Car Accident Story – Part I
We came to Lake Tahoe in Northern California during a 3 day Labor Day long weekend. At 4pm on 8/31 TT got into a car accident. I am not going to cover how and why this happened and certainly I don’t blame anyone but myself. This post is mainly about the story from the moment the accident happened to the date I returned to LA, our experience of handling an emergency situation away from home during a national holiday (nothing was open).
WARNING!
This post contains potentially disturbing content about blood and injures.
Viewer discretion is advised.
TT was always kept safe, leashed, indoor, under supervision until that day he got hit by an SUV that failed to brake fast enough. It could be worse, fortunately TT is tiny enough to go past the chassis in between the wheels and the car didn’t go over his body.
The moment I got to him, TT was laying on his side screaming on the ground, I saw blood coming out from TT’s mouth and some blood in his pee. Panicking, I picked him up and found no sign of injury anywhere on his body or in his mouth.
People who lived across the street came out after hearing a squeak braking sound and TT’s screaming. They provided us information of many nearby veterinary hospitals, even helped us call them one by one to find out which one could be open on a Labor Day weekend. They gave us a tremendous amount of help while I was in shock and couldn’t process anything. The driver stuck with us too even though she didn’t have to. She gave us her phone number and promised to help with medical bills. I decided at that moment not to call her because this is not her fault.
We rushed to Donner Truckee Veterinary Hospital after making sure they accepted emergencies. TT went in and out, he closed his eyes a few times during the car ride, his tongue was white and fell out from his mouth, still peeing blood but I didn’t see any blood coming from his mouth anymore. There were no obvious injuries anywhere on TT’s body so I couldn’t tell how bad he was.
- Aug 31, 5pm
After we arrived at Donner Truckee, the front desk lady’s attitude was very detached from what was obviously happening in the room. She asked us “What can I help you with?” with a flat tone, unconcerned that we had just called not long ago and now we were holding a hurt animal in front of her.
She spoke to us with disinterest and the whole check in process took way too long. We were left in the room to wait for the doctor for another 15 minutes. There was a lack of efficiency of this “ER” system, the delay and slow moving process was too hard for me to take because I was mentally counting the unknown amount of time TT has left.
TT attempted to stand up by himself on the examination table but he couldn’t move his hind legs. The wait felt like forever and the doctor finally showed up. She pulled TT’s hind legs to see if he showed any sign of resistance. TT didn’t react to the pull at all so the doctor took him in for an X-ray. The comparison of my extreme emotion to the hospital’s detachment made me wonder if it was an act when the doctor scooped TT up into her arms and said “shhh shhh poor little baby”, it made me sick when I saw her kiss TT on his head.
The doctor came back with the X-ray result, she explained to us the accident fractured his pelvis and also caused a caudal spine distortion, it’s a spinal cord injury.
I quickly asked what we could do to help TT and the doctor widened her eyes and looked surprised. She shook her head and told us there’s no way we could fix him, TT is bound to paralyzed and will suffer from incontinence. I can’t find any words to describe how I felt at that moment with the way she delivered the information. The doctor became defensive after I tried to ask her a few more times if there’s any slim chance or anything we could try, instead of thinking about that “poor little baby” she kissed, she thought we were questioning her professional diagnosis. She lightly mentioned we could give him a doggy wheelchair and also lectured us that this is a life quality issue, and we should consider putting TT down. She said we should feel lucky there’s no internal organ injuries plus TT didn’t get run over, all with a smile on her face. She put her hands into her pocket to end the conversation, didn’t provide any extra information, not even a hospital with orthopedic specialists or rehabilitation.
Most people are greedy, and I am not an exception. On the way to the hospital, I prayed only for TT to survive, yet here I am at the hospital unsatisfied. I hope TT can recover, I want him to be able to run and jump like he could before.
I didn’t have any related knowledge or experience with spinal cord injuries. The only thing I could do was to agree to have TT hospitalized so they could give him painkiller and antibiotics. TT stopped crying after whatever they gave him, he shut down like a lifeless puppet.
While we finished up at the front desk the doctor came to let us know she tested TT’s foot with a sharp tool again and realized TT can actually feel it. The doctor told us the only thing she could do is to send the X-ray to the veterinary orthopedic society to see if people will have different thoughts on his case, this will be TT’s only hope.
