work came as a shock to me, I had no idea how complicated this would be. I figured maybe a cast and one pin would do the trick...Then I got the estimate of charges. It looks like 2400-2800 dollars will be the total for the surgery. When I first got the estimate I was completley shocked. I just don't have that kind of money right now. The nurse told me I could apply for Care Credit. So I did, and I immediately got rejected because I am young and don't have enough credit yet. My boyfriend applied as well, and the same thing happened. I asked if they had any other options. They told me no, and that if I couldnt pay then they couldn't help me. I just sat in my car outside their office crying and crying for half an hour. I didn't know where I could get that kind of money and I knew that he needed the surgery.
I called up some of my relatives and told them about the situation, asking to borrow money for the surgery and eventually me and my boyfriend were able to get the money together. So my baby is on the schedule to get fixed up tomorrow.
Its been a very hard Christmas for me, but somehow I got it figured out. I am in some terrible debt, but I would do anything to make him okay. He is doing fine with just his splint. He is already back to his normal self. I have to calm him down and tell him no, because he seems to think he is better already, and wants to run and jump again. I am glad he is not in pain, but I am really nervous about the surgery tomorrow. Any advice would be greatly appreciated...thanks.

12-28-2008, 02:59 PM	#1
lizbits Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Richmond, Virginia Posts: 12	fractured radius and ulna I have a 6 month old yorkie, I just got him early December. Well, we were visiting my boyfriend and he got too excited and leaped out of my friend's hands. He hit a table with his left paw on the way down, and cried and cried. And then I cried and cried. I wanted to wait to see if maybe it was just a sprain but his paw looked all loose and he was in a lot of pain. He started acting wierd: overly sleepy, sad, not walking on the leg. So, we took him to the emergency vet at 1 AM. Once we got there they took a look at him and agreed his leg looked too loose, so we got him in for an x-ray. It turns out he had a distal fracture of both his radius and ulna. The vet showed me the x-ray and it looked terrible. He said we would probably need to see a surgeon to get him completley fixed up, but for now he would put him under and move the bone(s) back in place and splint the leg. The vet also told me that he would need pain killers and anti-inflamatory medication until he got the surgery that he needed. My baby came out of anasethsia about an hour later, looking surprisingly chipper, and with a big bright yellow splint. I took him home, but only after paying the mere 600 dollar vet bill. I finally got to bed around 5 AM. The next day he was still acting wierd, a reaction to being under anasthesia I suppose, but mostly he was shaking and sleeping a lot. I did my best to comfort him. I cried and cried, and he tried to comfort me. I made an appointment to consult with a surgeon. I was able to get an appointment that day in the early afternoon. The surgeon was at a large animal hospital, and I had never been to a place like that before. The receptionist treated me terribly, which was great. I brought the x-rays from the emergency vet and finally got to talk with the surgeon. He seemed like a nice guy. We looked at the x-rays together and he explained that surgery would be necessary because the puppy's bones were still growing (he pointed out the ephysial plate at the bottom of the ulna) and because the fracture was diagonal, that the bones might not heal correctly and break easily again. He wants to put a pin in the middle of the ulna, running along the inside of the bone that will stay there for good. In addition, he wants to put six pins up and down the leg, plastered together with bone cement. This amount of work came as a shock to me, I had no idea how complicated this would be. I figured maybe a cast and one pin would do the trick...Then I got the estimate of charges. It looks like 2400-2800 dollars will be the total for the surgery. When I first got the estimate I was completley shocked. I just don't have that kind of money right now. The nurse told me I could apply for Care Credit. So I did, and I immediately got rejected because I am young and don't have enough credit yet. My boyfriend applied as well, and the same thing happened. I asked if they had any other options. They told me no, and that if I couldnt pay then they couldn't help me. I just sat in my car outside their office crying and crying for half an hour. I didn't know where I could get that kind of money and I knew that he needed the surgery. I called up some of my relatives and told them about the situation, asking to borrow money for the surgery and eventually me and my boyfriend were able to get the money together. So my baby is on the schedule to get fixed up tomorrow. Its been a very hard Christmas for me, but somehow I got it figured out. I am in some terrible debt, but I would do anything to make him okay. He is doing fine with just his splint. He is already back to his normal self. I have to calm him down and tell him no, because he seems to think he is better already, and wants to run and jump again. I am glad he is not in pain, but I am really nervous about the surgery tomorrow. Any advice would be greatly appreciated...thanks.