Rocky, I'm so sorry

This morning, I woke to Rocky's little yelp that lets me know he needs to be let out. So I got up, opened the sliding glass door and went to the bathroom while he peed. When I returned to the door, there was no happy dog to greet me. I waited a few more moments and he still hadn't come back. So I went into the yard to call for him, and noticed that the gate was open! (It never is.)

I hurried to the front door (I was still in skimpy pj's) and saw him in our neighbor's yard across the street. Normally I'd go to the other side of the street to get him, but I had no shoes on and like I said - very little clothing. I called to him, "Rocky!" and immediately he turned to me alert and happy, and bolted at top speed toward our house, right into the street... only just as I yelled his name, a car appeared over the little rise out of nowhere. At precisely the wrong moment, the two of them collided, "Bam!" mid-street right in front of my eyes!

The thud was huge and sounded final.

I stood there frozen but screamed "No! Rocky!" The car continued to run right over him. I saw Rocky sideways on the ground, but then his head popped up. He heroically gathered himself to his feet (one paw clearly injured) and with the miracle power of adrenaline, leapt toward the house and dashed past me and a naked Jon right up the stairs. He jumped (who knows how?) onto Caitrin's bed, bleeding the whole way.

I ran after him, gathered him into my arms and brought him into the kitchen. Jon got warm water and towels. I bathed his badly injured paw, blotted his very scraped tummy (it was one large red oozing mess of road burn) and held him while he shook in my arms.

I still couldn't believe he was even alive, that his little head had escaped except for a nasty scrape, and that he could walk at all.

We called the emergency room for pets and drove him to the hospital immediately. Over $1000 later (I'm still sick over the price), we left not knowing how he'll fare. He will certainly live, and we were reassured that his little paw (while stripped of skin and very bloody) was not broken and would heal. We're waiting now for the results of internal organ checks to discover whether or not his bladder, tummy, liver etc. escaped harm.

Update: His internal organs are all fine. That's such a relief.

I still can't believe he's alive! I cried like a baby once he was at the hospital. I feel like the worst pet owner ever. We don't know how or why the gate was unlatched. Our kids assure us they hadn't even been in the backyard for days.

The driver of the other car barely slowed down after hitting our dog. Creep. Jon informs me that he saw the car stop for a moment before going on (probably took off once the driver saw Rocky leap from the ground and run to the house).

Feeling shaken.