Scout, The Miracle Dog by Arthur Schandel

Scout, The Miracle Dog

by Arthur Schandel

I am writing to share with you the story of my best friend and companion- “Scout”, the miracle dog. Her full name was “Miss Lady Scout Finch”, a purebred black Labrador Retriever. She was named after the little girl- Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed “Scout” by her father, Atticus Finch, in the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Scout was born on Martin Luther King Day, January 15, 1996, just after the “Blizzard of ‘96”. She was actually my second dog, a sister of my first dog. My first dog, also named Scout, was picked out of a litter of 10 puppies with the help of a dear sweet friend of mine, Dee. The Scout that I am writing to tell you about was actually “Scout 2”. My first puppy was accidentally killed when she was run over by an ambulance at the company that I was working for at the time. She was only nine weeks old and I only had her for one week when this tragic accident occurred. I am a paramedic and I had went out on an ambulance call and my co-workers elected to watch and play with Scout instead of me putting her in her cage until I had returned from my call. My co-workers were then dispatched for a second call, so they put Scout in her cage, but accidentally did not latch it properly. Scout, being the rambunctious puppy that she was, ran out and followed the crew. They never saw her run outside behind them, chasing after the ambulance. They had only traveled about twenty feet when they hit her. They never even realized that had run her over. It was not until I had returned from my ambulance call that my partner and one of my best friends, Chris, and me found her just outside the ambulance garage. Despite how devastated I was at that moment, the two people that I felt the most sorry for that day were my two friends and co-workers, who were in the ambulance when Scout was run over. I knew it would be twice as devastating for them. When the two of them returned from their call, I asked my partner to break the news to them. To hopefully make it easier on them, I told my partner to tell them that I did not need to know who was actually driving the ambulance. It was an accident. I decided this so that the pain from this tragedy would hopefully be easier for all of us to deal with on that day. Oh, how I do remember that day well, a room full of grown men, all crying together over the tragic accident and loss of this innocent, beautiful, sweet little puppy. I was distraught, sad and depressed. I had wanted a dog for a while because life was lonely for me. I was overweight and all through my adult life, I was never involved in a relationship. I decided to get a dog as a companion and to keep me company. I thought to myself that very day after losing Scout 1- “was I not deserving enough to even have a dog?” I decided that I did not want to get another dog. My friends thought otherwise. Without my knowledge, they went back to the breeder and I now say thankfully, there was still one black girl puppy left. They bought her for me. I reluctantly picked up my new puppy a few days later and at first, due to having just lost Scout 1, it was difficult for me to bond with her. It was a difficult decision to make, but after not giving her a name for a few days, I decided to keep the name “Scout”. As time passed, Scout soon became the most important thing in my life, my friend, the miracle dog, who in many ways, ending up inspiring me and helped save my life. The next few months were a pure joy watching Scout grow up. She was wonderful, playful, and loyal and yes, she was even sometimes a pain in the butt! After all she was just a puppy, and a puppy’s job is to do nothing but play, run, jump and chew up whatever they can! One of the funny memories that I have of Scout during the first few months of her life was watching her go outside to go to the bathroom. She became housetrained rather easily. But during the first few months of her life, my backyard was completely covered in snow from the blizzard. Scout became conditioned to go to the bathroom on the snow. I remember the first time a patch of grass appeared from the melting snow. Scout went over with such curiosity as to what this green stuff was that had magically appeared one day. Each day, temperatures grew warmer and the snow melted more. However Scout, although always curious about the green grass that was appearing more and more every day, kept going to the bathroom on the snow. Eventually, most of the yard became visible, but there still a small patch of snow left from where it had drifted back by my fence. Scout still went to the bathroom on that now small mound of snow. Then came the day when all of the snow melted away. Scout went directly to where she last saw the small mound of snow the previous day, but it was gone! She walked around the yard, anxiously looking for the spot where she was supposed to go to the bathroom. It took some coaxing, but Scout reluctantly went to the bathroom on the green grass. It was only a matter of time, after still searching for several days and looking for the missing white snow that Scout learned that her new bathroom was on the green grass. What was to happen over the next year and half not only changed her life forever, but mine also. I was and I still am so happy that Scout had those first few months where her life was that of just a normal dog. Her life first changed when she was seven months old. One of my friends was playing with her and she jumped high into the air to grab a toy. Upon landing on a tile floor, she slipped and twisted her right hind leg, breaking her tibia. In order to repair her broken leg, Scout needed to have surgery in order to have a permanent metal plate inserted to stabilize her leg. She was in a cast for the next six weeks, but being the wonderful creature she was, she bounced right back. I was having money trouble at the time, but a wonderful close friend of mine named Matt loaned me $1600 to have her leg repaired. Matt was the first, but soon one of many people