K C Rocket "Rocky": 2005-08-14

Rocky Comes Home

Rocky came home on Friday. He is a little easier to handle than I had thought that he would be. He's very awkward and has a hard time moving around. I don't think that he realizes that the leg is gone and he can't figure out why he can't do what he wants.

Kenna made him a "Welcome Home" card. She had friends from school sign it. She gave it to Dr. White and he is going to put it on their bulletin board at the office.

He enjoyed being home. We took him out of the crate and he ate. Then we laid him out on his new bed. The first thing he did was kick his new big soccer ball with his cast. He flips around and is just as active as ever. He would play for a while and then get tired and lay on my lap.

I am afraid to leave him alone on the bed because he is still trying to get around.

The only thing that we have not mastered yet is going out to the bathroom. I try to hold him up to go and he just lays down in the grass. Oh well, it will take time but we will work on it.

Rocky had all kinds of company. Ty, Kim, Ashley and Andrew came over and then Mama and Daddy came over. I was afraid that it would scare Andrew but he was really ok with it. I think that he noticed the cast more than him missing the leg. He finally asked me what that was (meaning the spot where the leg was) and I just told him that it was his body. He was fine with it. He still thought Rocky was going to get up and chase him.

With all that was going on I forgot to take pictures when he came home. I will take some Saturday and post them Monday.

Rocky has to go back to the Vet Monday and he is going to redo his cast and just check on his stiches and stuff.

2nd Visit With Rocky

We went to see Rocky Thursday. He seemed a little more alert. We spent time with him talking and petting him. He tried to move around more today and even tried to get up a few times.

Here are some pictures that we took.

1st Visit With Rocky

Tyler, McKenna and I went to visit Rocky yesterday at the "hospital". Not quite what I expected. His leg that has the broken toes was in a cast up to his elbow. The side where his leg was removed was not bandaged but really looked better than I had expected it to look. I am sure that it will look even better once his hair has grown back around the area. He also has some pretty bad cuts between this toes on the back right leg.

As far as attitude he was very subdued. He looked sad, even though he was wagging his tail. He was shaking like he was nervous and was not really his normal self. You could tell that he liked seeing the kids. He seemed like he was trying to prop himself up on his front leg to keep from putting his shoulder down.

He was really more responsive to the staff than us but then again they are the ones that have been taking care of him.

We decided that he would stay until Friday since he would have to be left for us to go to work and school. This way we can stay with him this weekend and it will be 5 days after surgery before we have to leave him alone.

I forgot my camera but I plan to take it when we visit today. I will try to post pictures this weekend.

This is very stressful and maybe because I am feeling guilty, I felt like he was "mad" at me and not his normal self towards me. McKenna handled it better than Tyler I think. Tyler was having a problem with the visual part. Kenna seems to overlook things better than most people and can just see the good. They have both been very supportive. We are going today and get him a bigger pillow type bed so that he can lay out comfortably.

Oh one last thing - Kenna now calls him Harry Potter because the cut on his forehead is actually in a lighting bolt shape like Harry's. I guess it is fitting since Harry survived something horrible and so did Rocky. Maybe Rocky has magical powers too!

"The Miracle"

Tragedy struck our Rocky on August 14, 2005 at approximately 5:30 in the afternoon. I was sitting on the couch waiting on Tyler and McKenna to get home. Rocky had just went outside to "do his business" and I was waiting on him to come up to the back door and come back in before the kids got home.

I heard Rocky bark (which like I stated in my earlier post he never really does). I went to the back door and called him. He came running around the corner of the house and I thought I saw blood. Next think I knew he hit the step. My first instinct was that he had gotten into a fight with another dog (he is so small). I turned to pick up a towel from inside the door and by the time I turned around he had somehow managed to climb to the porch.

I scooped him up in the towel and I could see his front leg was almost just hanging on him. I was hysterical. I cradled him like a baby and called my brother. He said he was on the way.

About the time I hung up the doorbell rang. I went to the door and a lady said that she was glad this was his home she tried to call him and he just ran. She said she had hit Rocky with her car.

I was in total shock. I called to tell the kids to not to come home yet. Ty got there and by that time I had laid Rocky in his little bed wrapped up. He was just laying there breathing hard. Ty picked him up, bed and all, and we left. We tried to find any kind of Vet on Sunday afternoon to take him to. Kim was at home calling around and calling us back. We finally found out that the only place to take him was an emergency clinic in Loganville. I was so afraid Rocky wasn't going to make it. We headed that way.

I just cradled Rocky in my lap in his bed and tried to keep him from moving. I had no idea what his injuries actually were and I was to afraid to look.

We got to the clinic and they took Rocky. The vet finally came in and said that Rocky appeared to be fine except for his leg and possibly a concussion. He wanted us to leave him overnight and then pick him up the next morning to take him to our regular vet. Ty advised against it and said that I could take care of him overnight. I wasn't sure I could do it.

When they brought Rocky back out from the back and he saw me - he just looked up and started wagging his tail out from under the towel. We drove home and Ty helped me get him into his crate before the kids got home. That was so hard. He would yelp if I tried to move him and my adrenaline (and his) had worn off and I was scared. We finally did it though. We moved him into my bathroom and he was peaceful.

