Coco's Birthday Party, Day 2: Angie and her Miracle Dog, Hope

I've followed Hope's story ever since Angie first posted about her on Never A Dull Moment and I gotta say she's one special pup. Read this story by Angie and you'll find out why!

One day last summer my husband called and told me that he had just rescued a puppy he found on the side of the road. She was actually in the middle of a busy intersection, on one of those concrete island things that divide the road. He didn’t stop at first but was almost home and couldn’t get her little face out of his mind so he turned around and brought her home. Our plan was to find her a home, so the next day I took her to the vet’s where I work part time to get her shots and a check-up. My husband asked around work if anyone was interested in her and a couple of people were so we were happy that it wouldn’t take long to find her a home.

Then I get the call from the vet and she tells me that the little puppy is in need of surgery. See her diaphragm had a hole in it so her intestines were up by her heart and lungs. My husband and I had noticed that when she breathed you could see her sides move in and out. I thought it was just because she was hot and exhausted, nope she was fighting for every breathe. So the vet recommended a vet she knew who said he would look at her to see if he would do the surgery. The surgery was going to be not only expensive but very risky. Actually, the vet had thought this one vet would do it but he said he didn’t want to because the last three he had tried the surgery on had died.
To be honest, I was scared to have the surgery but my husband made a good point: It would be better to at least try and give her a chance to having a normal life then not doing anything and her slowly dying anyway. Once we realized that we were going to keep her we had to decide on a name. With her having such a road ahead of her I wanted to name her something that would reflect that God was in control. So I came up with Faith or Hope and my husband picked Hope. So we took her to this other vet and he took some x-rays and decided he would do the surgery that very day. He said that one lung was almost collapsed and she probably only had a few days left before her little body gave out.

I think that he started the surgery around four that evening. I had to go home to take care of my other dogs and cats but my husband stayed at work so he wouldn’t miss the call from the vet when he was finished to let us know how things went. We live at in the country and our cell phones don’t always work that

great. Anyway, I was praying and waiting at home when I finally called my husband around six. He told me that the vet had called him a little a while ago but he didn’t want to worry me. When the vet had called my husband it was to tell him that they were having trouble getting the liver in place. It was stuck and it wouldn’t come lose so he called to asked my husband if he wanted him to keep trying or to just stop. My husband said to keep trying. We learned later that almost the minute they hung up the liver just all of a sudden popped out with no problem! The vet said he felt like it was a miracle.

So the vet finally calls us around eight and tells us that she’s out of surgery and seems to be doing well but she’s not out of the woods until the next three days.

We had to go pick her up and take her to the emergency clinic because the vet wanted someone to keep an eye on her all night. Then the next day we had to pick her up and take her back to the veterinary clinic. So as you can guess she made it through the next three days fine and when we brought her home it was like we had a totally different dog. When we first got Hope she didn’t do much because it was so hard for her to breathe. She couldn’t even lay down on her side because she couldn’t breathe. Now she was running and playing and just being a puppy.

She’s almost a year old now and she’s a happy active and very spoiled dog that loves to play with our other two dogs. She also loves to eat so one of her favorite toys is her Kong filled with Milk Bones and peanut butter. She’s a very sweet dog and has yet met anyone she doesn’t like and I thank God for bringing this little miracle into our lives.

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Please be sure to stop by Angie's blog, Never a Dull Moment and say hi! She has a bunch of furry friends who always hang out there. I'm sure they would all love to meet you.

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