that would open up their hearts and give selflessly of themselves in order to help my dog. It was only about a week after Scout had her cast removed that her next ordeal began. One day while I had her at work with me (at the ambulance squad), she ate some rat poison that I did not know was placed behind the TV stand. Scout was off to the animal hospital again! I soon learned of the dangers of having your dog ingest rat poison. It causes thinning in the bloodstream to the point that you start to bleed internally. Over the next two months, Scout had to receive large doses of potassium K and she had to have numerous blood tests in order to insure that her blood did not become too thin. Once again, she came through with flying colors. Then on January 5, 1997, our lives changed again. I went into work to cover a shift for someone that called out of work that day. One of the other paramedics on duty had brought his boy dog to work and because I thought Scout was going through her first heat, I decided to leave her at home. Sometime in the early afternoon, I received a phone call from a friend of mine, David. He told me that I needed to go home. There was a fire at my house. I immediately asked about my dog and wanted to know if she was OK. My friend, being an ex 9-1-1 dispatcher told me that he would call whomever he could to find out if Scout had been injured. I left work and rushed to my house, not knowing if Scout was alive, dead or injured. While driving there, David called me and told me that Scout was alive and that she only had some minor burn wounds to her paws. I was relieved, I remember crying tears of joy that my Scout was ok. I could not wait to see her. There are but a few images in my past that I will never ever forget. One is of my house as I rounded the corner on my street that day. I remember seeing 20-30 firemen walking all around my still smoldering house. There were 5-6 fire trucks congesting the tiny street that I live on with countless feet of fire hose strewn all across my front lawn like spaghetti. My neighbors from up and down the block were all standing around watching the tremendous amount of activity taking place. As I exited my vehicle, my first priority was to find my dog. I had to see her. But I soon learned that one of the fireman and one of my neighbors had taken her to the local emergency animal hospital. At this point, I had believed that all she had was some minor burns/injuries to her paws. The local Fire Marshal questioned me on a few things and walked me through my house. The fire was primarily to the kitchen, but it also had extended into my living room and halfway down my hallway towards the back of the house where the bedrooms are located. To give you an idea of how hot it had became in my house, everything that was plastic in my bedroom had started to melt even though there was never any actual fire in my bedroom. I was told that Scout was found lying unconscious just inside the front door where the greatest concentration of fire had been. When the fireman broke open the front door, they grabbed her by her hind leg to pull her out. I was told that she woke up enough from being startled that she bit one of the firemen! My neighbors told me that when they first noticed the fire, Scout was barking ferociously, but despite attempts by my neighbors and a police officer that had arrived on scene, they were unable to coax Scout to come to the back window they had broken out in hopes of rescuing my dog. Months later, I surmised that Scout stayed at the front door, for that was the door that she always saw me leave by and that was the door that she always saw me come home through. I left to go be with Scout at the emergency center. When I arrived at the animal hospital, I was greeted with another image, one that will be blazed into my memory forever. Scout was lying on an exam table, unconscious with a menagerie of medical equipment all hooked up to her. She was intubated and hooked up to a respirator. The doctor who greeted me, whom I did not know at that moment how she would be there for Scout for years to come, was an angel. Her name was Patti. It was then that I learned of the true extent of Scout’s injuries. She was severely injured with 3rd degree burns over 30 percent to the left side of her body and to the inside of her right legs. She had 1st and 2nd degree burns over another 30-40% of her torso and face. I had burst into tears as soon as I saw my Scout lying there helplessly. I remember how compassionate and caring Patti was that evening. Again, she was an angel. I will never forget her kindness and her professionalism. Patti told me that Scout’s prognosis was poor. I was told that if she were to survive, that her medical costs would be extensive. It is their job to inform customers of the expected costs with an injury of such an extent. At that moment money was not an object. It was never an issue with the hospital. They trusted me, a stranger to them, that I would pay for her costs and it was easy to see through their compassion that everyone one there that first night wanted to give Scout a chance to live. I remember leaving the hospital that night with the reassurance that should anything change with Scout’s condition, I would be called immediately. I spent the night at a friend’s house and I remember waking up the next morning. Had I dreamed all that had happened yesterday? No, reality suddenly hit hard, all I could think about was going to visit my dog. I arrived at the hospital and was greeted by a different doctor. Her name was Jeanne. Jeanne gave me an update on Scout, she had survived the night, but her prognosis remained extremely poor. They let me back into the treatment area so that I could visit with her. I remember how had they built a makeshift cage for her. I was told she was restless at times during the night, and at other times all she would do is just lie there in her bed and whimper in pain. I knelt down to say hello to her and she lifted her head upon hearing my voice and she started wagging her tail. What she did next amazed us all and brought