- Aug 31, 9pm
I received an email from a different doctor on the night shift- Doctor Lam from Donner Truckee. The place we stayed doesn’t have phone reception so email was the only way we could communicate. Doctor Lam asked us if we are ok with them performing CPR on TT if there’s an emergency. They do not anticipate having to do so, but the hospital needs to be clear about their emergency protocols. TT is stable and resting comfortably with the pain medication and he even ate a little bit, but still has bloody urine so the doctor performed a brief ultrasound to make sure his urinary bladder was intact. It appears to be ok with no free fluid in his abdomen. The doctor said they will monitor his kidney values and electrolytes.
Doctor Lam knows we live in LA so she provided us 3 constructive options:
- If we are staying for a week or more, the hospital can try to see if any of their mobile surgeons can come up here to perform the surgery.
- The doctor doesn’t recommend that we take him back to LA to have the procedure performed closer to home because there will likely be significant traffic during a holiday and it is a 7 hour drive which may pose a problem for TT managing his pain. If we insist on doing so, we need to look up veterinary hospitals/emergency hospitals along the way in case we run into any problems.
- Sort of a compromise between options 1 and 2. There are closer surgeons and referral hospitals they can refer us to, but we have to spend at least 1 night stay wherever the hospital is.
From the time I left the hospital around 6pm to 9:30pm, I spent my time either bawling or doing intense research. I realized looking for orthopedic or neurology specialists is an open option. I sent the X-ray to my best friend Adam’s sister who is a vet in Seattle. She told me the only injury you could see from the given X-ray is a broken pelvis, nothing else. I also talked to many people on a local dog group Facebook page, who provided me with many animal hospitals with neurology departments. Jennifer, being a physical therapist for humans as her profession, calmly analyzed the whole situation over the phone to me and helped me to lay out all the possibilities so I was able to make better judgment during the worst day of my life. I deeply appreciate every single person who gave me help during the toughest hours.
Soon after, I put together a few nearby veterinary hospitals that have a neurology department and on site surgeons, though most hospitals preferred to speak with doctors at Donner Truckee before the transfer to get ahead on knowing TT’s situation. I called Donner Truckee from the cabin we stayed at many times but failed to connect with them. We decided to head back over to the hospital to visit instead of blindly waiting.
- Aug 31, 9:30pm
The urine draining from the catheter still has blood but looks like it is starting to become clearer. TT’s Liver and kidney values have decreased, there is a minor contusion in the chest but it’s not serious. The hospital believes the blood coming from TT’s mouth earlier could be caused by lung compression during the impact, also not major. The night shift technician was a sweet lady. As a pet parent I could feel a connection with her and how much she cares. She was also very good at talking to a pet parent who was under stress like me, she comforted me by telling us she had worked with a dog who got run over by a car, and the dog had been able to stand again successfully after medical attention.
The technician led us to the back to see TT. I saw him moving his tiny toes, he had his ears perked up and looking around. Compared to hours ago he seemed full of energy again. We met the night shift doctor Lam and, like her email, she was extremely proactive and filled with a positive attitude. She quickly contacted 3 different hospitals we had in mind to transfer TT to. Two of them were VCA, about an hour away in Sacramento, the third one was UC Davis about 2 hours away. They all had 24 hours emergency service, neurologists and surgeons, moreover, three of them were equipped with MRI and CT machines. Based on my research in most spinal cord injury cases, the faster a dog can have a surgery, the better the chance of recovery, best case scenario would be within 48 hours. However after a long discussion with doctor Lam we decided to let TT stay there until the next morning since rushing for a hospital transfer at night wouldn’t do much good.
We reached our final decision to take TT to UC Davis for further surgical evaluations, their veterinary medicine school is considered one of the best in the U.S., as well as having one of the greatest animal hospitals. I had multiple people suggesting that I take TT there.
“UC Davis can work miracles” they said.
I deeply hoped this miracle could work on TT too.
- Sep 1, 7am
Early the next morning I came back to Donner Truckee for TT’s hospital transfer. All the documents, IV fluids and meds for TT were all packed up in a bag. I was deeply touched by the efficiency and positive attitudes all the night shifts people have, from doctor Lam to all the technicians. We came here before 7am not only to avoid traffic but also to avoid the day time doctor we met when we first came in. The whole process went swiftly, the 30 seconds I spent in the hospital was swiping my card. (~$1500).
We hit the road immediately towards UC Davis.
*During this long trip to the next hospital, I filed the first claim with TT’s pet insurance company Healthy Paws in the car.
