Yesterday, our dog Buddy wandered into the road and was struck by a car.
He is a sweet dog, a Bichon Frise mix, and we all love him very much. I was playing golf at the time of the accident, about 15 minutes away. My girlfriend Ann was home alone at the time, working in her garden. She lost sight of Buddy for a split second and he darted off. Ann ran inside to call the neighbors, but when she got inside the house, the phone was already ringing. It was man calling to say that Buddy had been struck by a car.
She rushed to her car, because our house is a couple hundred yards from the road, and drove to the scene of the accident to find Buddy lying on the ground with a Good Samaritan holding him down. Ann was hysterical and was frantically trying to call me. When I'm on the golf course, I usually turn the ringer down on my cell phone. Luckily, I looked at my phone to check the time and noticed that she had called.
I got back to my car as quickly as I could, and hurried home to find out what had happened. When I arrived, I saw Ann on the side of the road with the police and several other people around her. She had Buddy in her arms and was crying uncontrollably. Buddy was wrapped in a blanket and was bleeding from his head and mouth. It was immediately clear that his injuries were severe and we were worried that he wasn't going to make it.
We jumped in her car (I had to drive because she was hysterical) and looked up the address for the animal emergency room on the GPS. Thank God for modern technology. Since it was Sunday, it was difficult to find one that was open. The closest place was about 45 minutes away. I did everything I could to drive a reasonable speed, but it was hard not to do 90 MPH. For the entire drive, Ann was crying and saying "Buddy, please don't die."
When we got there, the staff took Buddy into the emergency room immediately. We filled out the necessary paperwork and sat in the waiting room. This is when Ann started blaming herself for the accident. I was very supportive because it could have happened to any one of us. I once lost sight of Buddy, and he was gone for a couple of hours.
The animal doctor came out to talk to us about 20 minutes later. She gave a quick overview of what they knew, which was not much at the time. Next, she started to talk about the price, $1,500 - $1,800 just to stabilize him and deal with any superficial injuries such as cuts and scrapes. Fortunately, we have some savings and didn't hesitate for a second to approve the treatment. It got me thinking about people who could not afford the expense and how sad it must be for them when if their pet gets hurt. Likely, a poor family would have no other choice but to put the dog to sleep.
We continued to sit in the waiting room while they stabilized Buddy and took some X-rays. It was almost two hours before we heard anything else. The doctor came back out and talked to us about Buddy's injuries. He had a broken leg, broken rib, possible neurological damage, and possibly a spinal injury. He was in really bad shape. And of course, the price went up. We needed to put down a deposit of $2,000 for them to continue treating him. Again, we didn't hesitate to pay the expense. Buddy is a member of our family.
We waited another hour so that we could say goodbye to him before we left for the night. Buddy certainly wasn't coming home that night. When we went to see him, Buddy was a mess. I had only seen the damage to his head. He had large cuts and scrapes all over him. Ann began crying again immediately upon seeing him. As the doctor walked us out of the room, Ann was pleading "Please save him. Please save him." It was very sad.
We went home and waited for a phone call. He needed to be examined by a neurologist who was not available until this morning. Let me tell you, it was a long night. Finally at about 10:00am this morning we got the call. Buddy was going to be okay. He had no spinal injuries and his head trauma was not severe. He still has a broken leg, which might need to be amputated. But he will survive and will likely still lead a happy life.
This whole episode got me thinking about families without health insurance. As an animal lover, I certainly sympathize with families who cannot afford medical care for their pets. But what about people who cannot afford medical care for their children or themselves? Money should not be a factor in deciding who gets treatment or who lives and who dies. I can't imagine how hard it is for a mother to take her sick child to an emergency room, only to be treated like a second class citizen because she lacks health insurance.
Ann was crying for 24 hours straight because Buddy was injured, and we were able to pay for his care. Imagine if it was her son and we couldn't afford the treatment. It must be the most horrible thing in the world. We need to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen in our country. It's time to care for everyone. It's time for universal health care.