February 3rd, 2000, a day like any other, I let Chiron outside on his tie on with carabeener like always while I gathered my homework to
be done for the evening.
Chiron always lies next to me while I study, which was the plan for this evening. So I went to let him in the front door and he was not there, the tie on was not broken, caught on anything, didn't have Chiron's collar on it, nothing, still a mystery to this day.
So I began looking for him, calling his name and walking around the neighborhood. Right around the corner from my house on a fairly busy street I see a car pulled over and my stomach dropped. He looked so scared and like one of his legs were broken, but externally he did not look too bad.
My roommate and I rushed him to the vet where he had a 3 1/2 hour surgery consisting of spleen removal and a blood transfusion, also a broken pelvis, which was not surgically repaired at this time. He had a great deal of internal trauma, which caused his organs to not work quite right.
For about 2 days he started getting better, then took a turn for the worse. He was at my vet for one week and my vet advised me to take him to Purdue Vet Clinic because Chiron was not getting better and he did not know what else to do. So I took him to Purdue, where he ended up spending 6 weeks there as a patient.
The internal problems were fixed with medication, the pelvis was partially fixed surgically and a new problem was discovered. An approximately 12" x 12" spot of dead skin formed on his back, the cause is unknown. After weeks of special bandaging and wound care, the wound was closed surgically and Chiron came home two weeks later.
Right now Chiron is still recovering, but he is doing wonderful. He is walking around great and hopefully will be able to run a little bit soon, and especially continue to grow his hair back (he almost has none).
But, more than ever, the tail never stops wagging. He is a special dog that has been very blessed. To be able to look right into those big hazel eyes again I have to thank the veterinarians and staff at Comb's vet clinic, the veterinarians and staff at Purdue University Vet Clinic, my family, friend, and fellow lab lovers for their support, Deenie, Labrador Life Line and especially Chiron for being so strong:)