Hulk Smash

November 22nd 2016, the day started out great. Hulk was outside just like every other day soaking up the sun and enjoying the nice weather for a change. At the time we lived in Hornbeck, Louisiana and had 2 acres for him to run around on and get himself into plenty of trouble too. Later that afternoon we decided to make a quick run to Wal-Mart and left Hulk outside which was a typical scenario because honestly he really wasn’t a fan of being in the house unless we were there. He liked to be able to be a tough guard dog and bark at the mean ole mailman. When we came home from the store Hulk didn’t greet us at the fence. We called for him and he was nowhere to be found. We searched around the neighborhood panicking because we lived right in front of a highway where the speed limit was 55 mph and were so afraid he would get hit. We called and searched for hours and had no luck. For 2 days we searched and cried. Finally Thanksgiving day we came home from Thanksgiving dinner and I heard a very faint whining/barking sound coming from outside. We had an old tore down shed in the back of our property and Hulk manages to slip in to escape the cold night and hide. When we found him he was in horrible shape. Of course I wrapped my arms around him so happy that he came home and that he was alive (barely). My husband scooped him up and brought him inside. He was covered in blood, his face had bite marks all over it, his back left leg was cut up and the tip of his tail was missing all of the fur and his flesh was exposed and bloody. All the vet clinics and emergency hospitals in our very small town and surrounding towns were closed for Thanksgiving. Luckily i had a family friend who was a vet and was able to give me some advice on what to do to help with the pain and clean out the wounds. We gave him a bath and cleaned him up. He was so pathetic it just broke our hearts. We assumed that he had gotten in a bad dog fight or ran out in the woods (We lived right next to Peason Ridge which is a huge wooded area on Fort Polk) and got into a fight with a coyote. He just laid around for the next couple of days. I called up to our vet that Monday and told him what happened. At the time Hulk hadn’t gotten up at all really and when he did he wasn’t putting any weight on his back left leg. We assumed it was sore because of all the cuts and scrape. Our vet recommended we bring him up to get him check out. When we got there the vet was worried about his back left leg so he did an xray. He showed up the x-ray and Hulk hip was shattered. The femoral head was just tiny little pieces in the socket. We were informed that not only did our sweet baby get into one heck of a fight he was hit by a car that had to have been going at least 55 mph. He gave us a few options we chose option 3 which was to leave the hip alone and eventually the bone will grind down on its on and usually will fix the problem itself. They of course gave him pain meds and told us to come back in 2 months to see if the hip repaired on its own. Now before I go any further let me give you a little background on our family. We have 4 children and at the time my husband was on medical leave from work because he needed wrist surgery. We had just moved into a home that was a complete fixer upper and were dumping most of the little bit of money we had into that. Our financial situation was horrible. As much as we wanted to set him up with an orthopedic surgeon and have the femoral head ostectomy done to save Hulk from all the pain there was just no way we could afford it. So we brought him home and crossed our fingers. Here is the kicker by week 2 Hulk was frequently jumping our 6 foot chain link fence and would go exploring in the woods behind our house for most of the day. We could not keep him in the yard. He was not only jumping the fence he was hunting. Literally bringing back deer carcasses that he himself caught. You would have never guessed that just 2 weeks prior he had a shattered hip. He seemed fine and was loving life. We had to eventually make him a permanent inside dog and watch him like a hawk because he was getting into too much trouble and we were afraid that he was going to get sick because he kept bringing home dead animals that he had half eaten. Strangest thing about him though is he was killing all these animals but fast forward 7 months later he seriously saved 4 baby kittens from under our house and raised them. He is such a mushy, loving, tender dog so him hunting was totally out of character especially since he was getting fed at home its not like he was starving LOL. So we called the vet and explained to him how well Hulk was and decided to just wait until his 1 year check up. He seemed completely fine. Every once in a while he would put his left leg up a very tiny bit when he would stand but we just thought it felt more comfortable for him since the bone was trying to get back in the socket. I know a lot of this whole situation was our fault and our wishful thinking because we just continued to assume he was fine. About 7 months later we go back to the vet for Hulk’s check up and the x-ray they did while we were there showed that there was actually no change. The vet was shocked because Hulk was using the leg so well and he was so active. He even told us that he thought just by looking at him and his appearance that he was healed up. So we discussed our options again. We decided to finally take him to an orthopedic surgeon. Well right around the time we made the appointment for the surgery my husband’s brother passed away. So we were hit with this traumatic situation and got caught up. We decided to move back to Texas and be closer to family and friends. Unfortunately Hulk’s appointment was on the back burner until we could get settled. We made the move to Bryan TX which is conveniently located 5 minutes from the best Veterinary Hospital around A&M! We got settled and made him an appointment with an amazing vet at Briarcrest Vet Clinic. Dr. Mark Fuller was so great and was so helpful. He did another x-ray and Hulk’s hip was even worse than before. Dr. Fuller told us his muscle in the left leg had atrophied. He referred to us to an orthopedic surgeon. I felt horrible. I felt like I failed Hulk and like I was the worst mom ever. I neglected the problem for so long he just got worse. I of course started to cry in the office. Dr. Fuller tried to make me feel better but I lost it. I made the appointment with the surgeon sobbing and brought Hulk home. I know some people reading this will think I am horrible and trust me I feel horrible every time I look at Hulk and think about the fact that we are having to go down this particular process now because we waited so long. Two days later I took him to the orthopedic vet and we discussed the treatment plan. The vet told me that with the amount of damage done to the bone and how bad the muscle atrophied my best long term option would be amputation because with the surgery it would not guarantee full mobility in the leg because of the muscle and that as he got older he would run the risk of horrible arthritis. So here we are 1 year and 4 months later and our baby boy is getting his left leg removed. We have an appointment with Dr. Fuller to set up and amputation because he was willing to do the procedure for a lot less and I feel more comfortable with him doing it because he has been very involved from the second Hulk walked into his office. And so begins our journey into the unknown. I am extremely nervous for my baby. Especially the recovery part of it all. We live in an upstairs apartment complex so during his recovery he will be staying at his Peepaw’s house because my dad absolutely loves him and spoils him to death so he won’t have all his human brothers and sister climbing all over him and no stairs to walk up. I will be posting updates as we go through the process so stay tuned for the next post.

Update on Hulk

In the Beginning

Hulk’s Journey into Amputation