Nay for stitches in my hand

[rntracy1]

2 hours ago, Mouseykins said:

You're welcome! LOL at your dogs in the pool during the summer. If we had a pool there would be no way we'd be able to get Mouse out of it! She is a water-loving pup! Right now she's actually begging me for a bath and I can't give her one because it's super cold out. In the tub, she'll drink like a gallon of water and either burp it up (nasty!) if she's too full and she has to go out right away. I think if we had a pool we wouldn't be able to put any chemicals in it to treat the water since she'd most likely be drinking it. I'm glad you're going to be forgiving. Your pup knows who hurt your hand and I'm sure is very sorry for it since they're both refusing to leave your side. Dogs are so loyal, aren't they!

I frequently type with one hand. After a while, you get used to it and are quick with it. Though your typos increase slightly lol. I can type with both my left and right hand. Depending on which I'm holding a baby in. I even managed to type with a wrist splint brace on my left hand.

OMG, that is sooooo funny because that is EXACTLY the same with my dogs.  I think they drink more of the water from the pool than anything.  I was also worried about the chemicals and spoke with the vet.  She said not to worry as it was too dilute to harm them.  She is right, lol, as whenever I check the levels, everything is always low.  The water is always nice and clear, so, eh.  When they get out of the pool, they pee and pee and pee.  

My dogs LOVE their baths too.  They try to climb into the shower with me.  Picture me trying to put the Rotti out of the shower and him going, Grrrrrrrrr!!!!  Lol.  Try giving Mouse a shower.  Bring her? in there with you, that way the water isn't completely beating on her.  Wet her.  I usually turn the water off when I soap them up then I turn it back on.  I don't have a hand held shower head, so to get underneath, I take a cup, fill it up and rinse them off.  My dogs love that.  They still do drink some water, but not nearly as much as they would get if you filled up the tub.  lol

That is funny that you mention typing with a brace on your left hand.  It is my left hand that was bitten, thank goodness, as I am right handed.  When it is all wrapped up, it is much like a brace or splint. Now I keep it off at night and it's a little easier to type.  I try to re-read my posts and fix the typos, but that doesn't always work out either.  lol.  

[Mouseykins]

Oh, that's good to know! If we ever to get a poll I'll double check with my vet though. Mouse does have a condition so it's good to be a little over cautious with her.

Lol Mouse when I say no to her she just looks at me with her pleading eyes. She likes showers but she'd be under the water trying to attack it, which is how she ends up drinking so much. Either way, you spin it you still end up with a soaked pup. Usually, when I wash her I leave the tub open and it's sort of like a shower. I like rinsing her with clean water instead of the dirty soapy water, so I use the shower head on her and it's also faster than pouring a bowl of water on her. Because she loves the water so much I usually end up holding her by the base of the tail so I can rinse her without her slipping an sliding all over the place. I tried by the scruff of her neck but that doesn't work so well.

If it was my right hand, I'd be done for lol. I rely on my right hand for everything since like you I'm right-handed as well. I've actually installed Grammarly and it helps catch my typos and corrects grammar too. The basic version is free. It can be a bit of a pain when it comes to smilies though.

Is your hand still oozing or is it getting a bit better now?

[rntracy1]

9 minutes ago, Mouseykins said:

Oh, that's good to know! If we ever to get a poll I'll double check with my vet though. Mouse does have a condition so it's good to be a little over cautious with her.

Lol Mouse when I say no to her she just looks at me with her pleading eyes. She likes showers but she'd be under the water trying to attack it, which is how she ends up drinking so much. Either way, you spin it you still end up with a soaked pup. Usually, when I wash her I leave the tub open and it's sort of like a shower. I like rinsing her with clean water instead of the dirty soapy water, so I use the shower head on her and it's also faster than pouring a bowl of water on her. Because she loves the water so much I usually end up holding her by the base of the tail so I can rinse her without her slipping an sliding all over the place. I tried by the scruff of her neck but that doesn't work so well.

