Ginger's Tripaw Journey

Day 1 – Surgery day

So got the afternoon call that she had done well during surgery and everything looked good, but eventually ended up being encouraged to pay for her to spend the night at emergency vet to be monitored.  I felt that was a good decision, and totally in support of it but did make me nervous why it had just come up vs. being discussed before.   If they said it to me before then I totally missed it but anyway turned into can you come pick her up and drive her down to the place about 30 mins away and bring her back in the morning.  And boom goes the paranoia.

While happy knowing she wouldn’t be alone on her first night it sent me on a little emotional overdrive as I had dropped her off yesterday morning thinking I’ll miss the worst of it and see her half bouncy by Friday. So I had about 10 minutes to try to mentally prep myself to see what I expected to be my very pitiful dog.  She did not disappoint, poor girl was sedated (good thing) and eyes barely showed recognition.

It was explained to me at emergency vet that first 24 hours are usually roughest in terms of pain, she was on some strong meds and should be monitored for the side effects and to make sure she had a comfortable and peaceful first night.  No objections there even though my pocket keeps getting lighter and lighter at this rate, but she’s worth it and I felt better understanding the reason behind the trip now.

Here’s her same day surgery pic.  The bad was what felt like a last minute plan change, but the good was seeing the wound which actually looked better than I thought it would.  And was good to be able to look in her doped up brown eyes and be reassuring whether she recognized me or not.  Fortunately friend once again accompanied me and kept me nicely distracted through the drop off process and back home so I only had a little cry time that evening, 2 nights of minimal sleep is not helping.

Day 1 following surgery – Pickup and return to vet

So drove back down solo to pick Ginger up and transport her back to the vet, finally feeling a little more calm after seeing her and that while still obviously a little doped and know we have a long road ahead she was generally alert and already on the hop. Went in last night on stretcher, walked out this morning and just needed some help into the car.   They said she was a little whiny but already eating/drinking again and had walked out and done her business. But apparently GSD’s are known for being a little dramatic, I figure she handled it a lot better than most people would have though, she’s entitled to a little drama right now IMO :).   She was a lot more cooperative going to the car than she was getting out of it and going into vets office again.  Think she’s ready to come home, but glad she will be spending another day with vet while I get that petsmart run in that I missed last night due to moving her around.    So from this morning….

Let me tell you how I really feel about this walking thing… anxiety shining from her eyes but she made it with some coaxing and help

Ahhh, back in the car with Mom, oh happy day, the meds working right now and no one expecting me to walk

And back at vets office, shoot I’m having to walk again, why must you take my picture now, I refuse to look at camera. Must focus on ground.

I may be biased and not really sure on this but that leg placement looks pretty darn good in her learning to do the tripod walk.  Anyway practically had to carry her from car into office but think it was more anxiety than ability, was telling her “it’s ok they won’t take anything else”, she was pulling back towards the car from the vet porch, still has a pretty good pull all things considered.

So recovery process starting, Ginger making progress, and mom getting a little less prone to feeling uncharacteristically emotionally unstable thanks to Ginger’s progress, a good support network of the real life friends providing supportive distraction and then coming to Tripawd site and just cutting loose with others who have been on similar journeys.  Been referred here twice by both vet and the emergency clinic, so word is out there.

And that will probably wrap it up until the weekend.  Thanks to all commenting, sending PM’s and on the forums who keep lending their support to Ginger and I.

This entry was posted on April 6, 2017 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.