TRAGEDY with Lennox

So, I'm not sure I can even write this without crying but here goes...

Next to Jax almost passing out, Austin's Bear Lake concussion and Blake's seizure, this was quite traumatizing.

One Friday night, I was coming home from picking up Rio from tumbling and as I pulled into the driveway, Spence was opening the garage as well.  Just then, the perfect storm hit:

garage opened, Spence and Lennox coming out to get the mail and a big Lab/Pitbull mix dog was walking through our yard.

Lennox has little man's syndrome and thinks he is much bigger and bolder than he is, especially when it comes to big dogs.

He ran after the dog, starting biting at his heels and the dog picked him up by his back and just threw him across our neighbors lawn.

Lennox of course was not having that so he went after the dogs feet again and the dog picked him up by his snout and threw him again!

This time, Lennox did not get up.  He just laid there as Spence ran toward him and the big dog trying to get him to go away.

It was seriously like slow motion as I watched in my car mirror this entire scene and watched Spence try and get there as fast as he could but it was too late.

We brought him in and he was definitely bleeding and whining. It was horrible.  I'm THE WORST in that kind of situation and could barely handle it.  We checked for broken bones and it didn't seem like he had any but his face was bleeding.

We decided to take him to an ER vet so Spence and Jax took him and sat and sat and sat for two hours.  the vet tech finally said, we may not be able to see you tonight and if he isn't bleeding anymore, you may want to come back in the morning.

So...we figured we might as well.  The bleeding had stopped and that way, we could get him into our vet first thing in the morning.

That night, Spence and I barley slept.  Lennox was whimpering and sneezing all night long.  Blood was coming out his nose when he sneezed and I just emotionally was a wreck and so was Spence.

The next morning, I had Super Saturday that I was supposed to be at for Relief Society because I'm on the committee and was in charge of certain things.

We had to get Lennox in so I took the kids with me and Spence went with Lennox to our vet in Draper.

It was hours before we knew what was going on and finally I got a call from Spence saying that the vet just asked him, "how bad do you want your dog?"

I just lost it! WHAT?  What is wrong with him?

They told Spence that they had never done this before but that Lennox needed a tape muzzle and feeding tube because the dog that bit him had broken his pallet in his mouth and it was crushed and the only way to fix it was to place a feeding tube in his neck and tape his mouth shut for 6 weeks!

We were both crying and didn't know what to do but we knew we were not going to put him down.  So, we chose to fix it no matter what! We love him so much and although that would be horrible, we wanted him alive.

This was after the surgery to place the feeding tube in and after they taped his mouth shut.

It was honestly the worst.  The story continues with us going back to the vet at least 2 or 3 times a week because of one reason or another.  Such as: his feeding tube getting clogged, him scratching off his tape muzzle, his skin getting so infected that he smelled like garbage, literally!, his feeding tube coming detached and having to have it re-sewn into his skin and then his muzzle coming off again...it was seriously a roller coaster.  We had to give him pain meds and antibiotics through his tube as well as his thyroid pill.

Besides him having these issues, I had to figure out what to do with my kids when I had to take him in and who knows how long I would be there...man!

But honestly, I would do it all again.  Love this little dog.

In the mix of all the chaos, we still had to change his dressings on his mouth, be sure to get his feeding tube cleaned and then put it all back on.  He DID NOT like it at all and would try to get away all the time.

In fact, the saddest part of all of this was that he got so depressed.  He would lay inside his kennel all day long and not come out.  He couldn't bark so sitting in the front where he usually would, was not happy for him because he wanted to see out and really couldn't with his cone on.  It was just so, so sad for him.  We all felt so bad for him.  When he smelled so bad because his face got infected, Rio was so super sweet and let him sit on her lap and she would just pet him even though he smelled so bad I could hardly stand it!

She was so sweet!

And, after honestly about 12 visits to the vet, thousands of dollars and lots of tears and 5 weeks of tube feeding, the vet finally took it off and took out his tube!

WAHOO!  It was awesome.  We were all so happy - none more than Lennox.  It was so great to hear his bark again :)

We love you so much Lennox!