So, in an attempt to cheer us all up, this week's story concerns a little dog whose bravery, toughness and general powers of recovery are nothing less than remarkable.
It all started the Sunday before Christmas when Millie, a typically exuberant six-month-old terrier pup joined her owner, as is the norm at weekends, while taking her horse out for a hack. In spite of the enormous size difference, Millie enjoyed nothing more than to race around the trusted steed's feet, yapping constantly with excitement.
Unfortunately this morning, the horse's patience gave out and with frightening power lashed out a hoof that caught Millie squarely on the head, the metal shoes horrifyingly adding to the impact of the blow.
Scooping up her unconscious dog, Millie's owner brought her straight to our Morpeth surgery where I was able to examine her literally within minutes of the accident. Still unconscious, she was breathing and had a strong heartbeat. It was evident that she had taken the full force of the kick to the right side of her skull, a nasty looking egg-sized swelling already developing. Just from the abnormal shape of her cranium, it was evident that she had received fractures to the bones of her skull.
In this situation it is difficult to determine what is best for the patient. Undoubtedly there was trauma to the brain below these fractured bones, but how profound the effects of that damage would be long term was impossible to answer.
The most immediate threat was the inevitable haemorrhage and consequent build up of intra-cranial pressure which could cause ever deepening coma and death within hours.
With the horrific nature of her injuries and the very real threat of severe and permanent brain damage, there was a good case that euthanasia would have been the kindest option. However, with Christmas only two days away, we decided to give her a chance.
We soon had an intravenous catheter placed and Millie on powerful pain killers and fluids to help protect against the shock. There is only so much that you can do with respect to the damage already done, but special steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs also used for human cranial trauma patients and given every few hours would hopefully limit further compromise to nervous tissue.
X-rays of Millie's skull did little to encourage any optimism, with obvious multiple depression fractures graphically demonstrating the horrendous nature of the blow.
To try and do anything with these fragments would only make the situation worse. All we could do was let nature take its course and hope that the drugs would limit the extent of tissue damage.
Remarkably Millie began to regain consciousness about three hours later, though unsurprisingly she was severely concussed. Initially not even able to lift her head, provision of intensive nursing was vital to Millie's chances of recovery and to this end Sophie and Haley spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day diligently caring for their patient around the clock.
Slowly but surely her vital signs improved, 24 hours after the accident she could sit up on her chest, a day later (Christmas Day) she lapped some special liquid food and wagged her tail, as good a present as anyone could wish for!
Her recovery has continued from then on and astonishingly less than three weeks after the accident she is up and walking!
Granted the complexities of human speech and movement make subtle changes more obvious, but it would take a person months and months to recover to the same degree from similar injuries.
Take it from me, if you are feeling a little blue this January, just think of Millie and her wagging tail. After nearly 15 years of vetting, her recovery is one of the most extraordinary things I've seen.
Happy New Year.