If it was my right hand, I'd be done for lol. I rely on my right hand for everything since like you I'm right-handed as well. I've actually installed Grammarly and it helps catch my typos and corrects grammar too. The basic version is free. It can be a bit of a pain when it comes to smilies though.

Is your hand still oozing or is it getting a bit better now?

That's so funny.  My dogs don't attack the water in the shower, but they do drink it.  Now, I do have the funniest video of them attacking the water from the hose.  Both of them, barking and chomping at the hose as I am spraying it into their little doggie pool.  (They like their doggie pool, but not as much as the big pool- lol). 

Thanks for asking, yes, my hand is feeling better, it is no longer oozing.  It has finally crusted up.  The swelling has subsided quite a bit as well.  The bruising is quite extensive though.  I have never had the entire palm of my hand bruised before.  LOL.  Last night I was like, "what is all over my hand?"  Thinking is was some kind of, well, I don't know what.  Lol.  Something that needed to be washed off.  Lol.  Then I realized, it was a bruise.  And, if you can imagine it, it appears to be 'coming through' my hand from the top side, like a VERY VERY deep bruise.  I mean, it is sooooo weird.  The skin is normal color, with the bruising deep down inside.  I can't really describe it.  I do have pictures though, so I have to figure out how or where to put them so you all can see.  I don't have pics of "balloon hand."  I wasn't in the mood to take pictures of it. I was too nervous it was compartment syndrome. I can't believe I took pictures of it right after it happened.  LOL.  Then, last night I noticed a very large bruise on my leg.  It goes from my inner knee right down to the bottom of my calf muscle and encompasses the entire calf muscle.  I have no clue how it happened (other than during the fight).  My hand hurt so bad, I didn't even notice it for days.  LOL.  When I was first bit, it was a very odd feeling.  I guess it was the bruising and swelling.  It felt like I was holding something, like a ball, and it was being pressed very hard into my hand, and something was pushing the top of my hand down onto the "ball."  I seriously had to keep looking down to see that I was not holding on to anything!!!  My husband kept saying, "that is the compression from the swelling."  As a nurse, I suppose I KNEW that, but it was such an odd feeling. 

How old is your dog now?  You said it is a Jack Russell, right? So how did you come up with the name Mouse? lol.  I am assuming that is where you get your profile name, Mouseykins?  Is that what you call you call your dog?  I actually call my Rotti Zeppelin, Chop chop, or chompy.  LOL.  Even though HE has never bitten me.  Now my sweet little Bella on the other hand...........

[Mouseykins]

I'm glad your hand is feeling better and not so puffed up! That bruise on your leg sounds like it could be tender. maybe one of them laid on you or something or hit you hard there during their scuffle. Hard to say since your hand was obviously the more severe injury and everything else was masked by that. I guess it's one thing to know how something is supposed to feel than actually experiencing it first-hand. (no pun intended lol)

Mouse is now 11 and still acts very much like a puppy and hasn't grown up any. My husband named her after she was born. We had her Mom, Angel who had 4 pups, 2 boys and 2 girls. Mouse was the runt of the litter and so small! You could hold her in the palm of your hand she was that tiny! She had a long mouse-like tail and loved to burrow and hide in the blanket in their bed we made in an old box. The blanket had a hole in it and we frequently had to go feeling around for her and dig her back out. With her being significantly smaller than the others my husband fed her condensed milk with an eye dropper and we'd kick the bigger ones off Mom so Mouse could suckle. She has some health issues right now but I think we've got things under control. I have to take her back to the vet in the next couple weeks for another blood test to check her levels and make sure her medication is doing its job. She also needs to have another ultrasound done on her kidney to see if the tumour has grown any in the last little bit. IF it has then we're looking at surgical options, which could, in turn, remove her condition as well and she'd be healthy. The only problem is she's 11 years old and it's near a major blood supply. Anything Mouse needs we will provide!

