Last Friday was the dogs’ annual immunization/checkup visit to the vet. This is not their favorite activity but since it involves go-for-a-ride they can be tricked into cooperation. Their health was good, Stormy’s tumor is still missing and Sophie’s teeth (which have been bad in the past) were in good shape. However, Stormy at age 15 has lost a tooth or two annually and this year he again had a bad one and some infection from tartar accumulation so Deb scheduled him for a dental Monday. Everything went well and when Deb arrived home with Stormy she carried him into our back door and set him down on the landing at the top of the basement stairs to remove his leash.
At this point I am sure you can guess what is coming, but let me tell you a little about the landing. The landing is between our kitchen and the door leading outside to our driveway. This is the one design feature of our house that we would change if we could, but you learn to deal. There is a door kept closed at all times as you exit the kitchen, then the landing, then the door to the great outdoors. The basement stairs are there next to the landing and the dogs have never shown any interest whatsoever in going down the stairs and are always on a leash closely held when we pass by them. So Deb comes in the outside door, puts Stormy down on the landing, removes his leash and shoves the kitchen door open. Between the kitchen and the landing there is a low step which the dogs, when we take them out for walks, have negotiated thousands of times. So when Stormy sees the door to the kitchen open he decides to helpfully hop up the step as he normally does, Unfortunately he is still under the effects of the anesthetic and his motor control is lacking " he takes a lurch to the left, his rear end slides off the top step and before Deb can react he is rolling down the thirteen steps to the basement.
By the time Deb makes it down the stairs after him he has rolled from his side to normal prone position and voices his surprise in a single “urf”. In a near panic Deb feels him over searching for damage, and doesn’t feel anything obviously broken, and Stormy makes no protests at being prodded and moved about. As I am not due home from work for another hour, Deb now has to carry his 32 pounds up the stairs, a daunting task for someone with arthritic hips, knees, and back, but she makes it and by the time I get home Stormy is reclining on the carpet in the living room, clearly still groggy but showing no alarming symptoms. Throughout the evening we watch him carefully. He is having difficulty with accurate control of his hind legs and not moving his tail. Since he is always pretty loopy after his dentals we can’t tell whether this is different. I go through the routine of palpating him all over a couple of times during the evening and he doesn’t complain and I can’t feel any problems.
In the morning, he is moving very slow and though he is moving his tail some, wagging is still not evident although he definitely has full control of his back legs. He goes outside and does his usual morning routine so we decide since he has shown some improvement, to let him stay home while we go to work.
The end of this long story is that when we returned home last night he was twirling, wagging and bouncing around as if nothing had happened. This old boy has certainly led a charmed life. Stormy is hoping that it will be a long time before his next vet visit.
HOLY FREEPIN' C**P!!!!!!!! My heart went in my mouth as I read this. (and yes, I read the END first to find out if he was okay.)
HOLY FREEPIN' C**P.
Thankful he's okay but sending rays anyway to speed his achy body. :comfort:
My heart just dropped to my stomach! I'm so glad he is okay!!
I held my breath the whole time..... whew - SO glad he is ok...... Sending that sweet big boys rays and to mommy to for having to carry him up the stairs......
:thumb: Excellent vet report for both !
For a moment or two, my heart was in my throat! Glad all turned out well.......definitely something that will add a few gray hairs to us humans! Rays to the Stormy-man!
My heart too was in my throat reading this, I couldn't get to the end fast enough! I feel so bad for Deb she had to feel horrible, (I hope she doesn't anymore!) this just goes to show anything can happen even to the best and most careful of owners! I am amazed at Stormy's resilience, what a GUY!! I wonder if him being loopy kept him a little more relaxed on the way down and that worked in his favor? I remember my Dad (he was a state patrol Sergant) saying that sometimes if a passenger in a car is asleep before a wreck they come through it a little better. This is an incredible story, as well as the one about his tumor! It's nice seeing one of the "good guys"getting miracles. :heart: :heart: :heart:
Whoa! I agree with Dee Dee. One of the reasons drunks typically live through accidents is because they are relaxed and can absorb the impact more easily. In any case, thank goodness Stormy is okay. I can't imagine how terrified Deb must have been watching him go down those stairs.
Oh my gosh....Rich....I got instantly sick to my stomach worrying about Stormy while reading this...How frightening for Deb....I can't imagine. What a relief to know that everything is okay with Stormy. You all deserve hugs :comfort: Thank goodness Stormy was "relaxed" when he took the tumble. The news from the Vet was fantastic for both Sophie and Stormy :headbang:
OMG, that is scary. Poor Stormy and poor Deb. I know how Deb must have felt. My Tess took tumble down the basements steps too. I was going down the steps and didn't realize she was following me. Next thing I know she is falling down the stairs and lands with thud. Thank goodness there was carpeting to help break her fall. But it was just so scary. I was crying as I ran down to pick her up and carry her upstairs. Fortunately for me, Tess only weighed 18 pounds. What a struggle poor Deb must have had to get Stormy back up. Hugs to both of you.
Tess did recover very quickly and being senile she probably forgot about the fall once back upstairs.
Annie & the New Jersey Doxie Gang
YEOW!!
