Frankie’s trip to the Emergency Vet.

By Matt Baumgartner

I’m gonna keep this story short because I’ve told it two zillion times already.

But basically my pup, Frankie, got hit by a car over the weekend.

Very scary stuff.  At one point I thought he was going to die.  Unknowingly, he was chasing after my truck on Burden Lake Rd. when I was heading to Kay’s Pizza.

I got back from Kay’s with 2 large pepperoni pizzas, a large cheese pizza, two orders of mozzarella sticks, 2 dozen medium wings, and a growling stomach.  I pulled my pickup in front of my cabin, and a jeep pulled up behind my truck and said, “Matt?  Hi.  Do you have a black dog with a red collar?”

“Yes.  Why?  What’s wrong?”

“We just hit him with our car out on Burden Lake Rd.”

“Oh my god.  Is he alright? Where is he?”

“We’re not sure.  He went off the side of the road and scurried into the woods.”

“Oh my god.”  I say.   I go into the camp to double check that it was in fact my dog.   “Steven,”  I say to my brother. “Are my dogs here?”

“Yeah, they’re right here.  why?”

“Oh my god.  thank god.”  So I go outside and say to the woman, “It wasn’t actually my dogs because mine are in my house.  But I’ll help you look for the dog.”

So we drive back out to Burden Lake Rd. and I spend about 30 minutes trying to find the dog that was hit by the car.

It was pitch black, and we stopped looking and I went back to my cabin.

I walk in, grab a slice of pizza and talk about what just happened with my sister-in-law.

I look over to my pup, Frankie, and I notice that his nose is swollen, and it looks like there is blood on his nose.  I walk over to him, and look at it, and I was like, “what happened to Frankie’s nose??”  And he’s whimpering.  I take a few steps back, and call Frankie’s name to see if he can walk towards me.  He tries to sit up and walk, but can’t.

I realized Frank was the dog who got hit by the car.   He must have made it back to the house after he got hit.

I start panicking and I scoop him up and put him in the backseat of my car.

I grabbed the keys to my brother’s Prius and drove 120 mph down Best Road, and then 130 mpg on I-787 towards the Latham 24-hour emergency vet.

I pull into the parking lot, run in to explain what happened, and 3 people follow me out with a gurney.

The rest of the next 24 hours was pretty emotional.  They said he had internal bleeding, and a lung that might become an issue, and his nose was so swollen, he looked like Spudz McKenzie.

He stayed the night, and I picked him up the following afternoon.   Since Saturday, he has been on some pain medicine, and some antibiotics, but he seems to be getting better each day.

I’d like to thank, Dr. Gavin, at the Latham Emergency Vet.  She was basically dealing with a basket case, and she was so calm, and informative, and extremely sweet.   I feel fortunate that she was on duty when I brought Frank in.

In fact, everyone at the hospital, including the nurse Kate, was amazing.

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