[rntracy1]

I like that story! I'm glad I asked. That is so darned cute.  I hate that she is sick though, especially at her age. Whenever I am at the vet with my dogs, and I see an older dog that's sick, I always fear the worst. It is usually not good when an older dog is sick. OF COURSE you will do whatever it is that she needs.  When people talk about the cost of things for pets, my feeling is, and I KNOW some people are going to get upset, but it is MY opinion and I have a right to it, you should not begin that journey if you cannot afford it.  Now of course, things happen financially. They have for me too. You get into a rough spot, and it seems as though that's always when things happen. But when you decide to have a pet, you have to know that you are going to be taking them to the vet every few months for the first year (just like a child) then every year thereafter.  If you can't do that, you shouldn't get a pet. If you are going to be moving and there's a chance you can't bring your pet with you, don't get one.  Seriously, they have freaking feelings too. That is horrible. How would people feel if their family was moving and leaving them behind? The animal has no clue. They wonder what the heck they did wrong and when their family is coming for them.

So, before the two I have now, the pitbull and Rotti, I had two before them, wait for it, a pitbull and, you guessed it, a Rotti.  lol.  I just love them so much.  We rescued the Rotti in 1997 and he was the best dog ever.  We got the pitbull in 2004.  After new year, 2015, she started getting sick.  Vomiting.  We were hoping it was just a bug of some sort but she wasn't getting better. We took her to the vet and she had a very large tumor on her spleen.  They said they could do surgery and remove the tumor, and as long as it was confined to the spleen, she would get better, but if it spread, she wouldn't have long to live.  The surgery would cost $600.  I did not think $600 was much money, especially to save my beloved dog.  Of course I was going to do it.  We brought her in and waited to hear.  The vet was going to call and let us know how the surgery went, but she called WAY TOO QUICKLY.  I knew it was bad news. She said the tumor had spread all over her insides, to her liver, pancreas, etc and was cancer.  She said she could remove the spleen but the dog would only live about 2-4 weeks and most of it would be a rough recovery from the surgery.  Did I want her for a few more weeks, HELL YES!! But that was sooooo selfish and just for ME. It wasn't thinking about the suffering she would endure during that time.  We made the hardest decision and decided not to wake her up from the surgery.  She was 10-1/2 yrs old.  I feel she had a couple good years left.

It sounds like you took pity on her as the runt of the litter.  I have done that too. The runts usually get a bad rep too, health issues, etc. But I am usually drawn to them.  They are so cute. They need love too.  And if they have a few issues, well, so be it.  You help them out.  The money you spend pales in comparison to the love, devotion, and loyalty you get from them.

I feel Mouse has a few good years still too. If surgery to remove the kidney tumor will eradicate her condition, I would definitely go with that option. It sucks though with it being near major blood supply and her age. You definitely have to take everything into consideration, which apparently, it seems you are doing.  I have great faith that everything will work out for Mouse. Although we did everything possible for our Shelby, it just wasn't meant to be. It paved the way for room in our hearts and our lives for other babies who needed our love.  We will always have a place here, when the time comes, for new fur babies. Our home is a revolving door.  You can never replace them, of course. But they all have their own personalities and you just grow to love THEM in their own special, unique way.  Each and everyone of them holds a special piece of your heart.  Sounds like you are very similar in that respect.

This picture shows several puncture wounds and the wound that required 6 stitches. You can see I tried to pull it together some with steri strips as it wouldn't stop bleeding. It was quite a bit wider and you could see a lot of stuff you shouldn't see.

This picture is the finger with a total of 10 stitches! Under the bandaid is a large hole. I didn't know at the time that a large chunk of flesh was missing!

Normal hand

Swollen hand.  Yes, that IS a wound between my fingers in the webbing there, between ring/middle fingers. It is quite sore. At the time of this picture, the swelling is down considerably. 

I do have a couple more photos of my leg and the bruise on my palm but I could only post so many.  You get the idea.

[Mouseykins]

You're welcome for the story! IT wasn't necessarily we took pity on her it was we wanted to make sure she would survive. She was SO much smaller than the other three. They were almost 3x her size. After they were old enough to go to new homes we kept both girls, Mouse and her sister. We just loved them so much and didn't want to let them go. In June when they were about 9 months old we sold Prin to the lady who had their Dad. Her dog, their Dad ran away and didn't come back or her ex took him. So we offered Prin to her so she'd have something from her boy. Having the three of them was getting to be too much and Prin went to a good home where she would be loved incredibly. We NEVER let anyone know or see Mouse who were interested in the pups. We wanted to keep her for ourselves. She had her very own unique personality and she was a shoulder snuggler.