About 1am he decided to try and move and hollered out. It scared me to death. I got him calmed down and laid beside him. We did this several more times during the night and I would lay there and he would put his head against the cage for me to pet. He finally got turned off of the hurt leg and settled down.

Tyler helped me load him up (crate & all) and I took him to see Dr White first thing in the morning. Rocky just looked around and wagged his tail as usual.

Dr. White told me then that just looking at it, he figured he might lose the leg. He said to leave him, he would take xrays and call me then we would decide what we wanted to do. After the xrays he said that Rocky appeared fine internally. This was all so amazing giving his size, you would have thought a big van would just crush poor little Rocky. However, the only problem was the right leg was basically crushed. He once again recommended that we should probably remove the leg. He said that Rocky would probably never know the difference and with his small size he should be able to get around fine. He said that he could put two plates in the leg and try to save it but with all of the damage he only had about a 20% chance that he could regain use of the leg.

Dr. White said that Rocky was doing great and that everyone had fallen in love with him. One of the girls was trying to lay in the crate with him and he was just wagging his tail.

That afternoon Dr. White called and said that while he was re-examing Rocky he cried when they tried to get him to stand up on the other three legs. He took an xray of his left front paw and found two breaks in the "fingers". This would need a splint. He said that it should heal fine but the main set back was his mobility and more work on us.

So on Tuesday August 16, 2005 approximately 2:30pm Rocky had surgery to remove his right front leg and to set the broken paw on his left leg. Dr. White said that he did great and everything looked like a success.

This is going to be very difficult on all of us to adjust to and deal with. I feel so sorry for Rocky and guilty that I let him out in the yard for this to have happen to him. All we can do now is care for him and love him more than ever.

I basically set up this site to track Rocky's progress. I will post pictures and updates as I have them.

We are going to see Rocky this afternoon and maybe even bring him home. I will post an update on how he is doing.

I know it may be silly but please pray for Rocky to heal and be his old wonderfully playful loving self again.

Introducing K C Rocket "Rocky"

I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family. I am creating this site to follow the life of our dog "Rocky" since he has joined our life.

Rocky first came into our lives on April 1, 2005 at About Pets pet store. He was born on February 14, 2005. He was so tiny and had the sweetest little face and eyes. I was totally taken in by him from the moment that I saw him. Of coarse Tyler and McKenna were too. So on the spot we decided to take him home.

Rocky is part Miniature Pincher and part Chihuahua. He weighed 2 lbs when we took him to the Vet and they estimated that he would be about 10 lbs. We all joked that we thought he looked like a little miniature Rottweiler. We wanted a "tough" sounding name and for some reason I came up with Rocky. His full name however, developed into K C Rocket with "Rocky" for short. K C coming from both "Kenny Chesney" and "Kasey" Kahne - my two favorites. We call him "Rockaroo", "Rockster" and other versions. He loves it when I "howl" - "K CCCCC ROCKET".

He was so sweet and loving. He would crawl up on my neck and just sleep (even when I was driving). We bought him a stuffed pig and a comfy bed which he loves. He would just curl up a sleep (sometimes) Most of the time he likes to be spread out on his back. He slept in my bed - head on pillow streached out for the first couple of weeks.

Rocky started his life off traveling. Unfortunately the weekend that we got Rocky my Grandmother passed away. This meant many road trips to Cartersville, but Rocky loved it. He traveled great - even rode in the funeral procession for Grandmother.

We enrolled Rocky in puppy training at Pet Smart. In keeping with the tradition of our household - Rocky was class clown! He loved the other dogs. He was the littlest one there but you wouldn't have known it. Unfortunately Rocky loved everybody so much that he was always a little to distracted to actually participate in class. Although we were able to get him to obey the commands when we could get his attention sometimes - most of the time he was pretty hyper. Leave it to us to have the only ADHD dog. But he did graduate and we had fun.

Since then Rocky has grown and grown and grown. He is over 10 lbs, is very tall and has big paws. But he still loves to sit on my lap and lay on my chest and sleep. He has outgrown two beds, one carry case and one crate.

He has more freedom now and kinda roams around. We do have to keep all of the doors closed upstairs though because he loves Kenna's stuffed animals. Fortunalty he doesn't stay upstairs by himself and always gets caught by bringing his "prize" downstairs. We have had our normal puppy moments - like chewing up my rug in the bathroom and on the rung of my kitchen chair. Over all though he makes us laugh and feel good. It has been a big adjustment in our lives.

I love the companionship (especially when the kids are away). We sit on the couch for hours and watch TV. He sits in his bed while I take a shower and get ready. Just looking at me wagging that tail. He loves his little soccer ball and I swear he can dribble.

And OH is he a lover! He loves attention. He will get right up on your lap and lay his head down. Then the next thing you know he's "90 to nothin" running full out. He loves to be outside and runs in hugh circles. Then he just stands there smelling the air.

Rocky rarely barks - except when the next door neighbor is outside. And really only rough houses with the kids because they aggravate him.