07/18/00
Small Paws® supporters, send Bungee to the Texas A&M Vet
School, for heart surgery!!!
(The Texas A&M Fight Song is playing!)
Bungee is a
Little Bichon, born April 9, 2000, into a Puppy Mill, with a grade 6 heart
murmor. He needed corrective surgery, or he would have died.
SEE BUNGEE ON
VIDEO!!!
Bungee
Video
Another Bungee Video!
To Download Windows Media
Player
Small Paws® Rescue: First,
Bungee goes to Oklahoma State University Vet School
See Bungee's Medical Records from Texas A&M, Including his
Ultrasound!
Bungee
eyes a package, that Joy brought for him, when she met us at the Denver airport.
Jack and Joy Flora, (jflora@uswest.com) donated the air travel for Bungee and
me.:) In the package was a stuffed little hedgehog, as well as a cash donation,
for our trip. Thank you Joy and Jack!.:)
Little Bungee plays with his stuffed hedgehog, at the
hotel,Tuesday night, in Austin. The good news is, he has no idea there is
anything wrong with his little heart...:)
What do you MEAN, "Get outta that
suitcase?!!!"
Texas A&M Veterinary School Small Animal Clinic
4th year Vet Student,
Kimberly, holds little Bungee.
Bungee chews on a chewy, while he is examined by
Kimberly...:)
Bungee's Cardiologist, Dr. Gordon,on the right, and Kimberly. We
just LOVE Dr. Gordon!
A HUGE Thank you to the Copper/Chris fund, at Texas
A&M Veterinary Teaching Hospital!
The director of the hospital is Mr.
Hank C. Reinhard, Jr. Yesterday, he studied Bungee's case and made sure that his
case met all of the criteria, set forth by the wonderful woman who began this
special fund.
He told me how the fund, came to be about. It seems, there was
a young man, who wanted to be a vet. He was in vet school at Texas A&M. Some
of his buddies, and he, were out one night, hauling something for a friend, in a
pick-up truck. The load they were carrying, was light..something like cardboard,
he said, and Chris, the young vet student, volunteered to get in the back of the
pick-up and lie down on top of it, to keep it from flying out of the truck. It
was only several hours later, that his friends found out, that Chris, had flown
out of the truck too, and had been killed.
The lady, Mrs. Copper Thompson, is
a friend of Chris' mother, and when Chris died, Mrs. Thompson established this
special fund, for special cases, to be helped by the Texas A&M Vet
School.
It has to be a case where, the dog or cat (or any small animal) is
well cared for. The animal has to have a home to go back to. And, it has to be a
surgery or treatment, that will save the animals life...a diagnosis that, would
be otherwise, life threatning.
Our little Bungee met all of those
requirements, and the Copper/Chris fund, has graciously donated $300.00 towards
his bill. I will be sending Mrs. Copper Thompson, a personal Thank You card,
along with pictures of Baby Bungee, to let her know what her good work is
accomplishing.:)
We didn't really have all of the money raised, when I left
Tulsa. I was praying it would come through while I was gone. Care to guess the
amount we were short? You guessed it....$300.00. Now I never told the vet
school, the amount we were short. They just told me, the amount they could give,
to help us.:)
If you would like to e-mail, Hank Reinhard, the man who made
the decision to help Bungee with the Copper/Chris fund, his e-mail addy is...
hreinhard@cvm.tamu.edu
Bungee will have the surgery, tomorro at between 9-11
A.M...updates to
follow!
______________________________________
Update
7/20/00
Bungee came through surgery with flying colors, this morning! I gave the
digital camera to the student, to take back there, right after surgery, while he
was still in ICU, and coming out of the anethsesia. I don't think the flash went
off, but here is our baby Bungee, right after the life saving
surgery!
More updates to follow...:)
Update
7/21/2000
Today I
visited Bungee, and he was bouncing up and down just like his name! Here is
where they did the surgery...
There are just two stitches on his thigh. They will disolve, and he
doesn't have to see a vet, again for this, for one full year. In one year, they
want him to have an ultrasound again, just to make sure everything is holding.:)
So far..each one they have done, has continued to hold, and work! Bungee is
expected to live a full, normal life, with no other problems.:)
They have an Elizabethan
Collar on him., becasue he keeps trying to eat his stitches...he is one happy
boy!
