When I arrived at my new home I settled in straight away, it was lovely and warm and they had a cosy fluffy bed ready for me with lots of toys and treats, I felt like I had lived there forever.

The evening of my accident I was out on my usual evening walk with my family , I love running around after the ball and chasing after a stick in the field close to my home, but this night as I jumped for the ball I landed on a broken tree sticking out of the ground, it impaled deep inside my right side. right near my heart and lung.

My family rushed me home and called the emergency vets. I was bleeding heavily and they tried to stop it by wrapping a towel tight around me, but it just wouldn't stop. I felt very faint and all I wanted to do was lay down, but my mum wouldn't let me and she held me up as we waited for a taxi. When I arrived at the veterinarian hospital they saw that it was very urgent and I was immediately rushed into surgery. The stick had missed my heart by a few millimetres, they had stitch my artery back together , it was touch and go with me, they didn't think I was going to make it through the night.

Everyone was very worried and waited up most of the night for any news of how my operation was going. Miraculously I stabilised, they said I am a very strong dog with a strong heart.

I missed my family very much and I wasn't allowed visitors for the first 4 days as I get really excited when I see them, and had to stay calm, but after the 4 days they came to see me, and after only 6 days I was allowed home , I was woozy and sleepy from the antibiotics and pain killers but very happy to be back home again, and after a few days I slowly started to recover, and within a few weeks I was back on my feet again.

Once I was able to run I was back out chasing my ball, my family were too afraid to take me to the field where my accident happened, but I was always peeking through the railings curiously as it was my favourite place to play, so they took me in, they were very nervous so they made sure there was nothing sticking up out of the ground before they let me run around!

A few months passed and I suddenly contracted a cough that got progressively worse so back to the vets for a check up. I had swollen glands so they gave me more antibiotics and that seemed to help for a while. But a few weeks later it was back, and it was worse, I was coughing and felt like I was choking on something most of the day and night and I just felt tired all the time, I wasn't hungry at all and just wanted to lay in my bed. My family became increasingly concerned for my health.

The vet suggested X-Rays as they suspected that something may be left inside of me from the accident, they saw I had air trapped in my tummy under my heart , and my lung capacity was 70%, they tried to get the air out but they couldn't, so a CT Scan was the next thing they had to do. We had to travel to Leeds as that was the cheapest option, everywhere else ran into the £1000's for a scan. The vets and the staff were brilliant and really looked after me.

That evening the vet called my family with his findings from the CT scan and he told us what everyone suspected that there is something inside my lung that is causing the continuous infections, and it has to be removed in order for me to get well again, they said it is possibly be a splinter from the accident , and that I will continue to contract infections and possibly an abscess until it is removed. If I don't have this surgery I will slowly become very ill , so I need to have surgery as soon as possible while I am still healthy.

With emergency surgery, x-rays, CT scans, medication, and backwards and forwards to the vets my insurance has gone well over the limit, it is all very expensive and there is no money to pay for my surgery and aftercare.

Roco xx