every single one of us in the hospital to tears. Despite being severely burned, and despite being in so much pain, she managed to slowly stand up as if to say to me, Daddy, “why am I here” and “please take me home” It was sometime over the next few days that I would meet “Dr Bob.” He was the owner of the emergency side of the specialty center at the hospital. Dr Bob would soon prove to me that there are people in this world that can and will trust someone by his or her word alone. Dr Bob always trusted me that I would somehow pay for all of Scouts medical bills. There was never a hesitation or a doubt in his mind that money was or would be an issue with Scouts expenses. But more importantly, and just like with Patti, Jeanne and the rest of the staff; it was his compassion with helping Scout that would touch me forever. Every day I would visit with Scout for a few hours, which quickly became a part of my daily routine. Often times it was difficult for Scout had many ups and downs. We came very close to putting her to sleep several times. But just when she seemed to be close to giving up, she would always bounce back. Often we would make decisions that if a certain blood test, or if her overall general condition did not improve by a certain date and time, that we would discuss having to let her go. But every time we set a deadline, a miracle would occur. A blood test would show that her infection was getting better, or her temperature would stabilize just enough for us to keep going. I remember being criticized by a few friends that were not animal lovers, who told me that I was wasting my money and that I should just put Scout to sleep. However, our motto became that if Scout was willing to fight and not give up, then neither would we. I remember the worst day of Scouts stay at the hospital when her body, which was so weakened from losing weight and being so ravaged by infections, that she could not take the strain anymore. Her heart had stopped beating during one of her many debridement/bandage-changing sessions. Everybody stopped what they were doing and did whatever they could to save Scouts life. They started CPR on her and gave her medications in hopes of getting her heart to start beating again. They were able to resuscitate Scout, but it seemed like we were right back to where we had started. But Scout, being the miracle dog that she was, fought back and again very slowly started her long road back to recovery. She was diagnosed with having problems with her heart valves. They had been damaged badly from the horrible infections that were constantly raging through her body. I was told that if she were to survive the fire, that she might not live to be the world’s oldest Labrador with her heart being permanently damaged. Upon hearing the news of Scout’s injuries, the ambulance squads in the area, all put up signs asking that for anyone that wanted to help out with Scouts expenses to make donations to the hospital. Her story also appeared in the local newspapers. Donations started arriving the very next day from friends and from strangers in my community who wanted to help with Scout’s expenses. At one time Scout’s costs totaled over $18,000, however I will never know the true extent of Scout’s expenses, for Dr Bob one day told me that he stopped adding them up. All that mattered to him along with all of the other doctors and with all of the staff at the emergency center was that Scout survive, and eventually come home with me. To this very day, I am still not sure who did the following, but someone put Scout’s story on the Internet. Her story was posted on a website dedicated to the breed “Boxers”. Upon reading Scout’s story, the dog that survived against all odds of survival from being severely burned, donations started arriving from all across the United States. I was never so touched in all my life. Thousands of dollars were donated from as far away as California from total strangers, who unselfishly gave of themselves in order to help Scout. Over $10,000 was donated. I will be forever grateful from all of those who helped Scout. Scout was in the hospital for almost three straight months. She then had to come back to the hospital for the next four months, three times a week to have her wounds cleaned and her bandages changed. She also had to have several surgeries to remove skin that was damaged beyond repair and also to repair her front left leg, which from massive scarring was causing her leg to contract. She also had surgery to remove healthy skin and tissue from her back to be grafted onto her leg, so that her leg would completely heal. I think back now and I have many fond memories of Scout and her stay at the hospital. I became friends with everyone that worked there, I was given Card Blanc treatment whenever I came to visit Scout while she was an in-patient and also the many times I visited after Scout had come home. I remember having breakfast, lunch and dinner with the staff on many occasions, who always welcomed me with open arms when I came to visit. There were times when they would actually put me to work if they were busy and needed help. One day, I was asked to assist with helping to resuscitate 12 infant puppies that were born via a cesarean section. Dr Bob and I became friends outside of the hospital with him inviting me into his house to have dinner with his wife and his children. Another fond memory that I have during Scout’s stay in the hospital is when I became ill myself one week with a leg infection and I had to be hospitalized. Several staff members from the animal hospital came to visit me in the hospital bringing with them presents and balloons in order to cheer me up. One of the technicians at the hospital named Kristi became interested in what I did for a living and came with me to my job and did several ride-alongs with me on the ambulance. After Scout’s yearlong recovery from the fire, I then had the wonderful pleasure of spending the next seven years enjoying life with Scout the best I could. Due to my own handicap, being obese, I often would tell Scout that I