The long awaited update

I picked Mickey up on April 3rd. She had been in the hospital for 3 weeks and had 2 operations. She has plates and screws repairing both sides of her pelvic bone – which was crushed when she was hit by the car in South Philly. She also has a hairline fracture of her spine but the doc feels this will heal nicely with rest. It's not too hard getting her to rest because she can't bear weight on her right leg yet. She can pull herself around a bit on her left but it's still difficult.

The first few days were hectic. She was wearing a catheter, had staples on both sides that she was anxious to get at, a sore on her leg that she finds ways to lick even when wearing an e-collar, needed a daily antibiotic shot, pain meds and muscle therapy 2x a day on both legs.

We set her up in the restful plant room right off our kitchen. She was next to a fountain and surrounded by greenery. She had been in fluorescent light 24/7 for weeks so we wanted her to decompress. So day 1, I had her just outside her crate gated in this area when I went into the bedroom for something. I came back to the smell of poop. I found that she had somehow pulled herself to the corner of the room to poop. I was astounded because I didn't think she had that kind of mobility. Then I discovered that her catheter got snagged on the crate when she moved and she pulled it right out. I don't think she had been in the house 24 hours and we have our first crisis!

It was a Saturday and the hospital wasn't open so we called our vet and they said to come in and they'll put one in. We got there and the doc tells us it's a procedure requiring general anesthesia and will cost around $1000 and they can't even do it. OMG. I called the emergency half of the hospital where she was treated and they tell us it will cost around $800. So we decided to wait until Monday and talk to the doc. However, I left for a business trip on Sunday, leaving my darling husband to take care of her with this new need to clean up pee and/or take her out frequently to pee outside. He really is the hero of the story!

Long story short, everything worked out. She does her business outside and we have had only a few crate accidents since it all happened – and none in the past 3 days. She's housebroken!