This morning as promised Dr. Winker called to give us an update on Sunny. He said he was doing great and had already been walking some without any major issues. Hooray! They also told us he could leave anytime after 10 am. That was a surprise! However, since we both had to work today we told them we would come pick him up this evening. Thankfully, I have an amazing and supportive boss who is allowing me to work from home or take off as needed to take care of Sunny until we are comfortable leaving him at home alone during the day.
I ended up leaving work a little earlier than normal so I could get home and finish getting the house ready. When Pete finally got home around 5 pm we did a little more prep work and then decided to head over and pick up Sunny. We were both excited and a little nervous about how he would look. Since it was already around 7 pm by the time we got there we met with the tech who had been caring for Sunny during his stay. She said he had been doing well. The only thing of note was that they found some other suspicious tissue that they decided to biopsy. They also removed a little more than normal around his hips as a result. We should have those results back in the next day or two. Unfortunately she didn’t have all the details so I’ll have to wait until the morning to ask more about it. That said, we are optimistically assuming that since it was not mentioned to us by Dr. Winkler that it is more a precautionary measure than anything else. For me it also confirmed again that we made the right choice since we would not have known about said tissue if we had not done the amputation. One other interesting thing she asked us is if Sunny howls at home. Apparently a couple of times during his stay he would howl until someone came over. They would then talk to him, he would tilt his head an listen and then go back to sleep. We told her he does the same thing at home especially when he is trying to get everyone to come join him in bed, at 2 pm. 🙂
A few minutes later our little boy came hopping into the room. He was the same Sunny we dropped off, minus one leg. He was wagging his tale, exploring the room, etc. We were prepared for the worst, but got the best. Below is a photo of him once we got home. It’s not the best quality since it was already dusk and he kept moving! From this angle it doesn’t look bad, but he has a pretty big incision.
Sunny’s new look.
Once home he picked up his new squeaky toys and just started doing what he always does. I think he may be more active now than he was before surgery. He also figured out right away that he should follow the path of bath mats. At this point we are just trying to get him to lay down and rest a little. You can tell he is still adjusting to his new gait, but I am optimistic that we will continue to make progress with each day. All and all it has been a pretty good day and we are just happy to have Sunny back home. I know it is only day one and we have a potentially bumpy road ahead of us, but in some ways I feel like we are at our new beginning. Now, who wants to get up at 2 am to give Sunny his pain meds?
Way to go Sunny! You are doing great and your pawrents are awesome! So happy that surgery went well and you are already adjusting to life as a tripawd. Please keep us posted!!
Xoxo
Julie and Spirit Buddy
Thank you!
WELCOME.HOME.ADORABLE SUNNY!!! 🙂 Good job!
I love the howling routine you do when you’re ready for a nap! So cute!
Yeah, sounds like the surgeon jist took some “precautionary measures”. That happens quite often.
Sunny is still pretty high on hospital meds. They generally wear off around day twonor three. There may be a bit of a crash, or not. Just stay connected and we can help should you have any questions about recovery.
I love that Sunny went straight to chewing his toy! This boy loves being home! Take it slow Sunny. Short potty breaks for now and lots of rest. Keeping the pain meds consistent so the pain doesn’t get a head start is important.
HUGS!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Thanks! It’s reassuring to here that the biopsy is most likely routine. I think the hospital drugs wore off last night as you will see in my blog post today…lol. Either way though he seems to be continuing on ok.
So glad Sunny is home and doing well! It’s hard knowing exactly what to expect when you’re bringing them home! Hopefully I will be able to go and pick Molly up today! Hopefully your first night at home with Sunny wasn’t too sleepless – I’m sure he’s just happy to be home!
Keep us updated!
I was happy to see Molly was up and walking an hour after surgery! That is incredible. I’ve got some bad news on the sleep, be prepared not to get any… 🙂
Hooray for Sunny! I ditto the comment about keeping him quiet and the hospital meds wearing off. Day 5 was probably the worst for us. Since it sounds like there are two of you to care for Sunny, you might want to keep a log book on meds, pee, poop, water and food. It helps you keep track, especially when the 2 am meds start to contribute to you own sleep deprivation. And everyone comes home with a big incision – keep an eye on it for seepage, smells or obvious worsening of appearance (a little darkening of bruising is normal), keep him from messing with it, but otherwise, just ignore it. Once his fur grows back, you won’t even know it’s there!
It is interesting to see how long the meds took to wear off. I’m thinking his may have worn off last night. He didn’t come home with any pain meds other than tramadol and I can tell when that is starting to wear off. That said he is eating, drinking and going to the bathroom so we are doing pretty good. He has a lot of bruising. I’ll post that photo today. 🙈