In the meantime Jennifer sent me a paragraph of information about spinal injury in dogs, though I can’t recover the original source anymore:
L4-S3 dysfunction:
The thoracic limbs are spared and the pelvic limbs have LMN signs. The motor neurones to the bladder and the anal sphincter are also impaired. Signs of dysfunction therefore include:
- Normal mentation and cranial nerve examination.
- Normal thoracic limbs.
- Paraparesis/plegia. If the lesion is caudal to L6 the femoral nerve is spared and the animal should be able to stand and walk, even if its stance is plantigrade.
- Abnormal postural reactions in the pelvic limbs ipsilateral to the lesion
- Hypo- to areflexia in the pelvic limbs.
- Paresis of the tail with decreased to absent tone.
- LMN fecal and urinary incontinence with absence of the perineal reflex.
- +/- back pain.
- In severe lesions, loss of deep pain perception to the pelvic limbs.
TT was drifting between half asleep and half awake during the car ride, most of the time crying. Although I spotted many times TT moved his legs, Jennifer warned me it could mean nothing, could be just nerve reflexes. I couldn’t tell if TT could contract his leg muscles but seeing him able to move and wag his tail was already a relief. After we arrived at UC Davis, the hospital quickly sent out two people to the parking lot to take TT. I was very surprised to see TT suddenly sit up on his own while trying to escape from a stranger’s grasp.
I handed over all the documents provided by Donner Truckee at the emergency reception desk, and after filling out a few other forums they processed all the papers. It went so smoothly without lag like everyone had already heard about what happened to TT and every single person on site was fully on board.
The whole building felt modern, clean, bright and looked just like a full size hospital for humans. It didn’t take me too much time sitting in the waiting room before the doctor in charge and an intern came to me together to take notes in details on what, why, and how the car accident happened, and also what happened after the hit.
Doctor Majeski explained to me TT having a pain reaction on his legs is a great sign, and he just made his first poop- he did it all by himself under his control meaning his nervous system is not severely damaged. She also told me they have to wait until tomorrow to perform the surgery which is when the whole crew of the surgical team comes back to work. Just like Adam’s sister, Doctor Majeski doesn’t believe TT has spinal injury, so there will be no urgency to perform a surgery within 48 hours. She also mentioned they need to monitor TT to see if he still has blood in his urine and to be certain he doesn’t have any internal bleeding. Treatment of TT’s fractured pelvis is not the highest priority at this moment.
I asked doctor Majeski if TT will have a chance to ever stand up again, she gave me a quick and firm response:
“He could, it’s possible.”
I lost control of my tears in front everyone at that moment.
Doctor Majeski said the best case scenario is if the surgeon decided they could perform the operation tomorrow, and if TT is able to stand after the operation, we would be looking at bringing him home on Thursday or Friday (9/4-9/5).
I asked the doctor again about the possibility of spinal injury and she thinks the previous diagnosis from Donner Truckee was incorrect, TT’s injury is not major. However they do have to do an evaluation on the damage of some nerves in his thigh. Doctor Majeski emphasized the possibility for TT to stand up again is very high. When they did a standing test for TT, he was able to do it with support.
I truly hope this diagnosis is true, we need it to be true.
In spite of feeling a tiny bit of regret that I didn’t say goodbye to TT before they took him from the parking lot, my extreme emotion stabilized after I felt TT was in professional hands. The rational side of my brain could finally function, and after finishing the rest of the paperwork and pre-paid $3300 for TT’s hospitalization fees, I made one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made:
To drive back to LA, now.
I am not sure if this is a decision most pet parents would make, but I was aware that there was no reason for me to stay in Davis unless an emergency happened again. I will be able to think and deal with the overall situation better at home in LA. I couldn’t be sure leaving is the right thing to do, but that’s the decision I made.
- Sep 1, 6:30pm
I received a phone call from UC Davis in the car, they took TT out for a test and he was able to pee under his control, I was once again all tears hearing this information.
TT is doing well and is stable, he just hasn’t eaten yet. The hospital will cut his food intake to insure the safety of his surgery tomorrow.
We are lucky the SUV didn’t run over his body, we are lucky UC Davis is within driving distance, and we are lucky the pet insurance I signed TT up for just a month ago could cover humongous medical expenses.
TT you have to be well, have a speedy recovery and come back to me jumping and running like you were before.
- Continue The Story :
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