Tag: surgery (Page 3 of 3)

Lazy Sunday

May 15, 2016 / prim8keeper / 4 Comments

Last night was a good one for Sunny and for us. He slept through the night and didn’t get up until 4 am when we woke him up to give him his tramadol. Since he doesn’t seem to be in as much pain now we have extended the time in between doses to 9 hours just until tomorrow so we could get him on a schedule that would work with our work schedules. Every time I thought for certain at the 8 hour mark he would show some sign that he needed it, but he was almost always asleep and or didn’t appear to be in any pain or discomfort. Either way though, tomorrow we will go back to every 8 hours just to be safe. He is also trying to walk a bit more, but it is obvious that between the new gait and the cone he still struggles from time to time. I’m sure the long periods of inactivity, say 6 hours laying in bed, don’t help. We have also started him back on his joint supplements (Wellactin and cosequin) in the hopes of helping him along.

At this point we are basically still catering to Sunny based on what he wants. Tonight he didn’t seem as interested in eating as the past few days, however today I also tried giving him his full amount of food, so I guess it isn’t too surprising he didn’t want to eat it all. We will just try again later when it is time for his carprofen which has to be taken with some food. We probably also need to readjust the amount of food we give him based on his new weight/activity level just to make sure he doesn’t get overweight.

His surgical incision continues to look good. His bruising is becoming darker and beginning to disappear in certain areas so I think he is well on his way to recovery. That said, that also means he is a little more active than he has been the past few days. Today we learned not to sit quickly so you don’t sit on your incision. Normally he is very careful about sitting to make sure he sits on the side with his leg, but I think his sister trying to get onto the bed caused him to try and claim his spot faster than normal. Honey is treating Sunny the same as she always did which is both good and bad since she is the alpha dog and always has to be in charge. Sunny also learned you can’t just get up in run or you back leg may give out on you. However, most of the day has been spent in bed laying on our Rumpl blanket. For anyone who has dogs who like to sleep on your bed or for anyone who’s dog just went through surgery Sunny really seems to love it. I think it has to do with the silky smooth feel against his body. We love it because it is water/stain proof! Sunny also decided it would be ok to sit halfway on his new dog bed today. Baby steps…

Sunny relaxing.

A Cinderella Story

May 13, 2016 / prim8keeper / 4 Comments

And just like that, at the stroke of midnight Sunny began to vocalize. We went to bed last night around 11 pm and to our surprise and delight Sunny got into bed and went to sleep. I thought maybe we are going to be the lucky ones that got to sleep through the night! However, Sunny had other ideas. Just like in Cinderella at the stroke of midnight Sunny began to cry. From this point on it seemed like he had trouble getting comfortable and I could tell the tramadol was beginning to wear off. Each time he made any noise though I would go over to pet him, assure him he was fine and then get comfortable again so that hopefully he could as well. This seemed to do the trick. At 2 am he got his second dose of tramadol and after our trip outside around 4 am this really seem to kick in and he slept until around 9 am. Pete got up at 5:45 am like normal and had planned to feed Sunny, but he wasn’t interested in eating or going outside so he just let him sleep.

Around 9 am we got up and went outside, ate, and took our drugs. They only sent him home on two drugs (carprofen and tramdol) which has made things rather simple especially since the carprofen is just given with his meals. For the most part Sunny seems to be doing really well. He is doing ok getting around on just three legs and we are eating, drinking and going to the bathroom. His incision also looks really good. Originally I just took the photo below for our reference, but I thought it may be helpful in terms of preparing for those getting ready to go through this.

Sunny’s Incision

My only real concern at this point is carrying Sunny. We are still trying to find a way for him where he is comfortable/supported, but that I don’t feel like I’m going to hurt him. However, that honestly may be more me than him as he doesn’t seem too bothered when we do carry him. We have his harness, but just to be safe we were going to wait at least a week before using it. Given where his incision is I’m fairly confident we can use it without bothering him. He has spent most of the day in our bed napping which is good. I don’t think he is a fan of his new dog bed that we purchased. Maybe I’ll sleep on it? 🙂

We also talked to Dr. Winkler today to find out more about the biopsy they took during surgery. There must have been some miscommunication between the surgery team and the post-surgery tech because all they did was re-biopsy the lump on his foot. They just wanted to confirm that the initial diagnosis was correct and that he would need no further treatment which is their standard procedure. Otherwise, Dr. Winkler told us everything went great and looked good. That’s comforting to know. Although that also now has me hoping the initial diagnosis was correct so we didn’t take off his leg for no reason! In the end though, it looks like we will get our happy ending of a cancer free Sunny…

Homecoming

May 12, 2016 / prim8keeper / 8 Comments

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?

