Day 6 - Bandage Off...yay?

Today was the Big Day. The bandage from hell was finally coming off for good.

Shaved leg. Poor baby.

Gone were the horrible moments of watching him try to maneuver the leg around and under him as he tried to turn around. Gone was the little plastic bootie from hell and the awkward walking he did while wearing it because he couldn't feel the ground with that pad of his foot.

Take this ridiculous thing off!

Of course, it's never easy. Getting the bandage off also meant that gone was the covering to his staples...and that means Cone o'Doom. And because we work...that means cone of doom in a crate. Always a joy. Watching him try to move around in there with the cone of shame on is just heartbreaking, but he manages it. Thankfully, he doesn't have to be in there all the time. Just sleeping and when we're at work. And I think...just until the stitches come out.

Still stressing about leaving town on Thursday, but trying not to let it to eat me alive with worries  - my favorite game being Worst Case Scenario.

I think what I need to do most, though, is sleep. I don't think I've had more than four hours sleep since this happened and it's starting to show. I've got shadows under my eyes and I've lost five pounds. Okay, it's not like I couldn't stand to lose the weight, but this isn't the way I wanted to do it.

A woman and I were talking in the waiting room at the vet's this morning and she agrees with me that this is a lot like having a newborn baby in the house....on the uncertainty level anyway. Even in my most desperate mom-of-newborn moments did I think sedating the baby and locking him in a crate when I left was a workable option. :)

Day 5 - The adventure reaches its first week

It's been a week since the injury happened and I'm having a hard time reconciling everything that's changed in a week. What a difference seven days makes.

I thought we'd had a good night. I put his inflatable e-collar on, gave him a sedative, and headed up to sleep in my own bed for the first time in a week. When I came down, everything seemed fine. He was laying quietly in his crate, sleeping. I lay on the couch and dozed for a little, read a little. When I went to get him his breakfast, though, I realized he wasn't coming closer.

Mom. I really hate this crap

You betcha. His bandage caught on something in his crate and he'd been stuck for I have no idea how long. He wasn't in an uncomfortable position, but he was still forced to stay in one place. I got him out, and another pee was achieved (he's doing better at that), but I realized that we were going to have to go back to the emergency vet. Again. Because he kept whimpering in pain I was positive he'd hurt something, undone something, but the ER vet said he looked fine. And...bandage #4 was applied.

Enjoying his pen

Once we got back home from that, he had some more pain meds and seds and he had a quiet day. He's so much happier in his little pen and I think it might make his mandatory crate time easier. And that time is going to increase soon. Tuesday, I'm going back to work, so he'll be here and in his crate alone.

Part of me knows he'll be fine - because he's used to being alone and snoozing during the day while we're at work - but this is different.

One thing no one told me - butt seepage. He's gone poop twice since the surgery, but the last time was Friday, I think( the days are blurring together) and ever since he's been...sort of leaking poop. That's a lot of unexpected fun.

Had a few bad dog mom moments today where I went from wishing this didn't happen at all to thinking...about the other road we could have taken rather than surgery and just thinking for a few minutes how much less stress I'd be under, how I could enjoy the family reunion I have to go to this week (gone for 10 days) and so on. It was a bad, bad moment.

Day 4 - A Day full of Maybes...as in maybe it's this that's bothering him

The little challenges that come up are starting to drive me mental. Like tearing my hair out crazy.

First, when I got up this morning, he'd messed (poo) in the crate so it was time to strip the quilt and cover, wash them, and put them, and him, back in again.

Sorry, Mo

Vet visit

Then, once that was done, I saw a dark spot on his bandage. I did the bad thing and went to Google and found that it could be seepage through his bandage...which is a bad thing. So I let that cycle into worry about infection and ... in we went to the emergency vet. Two hours later we were home with a new bandage (no seepage, it was just dirt from his other foot, but it was slipping down his leg again.)

Finally got him home, settled, more sedation and a few hours nap. Then the fun started.

He wouldn't settle in his crate for anything. He kept getting up, dragging at the crate pad as if trying to nest into it, trying to get onto the part of the crate not covered by the pad. This lovely orthopedic pad I bought just for his convalescence.

So, it was back to PetSmart for another, thinner pad. He hated that one almost at once. Scratching at it, up every few minutes to readjust.

Went early on the sedative and he settled a little more, but not what I was used to over the first few days.

I've made some adjustments to the crate - I wrapped the metal part of the liner pad with the quilt - thinking the metal on metal sound was annoying him. Then I put one of our bath mats in there. He loved lying on the one in our bathroom before this happened, so maybe he'll find some comfort with this one.

Tonight he's out of his crate and I'm sitting over on the floor next to him and he seems more at ease than he's been most of the day.  He can stretch out to "sideways dog" position better and maybe he was going a little stir crazy being crated all the time.

Going to ask the vet on Monday when we go in to get bandage off (finally!) about how much is too much for moving around the room. I'm so paranoid about not letting him do too much that maybe I'm being too restrictive of his activity when we're here.

Maybe. Always with the maybes.