Too Old For This - Day 2

Remember when sleeping on the floor was an adventure? Yeah, that ended several decades ago. I'm officially in pain. I sent Jim to the hardware store to find a strip of velcro so we could loosen her cone last night. I was shocked when he actually found velcro by the foot, but completely unsurprised when it did no good whatsoever. The cone was loose enough that she could have wriggled her way out of it (if she had not been in the crate), but she still whined and cried about it. The worst part, though was the incessant hard panic panting and excessive salivating/mouth clacking. That is what drove me to the floor. Once again, I took my pillows out to the living room, looked jealously back at Jim snuggled up with the feather comforter, and began my vigil with the cone-free fretter. She slept like a baby. Me, not so much. I hurt from being on the floor for two nights, and my toes are still popsickles. Brrr. Right now, Jim is doing the heating pad thing on her leg. I can't do it. She absolutely wants nothing to do with it. But Jim has her laying mostly still and relaxed and isn't even having to hold it on all the time. She still twitches and tries to get up every now and again, but he manages to talk her down. My hero.

She still isn't putting much weight on the leg. I see her knuckling the ground some. It worries me. Why didn't I keep track of the last surgery like this? Then I could look back and see what she was doing then. The staples look fine, the bruising is going down, and there's not nearly as much swelling as last time. She doesn't have that severe pain between pain pills now, but I am worried about her lack of desire to use the leg. Time will tell. I may have to call Dr. Left Leg (aka Punke) and ask about it.

The Small Things in Life

On the down side, I'm concerned that she isn't using her leg much and she knuckles the ground when she's standing. Last time, she was putting much more weight on her leg at this point. BUT, we just went outside and peed and pooped. Oh, the things that can make a doggymommy smile.

First Night

I gave her a dose of Tramadol and a dose of Remadyl at around 9pm last night. That seemed to take care of her pain for a while. Yes, I did end up sleeping on the floor with her. That orthopedic bed of hers isn't as comfy as it looks. I tried putting her in her crate with the cone on, but she just cried and cried and I wasn't sleeping anyway. So, I pulled my comforter onto the floor, snuggled up on her ortho bed, took her cone off, and tried to sleep. I had my hand on her head the whole time to make sure she didn't bother her staples. This worked (depending on your definition of work) for several hours until around 6am when she woke up panting extremely hard. I wasn't sure if she was thirsty, in pain, or in some other distress. I got her up, brought her to the living room and she drank quite a bit of water. I figured it had been 9 hours since her Tramadol, so I dosed her again and she fell asleep fairly quickly (especially compared to how fast I managed to drift off). She just woke up again (ok, I just woke up because my sister butt dialed me, and that woke Tia up). She started panting very hard again and sitting up and looking toward her back leg (as if to say 'what the $%^^, something down there hurts! I gave her a Remadyl (ok, I gave her a piece of cheese and the remadyl. Then I gave her a piece of hotdog and the same remadyl. Then I smeared peanut butter all over the remadyl and gave it to her again. That time it took, but I was covered with peanut butter by that time too. Ought to make going back to sleep an olfactory mess). It's been about 10 minutes since I gave her the Remadyl. She's asleep again and breathing normally. Seems awfully soon to be a result of the meds, but hey. Whatever works.

I'm off to catch a couple of more Zs...hopefully.

Home at Last!

After a full day of driving back and forth in the torrential rain, we finally have TaterTot home again. Big thanks to Dr. Punke and everyone at UofMO Small Animal Surgery. Thanks for taking such good care of my baby. She is currently laying in her crate in the living room with her E-Collar on and crying. It's killing me. She's pretty tripped out from the Acepromazine they gave her for the car ride. Her balance is nil. She isn't putting nearly as much weight on her leg as she did last time she had surgery, but I have to keep reminding myself that they kept her for an additional day last time. So, after tomorrow she should be better. We'll see. She's shaved from her spine down on her left side. It's terrible. Her poor little bare butt is going to get cold! They sent us home with antibiotics last time, but not this time. It may be because of the oozing wound that made them keep her an extra day last time. I will find out tomorrow. Other than that, she's raw from being shaved, purple from being cut open and sawed upon, and soggy eyed from being stoned. She's extremely unhappy with the cone, and I'm extremely heart broken hearing her cry incessantly. Raise your hand if you know you'll end up sleeping on the floor with your inconsolable dog tonight! !!!!

The Post-Op Pad

I have spent the last few days preparing the house for Tater's return. My house is now a palace of unmatched rugs and huge dog crates! I've made sure that the hardwood floors are covered where she will be walking. I made special effort to cover her 'scooby doo run' path through the kitchen to the door. No more sliding around the corner on her way to go potty!! I have a wire crate with a dog bed and her favorite feather pillows in the living room. I also have her ortho bed in the living room for when she'd rather not be in the crate (or for mommy to lay on while she's on the floor consoling TT. Doggie gate is prepared to lock her in the living room. I have her big plastic crate set up in the bedroom with a cushy dog bed inside.

We now have a beautiful ramp going up the porch steps. I made it from a split in half pallet and some plywood covered with berber carpet scraps. It is tres tacky, but it keeps her from climbing the steps. I just have to hope we don't ever get any ice. Weeeeeeeeee!

I have instructed Petey the Parrot in post-op manners. I told him he is not allowed to bark and get TT all riled up thinking there's something in the yard. I also told him to lay off his bell, because that seems to make TT want to jump and spin at his cage. I'm not entirely sure he listened to any of this.

We're leaving at 1:00 to go pick her up. The student tech warned me that there was a bit of bruising on the inside of her leg - just to prepare me, she said. Eeesh. Last time her leg was purple, so I can't imagine how much worse this could be! We'll see. I can't wait to see her. It has been way too quiet here, even with the barking parrot.

Off to the hospital

We drove two hours today to the University of Missouri - Columbia. TT was comfortably oblivious to our destination with her cushy bed in the back of the car and her yummy sweater that her Auntie Jill made for her. The doctor examined her and felt quite a bit of swelling and movement in her left knee. He confirmed my suspicions about her torn ligament, so we had to drive the two hours home without her. She had x-rays taken this afternoon and is slotted for the first surgery in the morning. Her student tech is a sweet girl, and I know she'll take good care of her. She has a pitbull at home and just thinks Tia is beautiful. She called tonight to let me know that she was doing well. After a case of mixed up patients (she told me that TT is on a morphine drip tonight - ACK! What?! Ooops, wrong dog. "Shehad her x-rays taken and is resting comfortably. She's scheduled for surgery tomorrrow morning." Poor student has only been at the hospital for a couple of weeks, so she's probably overwhelmed. She felt bad, so I forgive her for scaring the crap out of me.) They will call me as soon as she's out of surgery. THEN she'll be on a morphine drip.

I'm definitely taking this much more smoothly than last time, but the house is still heart breakingly quiet tonight. I miss my TaterTot.