trauma

i don't have a lot of time this morning before i have to start work, so this will be a briefer account of last night's incident than i would have liked. i apologize to myself and to y'all.

sagan attacked max again last night, at around 6:30. she grabbed hold of him with her jaws and wouldn't let him go. it took kara a lot of effort to get her off him, and then sagan grabbed him again. finally we freed max from sagan, and he and kara were both bleeding. i took max to the animal emergency room and kara drove herself to the tacoma general emergency room. max stayed overnight at the clinic. i went to be with kara in the er. we were in and out in a little under 5 hours, which probably actually isn't so bad. the nail on kara's left ring finger was avulsed and its root was exposed. there was also a small fracture of the distal phalanx. (she was seen by an arnp named sabine, one of the very few er dictators whose reports i actually usually enjoy typing. it was interesting to see her in person, after just hearing her voice for a couple of years.) kara will be off work for at least 4 days and will see a plastic surgeon/orthopedist (a man whose reports i dread typing) on thursday. she might need surgery. the nail is still attached, loosely, but it is dead and will fall off. he might take it off; we don't know this. the management might be more conservative.

i collected max from the emergency clinic earlier this morning, at about 5:30. he was stitched up and has two drains in place, one on his forehead and one on his neck. he is a real mess. it's quite amazing, actually, to me, that he's still alive after such a trauma. he's a much stronger dog than i would have thought, ancient as he is. he's quite groggy now. he does look a fright.

and then there's sagan. i do believe she has attacked max for the last time. we are looking hard at taking her back to the shelter this afternoon. of course this means she will almost certainly be killed. she is in her crate now and she knows she has done wrong. she can tell she's in serious trouble; she can read us. this would be easier if she weren't such a smart dog. if she weren't so terrific otherwise. it won't be easy, but i might be taking her for a ride after work. it's difficult to meet her eyes as i pass her in her crate. i know she knows.

we got back from the emergency room at about 11:30 last night, but it took me several hours to get to sleep. i kept seeing kara's mauled finger and max's mauled head. i have to start working in a few minutes. kara is downstairs, crying, and trying to rest. she has a percocet prescription to fill.

we are fairly devastated here, in short.