Day Zero

May 11, 2016 / prim8keeper / 16 Comments

Today was the big day. Today is Sunny’s amputation. We were up early to make sure Sunny was at the vets by 7 am. He seemed about as excited as me with the 5:30 am car ride.

It’s too early for a car ride!

We got the vet a little before 7 am and got checked in. While I could tell Sunny was a little anxious, he always gets that way about car rides, especially recently given all the vet visits. I on the other hand was very calm. We have been going to BluePearl now for several years for our other dogs and I know from first hand experience that they really are some of the best vets in Atlanta. As scary as it is, I’ve always felt some relief when we get them there. Whether it works out or not, I know everything that can humanly be done for them will be. I feel so fortunate that we not only live in a metro area that has such options, but that we can afford them. After all the paper work was filled out we sat and waited for the tech to come get us. By now Sunny had calmed down and was just sitting next to me or trying to wander off and visit other dogs.

Sunny waiting at the vets.

Shortly after 7 am they came to get Sunny. By then he was calm enough that he just went back with the tech without even glancing back at me. They marked the leg they would be removing and told me they would call us as soon as he was out of surgery.

Hours went by. I was told they had a full schedule today so we may not hear until sometime this afternoon. Around 1 pm Dr. Winkler called to confirm that they were amputating his back left leg. He said that time Sunny was already anesthetized and doing great. Around 3:30 pm Dr. Winkler called back to let us know that Sunny was out of surgery and had been moved to recovery. He is doing well and everything went according to plan. Our next update will be sometime tomorrow morning unless there are any issues. However, they are not expecting any. We were also told that we could visit Sunny tonight, however we figured he is probably still pretty drugged up so it was best just to let him rest. Our next update will be tomorrow morning. They are hopeful he will be able to come home tomorrow, however since the surgery was done this afternoon he may have to wait until Friday. Either way we are just happy he is doing well.

Now, we can begin the recovery process. In the hopes of making it as easy as possible for Sunny we began getting the house ready this afternoon. We decided to place our bed on the ground to keep him from jumping up and we placed carpet down on all of our tile and hardwoods to keep him from slipping. I also put the baby gate back up to stop him from venturing down the stairs. In a way we have been down this road before since we had another dog who had back surgery. For his recovery we took all of the same precautions. That said I think it will be a lot easier with Sunny since he is not nearly as active and rambunctious.

I also went ahead and ordered several items based on what I read over at Tripawds in terms of how to make the recovery easier on your dog. This included a new Ruffwear We Master harness for Sunny so we could easily assist him with walking after his surgery (especially on the stairs), a new orthopedic memory foam dog bed (I’m pretty sure his bed is now nicer than mine!) and raised dog bowls to make eating easier. I also bought him a few more of his favorite type of toy and a more comfortable “cone of shame.” While I hope he doesn’t have to be in the cone long, we learned quickly after his biopsy that if we took the cone off for even a minute he would attempt to lick his stitches. We also stocked up on some wet food just in case he doesn’t want to eat much following surgery and some peanut butter pill pockets just to make medicating him easier early on.

Scheduling Sunny’s Surgery

May 9, 2016 / prim8keeper / 0 Comments

The results of Sunny’s cytology came back this morning. Great news! Just reactionary from the biopsy which means like we suspected the cancer has not spread. The results of this would not have changed our decision to amputate, however it was comforting to hear that the cancer has not spread.

Now that we have all of Sunny’s test results back we went ahead and scheduled Sunny’s surgery for this Wednesday at BluePearl GVS. I also went ahead and made his first appoint at GVR (GA Veterinary Rehabilitation, Fitness and Pain Management) for the following Wednesday. They wanted to see him 5 to 7 days post surgery. We had a dog who had to have back surgery and it was amazing how much physical therapy helped him get back to normal following surgery. I have to admit I was a skeptic before, however I’m now a firm believer. Hopefully this will help Sunny recover quicker. Initially we were concerned about doing such a major surgery at his age, but we have been assured he will do great. That said I feel like any boost we can him is worth doing.

Now all I guess there is to do is spoil Sunny and wait. While we have been through similar things with our other dogs, including major surgeries, in those cases we didn’t have any other options. We did what we had to do to get them through. Having choices this time has left me doubting, even though I know we are doing the right thing for Sunny. I know once Wednesday comes though it will all about Sunny and getting him through and on the road to recovery.

Tag: surgery (Page 3 of 3)

Lazy Sunday

A Cinderella Story

Homecoming

Day Zero

Scheduling Sunny’s Surgery

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