owed her a thousand walks. It was through the inspiration of Scout and with her overcoming her ordeal that I finally decided to get help myself. Scout never saw me as being obese, she never saw me as being handicapped, she never made fun of me, and she was never critical of me. She just unconditionally loved me. I had surgery to help me lose weight in 2001. I lost over 330 pounds and I became one of the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania’s greatest success stories with their gastric bypass program. For the next two and half years, I lived up to my bargain with Scout. We shared a thousand walks together along the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, the many trails of the Pocono Mountains and we often visited one of our favorite places to go for a walk- Central Park in New York City. I wished she could have lived a few more years, for there were many more adventures that I wanted to share with her. Scout died one and a half months shy of her ninth birthday. She passed away on December 1st, 2004 after she became acutely ill and having a month long battle of chronic renal failure. When Scout was first diagnosed with renal failure, I took her back to the original practice, which moved to a new location, that had treated her eight years ago when she was burned in the fire. However, the three original doctors that worked on Scout (Patti, Jeanne & Dr Bob) had all gone their separate ways over the years. I had kept in touch with all of them for several years, but unfortunately as time slipped by, so did the distance between us all. But the original receptionist at the practice when Scout was brought in from the fire still worked there. Her name is Celeste and although she did not immediately recognize me, she remembered Scout right away. I remember sharing tears with Celeste that day when word came back from the doctor on duty that Scout was suffering from renal failure and that she did not have much longer to live. Celeste helped me get in touch with all of the original doctors that treated Scout eight years prior. They all called and they all sent cards. Patti still worked at the original hospital (under a different practice now) where Scout spent her time recovering from the fire. Jeanne was now working at a specialty center down in Delaware and Dr Bob was working up in New York City. I called and spoke with each of them and we shared tears and laughs remembering the many stories of Scout and how she had influenced and touched each and every one of their lives. Since Patti was still in the area, I had the opportunity to go and visit with her so she could see Scout one last time. We again shared tears. Patti was always an angel to both Scout and me. She was there the first night Scout was brought into the hospital after the fire and she was there the very night that I came to take Scout home after spending 3 months in the hospital. I remember her beautiful smile as she waved goodbye to us the night I took Scout home. I had the opportunity to spend the last two weeks of Scout’s life to be with her 24 hours a day. The two ambulance companies that I work for agreed to let me bring Scout to work with me, so I could attend to her needs, just as they had let me bring Scout to work for almost a year after surviving the fire eight years ago. I had not planned how or when Scout would leave us, for I could not even think about making that decision. I wanted her to live forever. But once again, Patti was there for us, again, as if it was meant to be. When I took Scout to visit her, she offered to come to my house to help Scout when the time would come. I will be forever grateful for Patti coming to my house and to help ease Scout’s suffering. We both knew that Scout would be most comfortable staying at home and it was there that I wanted to spend with her the last few hours of her life. Word had gotten out that Scout was severely ill and several of my friends came to visit with me that night to say goodbye to Scout. She ended up spending the last hour of her life surrounded by people that loved her, she was also with her brother, Max, a dog that I took in about a year and half ago to give Scout some company of her own, and she was also with two of her furry cat friends, Timmy & Gracie. I will never forget holding her that night as Patti started an IV on her, singing to her a special song that I had sung to her for many years. It was a song that I took and had adapted from the movie “Bye, Bye Birdie” I love my doggie, oh yes I do….. I love my doggie, its true….. When she’s not near me, I’m blue…. Oh Scouters, I love you. As I held her with my arms around her chest, I remember feeling her last heartbeat as I whispered softly into her ear, telling her that it was ok to go to sleep. Patti along with my friends and I shared many tears that night just as we had all shared tears together eight years ago. Now, I am doing my best to replace the tears of missing Scout and instead replace them with tears of joy from the memories of being given almost nine magnificent years of holding her, hugging her and playing with her. Her story will never end for as I remember the many adventures, days and nights that I spent with Scout, I wish is to continue writing about them in order to preserve her memory. It is her story that I wish to share with everyone that I meet in life. I want to celebrate and remember the wonderful life she had the opportunity to live. I also want to acknowledge all of the wonderful people who helped Scout and me eight years ago. From my friend Matt, who loaned me money when Scout broke her leg, to the firemen who pulled her from my burning house, to the unselfish deeds of Dr Bob, Patti, Jeanne and all of the staff members that worked at the emergency hospital so feverishly to help save Scout’s life. I also wish to share the glorious and heartfelt story of how so many people from across this great nation of ours who never knew Scout, or me, but kindly gave to help us both. She was a beautiful dog. I miss her dearly.

Comments would be appreciated by the author, Arthur Schande