A broken back and broken hearts

Our sweet little Zoey girl came from a dog that was quite a jumper. The German short-hair pointer jumped the 6 ft fence into the kennel of the labrador that was in "heat." And that is how our puppies came to be. 

Well I guess she is quite a jumper herself, and on Thurs night when we went to Park City to visit my sister Emily, Zoey jumped over her balcony, after I assume she was trying to get a better look at the dogs barking below us, and fell about 25 ft. It was the most horrible and tragic thing I could ever imagine happening. I was utterly useless- in a panic, screaming and crying and not knowing what to do for my poor yelping, bleeding dog that could not move. 
We took her to a vet who came in on this emergency call and he did an exam and some x-rays. She had a compression fracture in her lumbar spine and could not move or stand on her hind legs, but still had reflexes. She had some bleeding in the lungs and dental trauma. Next we took her to the animal ER in Salt Lake where they admitted her, gave her pain medicine and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. We had to wait for a lot of things this weekend- an MRI the next day, results the day after, and finally for the surgeon to come back from vacation last night.

In the meantime we have shed so many tears and discussed the fate of our young pup and what would be best for her. If you've never owned a dog and become bonded to these loving creatures you wouldn't understand our dilemma, as I wouldn't have before I became a dog owner not too long ago myself. We couldn't bear to see her in pain, and we couldn't bear to think of our lives without her. But we also don't want her to have a poor quality of life. After speaking with family, friends, many vets and hospital workers and finally the surgeon last night, we felt that going ahead with the surgery was the best thing to do for all of us. We realize that it is VERY expensive and will be a long road to recovery (if she even fully recovers), but we have hopes that since she is young and healthy and her spinal cord is still intact that she still has a good chance of getting better. 

Sorry for this long post, and I know that if you read my facebook you already kind of know what is going on- but there's the full story. We love our little Zoey so much, and hope and pray for a speedy recovery. Please send your positive thoughts and hopes her way.