Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Calli's Story

In a couple of my posts I have made a passing reference to Calli having mobility issues. 
Today is exactly four years since the accident happened. 

Prior to that, in the late summer of 2005, she had her first major medical issue.  We were at the farmers market in White Rock.  We had gone early to set up, so that I had time to get some flower bouquets made up before the market started.  Larry took Calli and Jake to a park to play ball.  At the park, while scooping a ball up from the grass, she caught her lower jaw on a concrete water valve box that was protruding an inch or so above the ground.  She lost a lot of teeth, and fractured her bottom jaw about an inch from the front.  I drove her back home to our vet who was available that Sunday morning.  She had two surgeries, one to get the jaw wired back together, and one to remove a canine tooth that was interfering with another.  Six weeks later she went under again to have the wiring removed.  It was a long time before I felt comfortable with her fetching a ball or chewing on a bone.

There are a lot of teeth missing in her upper jaw, and some in the bottom as well.


In the spring of 2007, she dealt with three abscesses behind her eye (retro bulbar abscesses).  The first one was causing her a lot of pain, and it was drained.  Even after it healed up, she did not seem right.  She didn't want to open her mouth wide enough to pick up the ball.  A month later her head swelled up again, and the abscess was drained once more.  The vet said it was a sterile abscess, there was no infection, and it contained no foreign body.  This time the swelling didn't cause her any pain.  Then it happened again, but this time the hot compresses caused it to weep out through the skin, the swelling went down, and that was the end of it.  The vet wondered if somehow it was related to the accident with her jaw, maybe something out of alignment....?  He couldn't figure it out.






Her worst accident happened June 9, 2006.  It was graduation weekend for David, with Prom that day, and Convocation the next.  Needless to say, our hearts weren't in it.

Here is a little movie I made telling the story.  It is my first attempt with Movie Maker, and I'm pretty happy how it came out.  I won't count the hours I spent on it, fumbling around within the limitations of Movie Maker, trying to figure it out, and then trying to remember how I got there so I could do it again. (I'm not particularly computer savvy).  It's a pretty simplified version of what happened over those couple of months.


I spent hours working her legs, pinching her toes to make the muscles contract so that she kept some muscle tone.
We actually got a wheelchair for her, but between ordering it, and it getting here, she improved enough that she never used it.  We have kept it because we thought she might need it as she aged.  She's nearly 10 1/2 now, and so far so good. 
I still get a warm feeling when I see her bounce around (Calli style).  Life is good:)

11 comments:

  1. Oh, my goodness. It's amazing how life changes in just seconds by such unexpected things.

    I'm glad to see, albeit after a long and steady fight, that Calli has recovered. Thank goodness she has such loving parents to help her pull through!

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  2. That is really impressive, very well done Calli and very well done you :-)

    Lovely video thanks for sharing Callies story.

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  3. Poor Calli - she's been through so much! But you're right - life is good.

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  4. Calli is lucky she has you as her family and you are lucky to have Calli :0)

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  5. I found your blog through blog hop. I hope you'll come visit my blog.
    http://pumpkinpuddy.blogspot.com

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  6. Saturday blog hopping. Calli has certainly faced some tough times but love is even tougher.
    Alanis & Miro Airedale

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  7. Calli is such a trooper! So glad she is doing better. Hello from the blog hop!

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  8. I just love happy endings! How fortunate Calli is to have such wonderful and loving owners as well..cheers!

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  9. That is such a wonderful story and what special people you are to help Calli get through all that. Calli sure is a strong dog to keep on going. Good job to everyone.
    Have a great week end.

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  10. I just cried from beginning to end of Calli's story, first overcome by sadness and then overwhelmed by the perseverence of this sweet, sweet dog! She knew you never, ever gave up on her and she surely didn't give up either. What a true testiment to the spirit inside us all!

    That's it. My blog hopping is over for a bit. Nothing could ever compare.

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