Mouse has a condition called Cushings Disease and is on medication for it to manage the condition for the remainder of her life. The surgical route like anything else definitely has it's risks, so we're carefully weighing those in. Additionally, her surgery will be around $5000.00 so that's a LOT of money. But if it's for Mouse and will save her life and improve her condition it's doable. If it was $600 like it was or your girl I'd be in that vets office for a consult ASAP instead of waiting. Right now Mouse seems to be doing a lot better so it's a wait and see type thing until she has her next ultrasound. Mouse DEFINITELY has more years left in her! The vet surprised to see such an energetic playful girl at 11 years old. Normally older dogs slow down, not Mouse.

That's unfortunate about your girl, but I think you made the best decision under those circumstances. I would have done the same too. I would not want to see Mouse suffer in pain and agony for such a little time.

WOW your hand looks horribly painful! I'm glad you're getting better after all that damage! Are your pups still hovering over you?

[rntracy1]

Oh, I hate hearing stories about doggies running away. It really makes me think that they were either stolen or maybe the best case scenario is the ex took him. I don't know how spiteful the ex is. I just can't see an animal running away and never coming back unless someone else is providing a home for them or God forbid, something worse.  That's nice that she has his pup though. 

So when I was little, 10 yrs old, my dog died. My parents had her before I was born, so she was my life.  The lady the next street over, her shepherd husky had puppies with a Labrador retriever.  There were 7 black pups and 2 gray, wolf colored ones.  I was watching them all play and they were nursing a little and eating solid food.  I kept watching one of the gray pups, the little runt, get pushed away from the food by the bigger pups.  The lady came in, pushed her away and said, "get out of the way, you've had enough already."  I don't know, maybe thinking they were pushing her out because she was being a little piggy, but that wasn't the case.  I felt so bad for her.  I wanted to bring her home and feed her.  So that's exactly what I did!  lol.  I convinced my parents to let me keep her.  That dog slept with me all the time.  She lived over 13 yrs. but was quite small for a shepherd, husky, lab mix.

Ok, yes I am very familiar with Cushing's Syndrome. I don't know if it is different in dogs/animals than it is in people, but it is related to tumors of the adrenal glands (on top of the kidney) or pituitary gland. In people, over use of steroids can contribute to the condition.  $5000 IS a lot of money for surgery and that is what I was expecting for my Shelby. When they told me $600 I didn't hesitate. I mean, of course not.  I wouldn't have at $5000 either.  BUT, they recommended an ultrasound first to make sure it didn't spread.  I would have had to travel for that as there aren't many vets around here who do it, and it would have added a few hundred dollars to the bill.  I declined it but I would have done it if the surgery was going to be thousands.  As it was, in the end, the total cost was $350 because she didn't do the removal of the spleen.  I think she was more than fair.  

My Shelby didn't slow down either. She was energetic right up until she got sick.  That's a good sign that Mouse is still so energetic.  

LOl. They always hover over me to some degree. They vie for attention, each jealous when the other gets some.  The odd thing is, the Rotti KNOWS the hand is hurt and he doesn't like it. lol.  So, they both sit next to me, she to my right, on the couch, he, on the floor in front of me.  I have to pet them both at the same time.  So I pet her with my right hand and I pet him with my left. You can see him tense up and he takes his paw and pulls my arm down.  When he is "hyper" and I touch him with that hand, he stiffens right up and sits still.  He doesn't like that hand touching him, it is quite strange.  I know he senses it, but I don't know if he is afraid of hurting it or he doesn't like it for himself.  

[sassypants_22]

Oh no. :( Hope your hand heals up soon!

[rntracy1]

On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 2:53 PM, sassypants_22 said:

Oh no. :( Hope your hand heals up soon!