Look at
the tail wagging.
Bungee pretty much wrapped the staff around his little paw, while he was
a patient at Texas A&M. Our precious vet student, Kimberly, holds little
Bungee for a picture. He will be discharged tomorro morning, and we will drive
back to Austin.
UPDATE
7/22/00
Bungee
was discharged from the hospital today! We drove back to Austin, and checked
into the hotel. Our plane leaves at 7:35 A.M in the morning.
Bungee shows no
sign of having anything happen to him! He is a 100% normal baby Bichon.:) His
new Mama, Sandy, has been worried sick about him, asking about him sveral times
a day....I think...he is gonna have it made in the shade with
Sandy.:)
Bungee
plays with his hedgehog, in the hotel room. The Elizabethan collar, is to keep
him from eating his two stitches.
That hedgehog must die.
Hedgehog killin' is hard work.
July 23
UPDATE
Bungee
and I were upgraged to First Class again, on our way back to Tulsa.:)
Joy and Jack Flora, the
couple who donated their United Airline milage to us, met us again at the
airport, during our Denver layover. Jack visits with Bungee.Thank you so very
much Jack and Joy!
We also had the priveledge of meeting Pam Knight,of Bichons Only! ,who lives near Denver. She
brought us a HUGE gift sack with all sorts of Bichon merchandise! Thank you
Pam!!
Bungee went back to his Tulsa foster home, with Angela and Wayne, last
night. Thier two teen aged daughters were so happy to see him back! Then
one of them said something so touching to me...I told them that Bungee's new
Mama, had asked if I would need a crow bar to pry Bungee away from his foster
family, and she ansered, "If we kept this one...we wouldn't have room for the
next one, and if we had kept the last one...we wouldn't have had room for baby
Bungee"....(From the mouth of babes.:)
Thanks to ALL who assisted in this
rescue effort. Bungee will have a long and happy life, thanks to so many of YOU!
Thank you again!!!
UPDATE!
August 2, 2000
Bungee Flies to His Forever Home in Sunny
California!!
Update! 9/08/00
A Letter from Bungee's
Mom
Bungee
Bungee with
his new Mom Sandy, at the Tulsa airport.
Bungee in
the arms of his new Dad
Subj: Another
"Forever" Mom with a Texas A & M Miracle
Date: 9/7/2000 11:20:56 PM Central
Daylight Time
From:
LitlSybil
To:
ChewbeccaD
CC:
Pup3
Double-click
picture(s) to display in picture editor
Dear Rebecca,
I've just learned that you're adopting Rolex and thought I
should write to you to offer whatever support I can through this trying time.
I'm the person who was fortunate, blessed even, to adopt Bungee the little love
that captured all our hearts when he came to Robin with such a terrible heart
problem. So many sent good wishes, prayers and financial assistance to get him
through. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on him that no matter what, I had to
have him. He's here tumbling on the floor with Sparky (my darling 5 year old
Bichon) and doesn't have a clue that he's half the size of Sparky, if that, and
that the rest of the world does NOT have boundless energy. It just doesn't seem
possible that this operation could possibly be so marvelous that not only does
it give them life, but a normal life. By now Bungee would be very close to dying
but instead he is so full of life with not a care in the world, no shortness of
breath, no signs at all that a little over a month ago he was in awful shape and
would die without the procedure. I just want you to know that I'm out here and
stand ready to help you any way I can. The prognosis is excellent after this
surgery and you should be able to enjoy his long life just as normally as if
he'd never had a problem. They asked that he have an EKG for their records down
at Texas A & M but he's not required to be followed by a heart specialist at
all. I've found one in Los Angeles and he'll be going there for his cardiac
checkup.
I truly
believe that these little ones are here to make us better people. So many people
gave so much to save his life that that simple gift of love will make many more
miracles possible as we go out and try to pay back with good deeds. I love my
little guy with all my heart and a day doesn't go by that I don't think about
the people who cared. You're about to get that same gift and he'll be all the
more precious to you because you'll know that his life came from a pure act of
love by people for a gentle little soul. I'll be thinking of you, be brave and
he'll be home with you in no time. I know you're a special person because Robin
has chosen you. I'm very happy for you, you're getting such a precious gift.
With love, Sandy