This is one point where being a mini is useful. Guinness did a head-over-heels tumble a couple of time down our stairs in our old house! All six pounds of him!
It actually looked hysterically funny, seeing him cartwheel down the stairs! But he was MUCH younger and I was MUCH stupider then!
Now I have a landng exactly like yours leading to my driveway - out the kitchen door, down three steps, turn left to the open basement stairway, turn right to the back door! I always open the back door before anyone goes down. Thank goodness I don't need to go downstairs. D'Niel lives down there!
Karen :comfort:
Leslie put it so well............ Glad the WEE man is OK, he is definitely a trooper. Ingrid was the only one of ours who took a leap out of my arms on to concrete, got up looked at me with whats up mum and ran off.
How's Deb's joints by the sound of it she would have come out of it the worst.
Roberta
Thanks for all the good wishes for the tough old trooper. :chairfall: We're in agreement with DeeDee and Kathleen who suggest that Stormy was a bit like a drunk in a car wreck - to out of it to offer any resistance and minimally injured as a result. And yes, Deb was somewhat the worse for wear. At her trip to the chiropractor this morning he noted that she was "pretty tight" - ya you betcha!
So glad to hear that he is OK!!! :hello2:
That's some scary stuff. The fact that he was still affected by the anesthesia undoubtedly kept him relaxed while he was tumbling, as he probably had no idea what was going on until his world stopped rolling around.
Max took a couple of tumbles in his later years, always scary, but inevitable harmless. Rudy once did an "endo" down the stairs when he got so excited on seeing a rabbit. He did two full somersaults and landed on his feet, a bit disoriented, but with the "Yeah, I meant to do that" look on his face.
Quote from: David C. on August 06, 2008, 07:29:26 PMRudy once did an "endo" down the stairs when he got so excited on seeing a rabbit. He did two full somersaults and landed on his feet, a bit disoriented, but with the "Yeah, I meant to do that" look on his face.
LOL!! Guinness landed on his nose, picked himself up, sneezed, and shook his head. "Where am I? Oh, yes. about that tweet. . ."
Stormy, be careful boy. Glad our old man is okay. Whew!
Glad to hear Stormy's ok.
To quote DD on another post "O
Glad all is well maybe a baby gate in the future.
Papbouv
I don't think I took a breath until I reached the end of the story...rays on the way for Deb's tightness, and no wonder she was needing an adjustment!
Mike between you and Karen you'll get us all cerified.
Roberta
Quote from: Roberta on August 07, 2008, 03:02:51 AMMike between you and Karen you'll get us all cerified.
Roberta
The truth is Guinness' name should have been TIMEX -
"Takes a Lickin' an' Keeps on Tickin'!"
Remember the video of us opening the gift box? Guinness took a header right off the couch and somersaulted to the floor, and he was
13!! at that time!
Ya gotta have nerves of steel to make it in this woman's Troop!
Auntie Karen :thumb:
That has to be the most frightening experience ever. You guys must have been a mess all night. That God Stormy is okay..... God does indeed watch over our little ones. No doubt about that!
Deb here...yes, it was scary. Horriferous. I thought I would have nightmares with that "mind's eye video clip" replaying over and over of Stormy's tumble. He didn't fight the fall at all. I still don't know HOW he fell...I had put him down 12" from the edge of the landing! There was room there for another dog! Just very freaky. I felt so guilty that it happened on my watch, but we always go in that door with the dogs, and never had even a close call before. As I carried Stormy up the stairs, he licked my face continually. In his fogged out mind, he must have thought that he got to be a "baby dog": Sophie and I have sacred rituals wherein I scratch her tum, and pick her up and carry her somewhere at specified times, or before certain activities. After the 5PM greeting and feeding, (Stormy is already outdoors by this time) Sophie watches me until we make eye contact, and then as I advance towards her, she rolls for the tum rub. I then pick her up, and take her in to let her give Rich a few licks, and then carry her to the back door. She licks me a couple of times before being put down. It's a ritual. Also, at night, she waits for me outside my practice room, or finds me when she hears that door open. I then put the oboe away, take my pill and turn out lights. Sophie waits silently in the darkness for me to pick her up, and we check the doors together. I carry her into the bedroom, where Rich & Stormy are already, and rub her tum before the good-night treat. It's a ritual. Stormy sees this, and I think he's sometimes a bit envious. I give Stormy Dachshund Therapy Massage too, but it's just not the same as being carried like a pampered "baby dog". But, with Sophie at 8.6 pounds, but Stormy at around 32, well...it's just really hard to carry Stormy. But I think that he thought that he was having the baby dog experience!
Anyhow, things are getting back to normal...Stormy is off the soft food from the extraction, they've had a bath and don't smell like the vet's anymore, my chiropractor got most of the kinks out of me, and Rich & I sure slept alot better (that first night, Rich got up around 5AM because he couldn't sleep from worrying about Stormy). Stormy seems hale, hearty and enjoying it all. I'm still doing massage on them both, but mostly now because they do love it! BUT...from now on, dogs returning from a dental will enter through the sunroom where there are no basement stairs to gobble them down!!!
I'm so glad Stormy is ok! Just reading that made me cringe.