Thanks.  Actually it is doing quite a bit better.  I have taken the stitches out of my finger, 10 of them, and only have 6 left in my hand.  I still cannot make a fist or grasp things, but the swelling is down considerably and the pain has lessened significantly.  I was unable to sleep through the night without taking ibuprofen, now I am not taking anything for pain.  So that is a huge improvement.

Thank you for asking, and thanks to EVERYONE for your comments and concerns.  It is much appreciated.  

[Mouseykins]

On 2/7/2018 at 3:18 PM, rntracy1 said:

Oh, I hate hearing stories about doggies running away. It really makes me think that they were either stolen or maybe the best case scenario is the ex took him. I don't know how spiteful the ex is. I just can't see an animal running away and never coming back unless someone else is providing a home for them or God forbid, something worse.  That's nice that she has his pup though. 

So when I was little, 10 yrs old, my dog died. My parents had her before I was born, so she was my life.  The lady the next street over, her shepherd husky had puppies with a Labrador retriever.  There were 7 black pups and 2 gray, wolf colored ones.  I was watching them all play and they were nursing a little and eating solid food.  I kept watching one of the gray pups, the little runt, get pushed away from the food by the bigger pups.  The lady came in, pushed her away and said, "get out of the way, you've had enough already."  I don't know, maybe thinking they were pushing her out because she was being a little piggy, but that wasn't the case.  I felt so bad for her.  I wanted to bring her home and feed her.  So that's exactly what I did!  lol.  I convinced my parents to let me keep her.  That dog slept with me all the time.  She lived over 13 yrs. but was quite small for a shepherd, husky, lab mix.

Ok, yes I am very familiar with Cushing's Syndrome. I don't know if it is different in dogs/animals than it is in people, but it is related to tumors of the adrenal glands (on top of the kidney) or pituitary gland. In people, over use of steroids can contribute to the condition.  $5000 IS a lot of money for surgery and that is what I was expecting for my Shelby. When they told me $600 I didn't hesitate. I mean, of course not.  I wouldn't have at $5000 either.  BUT, they recommended an ultrasound first to make sure it didn't spread.  I would have had to travel for that as there aren't many vets around here who do it, and it would have added a few hundred dollars to the bill.  I declined it but I would have done it if the surgery was going to be thousands.  As it was, in the end, the total cost was $350 because she didn't do the removal of the spleen.  I think she was more than fair.  

My Shelby didn't slow down either. She was energetic right up until she got sick.  That's a good sign that Mouse is still so energetic.  

LOl. They always hover over me to some degree. They vie for attention, each jealous when the other gets some.  The odd thing is, the Rotti KNOWS the hand is hurt and he doesn't like it. lol.  So, they both sit next to me, she to my right, on the couch, he, on the floor in front of me.  I have to pet them both at the same time.  So I pet her with my right hand and I pet him with my left. You can see him tense up and he takes his paw and pulls my arm down.  When he is "hyper" and I touch him with that hand, he stiffens right up and sits still.  He doesn't like that hand touching him, it is quite strange.  I know he senses it, but I don't know if he is afraid of hurting it or he doesn't like it for himself.  

From my understanding, it's very similar to people with most of the tumours being benign. If it's something that Mouse needs and we can get the money together for her we will. She's not just our dog. She's family! In her own way we're her pets and not the other way around. She is undeniably the boss of the house! If spending 5 grand on her health helps her to live a better longer life with no medication or reduced medication it's more than worth it. Of course, we have to weigh in on the risks and do what is best for her and not be selfish, just because we want her to live and stay with us.

Your pups are silly! I hope she doesn't get scared of that hand permanently and is just shying away from it in a way as an apology and knowing that she caused the trauma to your hand. I hope things get better and she can move forward as well as yourself.

Oh my goodness, your hand looks better now, so does your bruise!

[sunny098]

I really hope they gave you some anesthetic for those stitches! Hearing stitches makes me cringe a lot because when I was 5 in China, I fell, and long story short, they gave me 4 stitches in the ER on my head without any pain killers. Oh man, I still get nightmares even now of that horrific incident.