Author: maniacmads

Today has been one week since Maddie’s surgery!!  Overall I think she is doing great.  We have had a few hiccups but those were mostly because we’ve had to rearrange our house to keep Maddie and her brother Chimmy separated.  She still will not even tolerate the sight of him and now, when she hears him bark, she growls.  I have no idea what is up with that – they’ve been best friends since she was a puppy.  But I’m taking it as a que from her that she needs space.  I’m hopeful that when she is fully healed and has her energy back again, she will at least be able to spend some time with him.  If not, we will adapt.  If she can adapt to life on three legs, we can surely adapt to dividing up the house!  Thank goodness I have two back doors lol and that there are four of us here, so someone is usually around for both dogs.  Maddie is now only taking the antibiotic, Tramadol and Gabapentin.  She only has a couple days of Gabapentin left and I’m a little worried because the doctor just said to stop cold turkey.  Everything I’ve read says wean them off, so I think I will just wean her off with what remains.  Instead of two pills twice a day, I’m going to pull back to one and see how that goes.  We have plenty of tramadol which does seem to work for her.  Her pain seems well controlled.  The biggest issue we seem to have is that she gets so winded so quickly.  We have not been able to increase the distance of her potty breaks at all.  If anything, she cannot go as far now as she did when she first came home.  So we just hop out the back door (which is about 2 feet from her beds), hop over the patio and onto the grass then back again, so maybe a total of 20 feet each way.  The first day or two she seemed a lot more energetic.  I am going to call the vet today to make an appointment for her stitch removal and I will ask them about this.  Of course, now that I type this I’m wondering if that is because she is in pain?  She’s not showing any other pain symptoms, she’s not panting, she’s resting very comfortably, she lays on both sides equally and she doesn’t mind at all when we ice her incision which we’ve continued to do regularly.  I really wish she could tell us how she feels!

So far, so good.  Today is day 5 and other than the unexpected attitude toward my other dog, Maddie is coming along great!  I know how fortunate I am that my daughter found this forum and I started reading, reading, reading.  Some things that have happened would have been shocking and probably not handled well had we not been prepared by reading all the posts, blogs, comments and answers to my questions.  Maddie is doing great in large part due to the people here.  Things I learned  from everyone here helped prepare us.  Phantom pain – just once so far – but I knew immediately what it was and what to do.  The suggestion of a sheet or canvas bag to help her up, never would have thought of that.  Before finding Tripawds I thought this little rear lift thing would have sufficed if I put it under her tummy – NOT.   The surgeon only sending us home with 5 days of pain meds.  I would never have known to ask for more, I would have just figured the doctor knows best.  The wound seeping, the not pooping for a few days, etc.  All of those things would have been met with return vet visits causing all of us undo anxiety.  Thankfully I knew she may not poop right away (she finally went on Friday and she’s now back to her regular routine!) and that she may have a little dripping from the wound.  I want to thank everyone here especially Teresa who’s beautiful dane girl also had a front leg amp.  She gave me the confidence that Maddie could manage – despite her size.  We are now moving toward our new normal and things are choppy of course, but Maddie is recovering very well and I feel like all the advice I got here has made a huge difference.  Thank you all.

Maddie got to come home yesterday morning and we were all so happy to get her here.  She is doing really well considering everything she’s been through and her hospital anxiety levels.  The first thing she did when she arrived home is go straight to the backyard to potty (still wasn’t squatting but who cares)!!  We were so proud of her!!  Then she ate and took meds and took a power nap lol.  As of this morning she’s been home for 24 hours and she’s doing a little better every hour.  She is getting up and hopping from one place to another.  She stood up to eat her dinner last night which surprised me and she’s now squatting to potty!!

She has had a bit of a ‘tude with her doggie brother – growling and lunging at him when he walks near her so we are keeping them apart.  He is very upset and just whines by the door to the family room where Maddie is.  I told him that she’s not feeling well and needs time to recover.  I pray that she’s not in more pain than she’s letting on though.  That is a worry I have.  She insists on laying on her incision side but the hospital says that’s fine – that sometimes the pressure feels good.  We’re icing her incision regularly and all in all she is doing great.

I’ve read on the forums about the possibility of a “crash” in a couple days when all the hospital meds are out of her system.  We are keeping a close eye on her.

All things considered – she is doing really, really well and I’m hoping when she is feeling back to her normal happy self, she’ll want to be with her buddy again!!!

This morning was 24 hours post amputation for Maddie.  The hospital says she’s doing very well and already standing up.  She’s got some edema which is spreading so the doctor wants to keep her another night.  She is up and around though and went for three walks today!  She’s not peeing outside though and they think it’s because she’s not confident enough to squat out there, where inside she can lean a little on the side of her pen.  She’s a very anxious dog – she gets upset and nervous with the slightest change in her routine so I suspect that also has a lot to do with it.  Still refusing food but that doesn’t shock me.  She’s not likely to eat when she’s upset and they have said she’s very anxious.  I think (hope) I’ll be able to get her to eat when she gets home.  At this point, I’m to call tomorrow morning and hopefully she’ll be able to come home around 9 a.m.   I miss my girl so much.  The house just doesn’t seem right without her here.

 

Today was the big day!!  We gave her tranquilizers at 5 a.m. to help reduce her anxiety.  It seemed to work – she was pretty chill!  We dropped her off at 7 a.m. and were told her surgery was first thing in the morning.  We left her with a bag of all her favorite foods and a T Shirt (as suggested by some of the great Tripawds members).   She wasn’t thrilled and at first decided that she was not going to walk back with the nurse, she was going to walk out with us lol.  They put this little ribbon leash around her neck and I’m thinking to myself, even drugged that’s not going to move her (I was right)!  So I pretended like I was walking with the nurse then tried to do some sly maneuver which didn’t work.  But eventually she headed back.   It was so sad but I held it together and told her what a great day it was for her – she was getting rid of the nasty leg that had been causing her pain and would soon start a whole new chapter of her life!  I think she was calmer because I was calmer.

By noon I still hadn’t heard anything so I called, waited on hold and was eventually told there was no one available to talk to me yet!  Talk about ANXIETY!  Anyway, the surgeon called me back a little while later and told me that Maddie did very well – the surgery was routine, no surprises.  Lymph node looked good (but it was being sent for a biopsy) and that she was starting to wake up.  He also said she would be sent home with the same meds she has been taking (Tramadol, Gabapentin and Deramaxx) because he used a long-acting anesthetic (this was a surprise because we never talked about it).  He said he felt that it gives better pain management and helps reduce the amount of narcotics she will need to be on.   He knows the most important thing is her comfort and I do trust him (despite my anxiety) so I know she’s in good hands.  She’s in an ICU that is staffed 24/7 with doctors and nurses so if she is in any kind of distress, they’ll take care of it.  I was hoping she would get to come home tomorrow but the doctor said it may need to be Thursday.  We’re all okay with that as long as she is okay.  I am so glad her surgery is over.  I pray she is calm and not frightened.   I just wish I could fast forward thru all the discomfort for her.