I'm new here, so I apologize if I've posted in the wrong topic!

Here's my story:

I went away for the long weekend without my husband, who was supposed to catch up on the yard work while I was gone. Well, he did a fantastic job with the flower beds (they look GREAT!), buuuuuuut, he thought he was doing me a favor by "cutting back the red shrub in front of the house." EEK!! It turns out, he didn't know that the Japanese maple in the front flower bed was a tree and not just an ornamental shrub, like the azaleas. He hacked it to oblivion! I was heartbroken and actually cried when I saw what he had done, and as far as I know, that tree is as old as our house (~12 years). I don't know what species it is, but I'm assuming that all JM's are slow-growing. So my question is, do you think I should just have the whole thing removed and start over, or should I try my best to re-shape what's left and wait to see if it lives through this hack-job? I'm really afraid the tree is going to bleed to death.

I'm really upset by the whole thing, and reading about how much these trees can be valued at (thousands of dollars, really?) has made me sick to my stomach!

I love my hubby to death, but man, this is really testing the vows!! HA! (Totally just kidding!) I really can't claim to have a green thumb either, but at least I was able to recognize that this was a very special plant and not just another azalea! Oh why couldn't he have asked me first before attacking this tree??!!??!!