October 10th Miracle

Up at dawn, coffee on, and praying for a miracle. This morning, we traveled to the best canine orthopedic surgeon in our part of Northern California, hoping for good news. If you have read my previous blog, you will know what I am talking about. Our little border collie Dart had sustained a severe injury just two weeks ago, a broken pelvis adjacent to his hip socket. Because Dr. Broaddus has been out of town until this morning, Dr. Jean , a wonderful general veterinarian who works at the same veterinary office, originally saw him. At that time, his leg was immobilized as can be seen in this photo.

Shortly after we snapped the above picture (this morning), Dart was taken by Dr. Broaddus to have a follow-up ex-ray. Two weeks prior, we were told that the injury Dart had sustained might require his leg to be immobilized for about six weeks, maybe even eight. He might even require surgery. Also, two weeks earlier, Merle and Sandi Newton had told us to be prepared when we returned in two weeks (today) for more optimistic news. Merle and Sandi predicted that the doctor would examine Dart and tell us that no further medical treatment was necessary, that his wounded pelvis had been healed. Again, read my previous blog to further understand their optimism.

Though we tried our best to be positive this morning, inside we were prepared to take Dart home in his leg bandage for at least four more weeks. We were also prepared to hear that his hip might not ever function correctly again. But, that is not what happened. Shortly after 8:00 AM this morning, the doctor took us back to see the ex-rays for ourselves. Sure enough, to even a layperson’s eyes, it was easy to see that the break had almost totally healed in just two weeks. We were further reassured that what little deformity that remained would resolve over time. But, that was not the end of the good news. Dr. Broaddus also told us that we could expect Dart's hip joint to function normally in the future with no long term degeneration as a result of the injury. His hip joint was fine. It was a medical grand slam!

Now our little buddy Dart is out of his leg bandage. We are to encourage him to walk on his leg as much as he will. In a few weeks, he will be back to normal, we are told.

We decided to make the drive down to The Crystal Rose Cow Dog College after this. This morning was a regularly scheduled training Saturday on the ranch. We just felt compelled to see Merle and Sandi in person. Everyone there was, of course, very happy to see Dart and to hear the great news.

Dart holds his leg up a little, but he is making an effort to put weight on it. He will improve with time. Several of the folks out at Crystal Rose recommended that we walk Dart uphill, and that this would encourage him to use his left hind leg. After we got home this afternoon, we took Dart for a short walk uphill, and it worked! He did put some of his weight down.

We really dodged a bullet this time. We learned a very good lesson too. When Dart was originally injured, we were only a few hundred feet from The Crystal Rose gate, so we lowered the window just a little. Dart gets so excited when we get near the ranch. We purposely made an effort to NOT lower the window too much. But, we miscalculated. That little guy somehow wiggled out in the wink of an eye. We will not allow those windows to come down again, and will probably transport Dart in a crate from now on.

Finally, to top off this wonderful morning, Merle showed me how to ride a horse today. I have not been on a horse in 44 years. We managed to talk Nikki into mounting a horse too, no easy task by the way. Nikki is afraid of heights, and a horse is definitely too high. But, Merle worked his magic not only on the horse but Nikki too, and she reluctantly mounted and rode. I was so happy to have our dog safe, and to see Nikki tackle her fear and ride a horse. I am truly blessed. I hope we can both ride some more in the future, our border collie by our side.

Believe in miracles everyone. They happen. Two weeks ago, I believed that I had been responsible for killing my wonderful and perfect little dog. My wife felt the same way. We felt unworthy of even owning such a beautiful animal. But Merle and Sandi steered us in the right direction (in more ways than one), and to the right vet, and of course they helped us to summon God’s power to heal. Over the past two weeks, we have had many long discussions concerning these events, our feelings and beliefs. With Merle and Sandi’s words ringing in our ears, “be positive, think positive,” we tried to put on an optimistic face for the past two weeks. For two people who can be very pessimistic at times, we did our best. And now today, we are home and happy with our wonderful little puppy, God’s perfect creation, once again. We don’t always get a chance to start over, our past mistakes erased. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask and believe. What a wonderful place Crystal Rose Cow Dog College is.