24 Hours Post Surgery

I had such high hopes that this transition with Violet would go smoothly. They're fully doped up, sedated, and sleepy through their post surgery period. I was promised the first two weeks would be a cake walk and the following 4 weeks after would be tough because that's when they're feeling better.

Well let me tell you the first 24 hours was pure hell. She wouldn't sleep. She wouldn't lie down. She cried, shook, paced, panted, stress licked, and was generally inconsolable. The further into the day we went, the further out of whatever magical injectable pain killer she had been given, and the more miserable she became. The tramadol did nothing and I had no other tricks up my sleeve as that was all that had been prescribed.

She wouldn't lie down. She'd occasionally try and then yelp in pain and refuse to try again for another hour. She leaned into me and tried to sleep standing up. I was up until 3 am with her when she finally collapsed in exhaustion and napped until she awoke, crying and distraught, at 5 am.

I have friends in my corner though, and am blessed to have a vet on my flyball team. She gave us a couple different medications, one being rimadyl and the other being a homeopathic pain medication, to help us ride through the rest of the weekend until we can call our regular vet tomorrow. We got some of that in her system and with that combined with her tramadol she's like a new dog. She has slept most of the day and seems more comfortable. She settles a lot easier. She is NOT sedated at all but I'll take aware and comfortable over drunk and uncomfortable.

Finally! A sleeping Violet.

The sun was out, the Seahawks were playing, they won the Super Bowl. Personally I don't care - I'll stick with the sunny day and warm sun beams.

Oh glorious warm sun beam! Violet likes you very much.

Violet walked around with me on a short leash. She holds up her bad leg without any attempt at putting weight on to it. She soaked up the sun and ate a lot of grass. My pups eat grass because they like it, not because of an upset tummy. So she just grazed happily and peacefully while Rob threw the ball for Sadie. Tucker just romped around being a silly puppy, chasing Sadie and making toys out of random items he found on the ground. The main goal was to keep him from jumping on Violet to play and we did just fine there. Everyone had a good time.

Even though Rob had the chuck-it, Sadie would swing by me and Sadie and give us both a friendly drive-by, checking in on us. She's no dummy. She knows Violet is a little off right now.

To top it off, Tucker had his last round of puppy vaccinations on Saturday, the same day we picked up Violet. Little Tucker weighs in at 20 lbs at 16 weeks! He's growing up to be about the same size as his papa, around 35-38 lbs. He'll be bigger than the girls!

But of course since our lives aren't complicated enough, his last round of vaccinations made him a little unwell. It happens sometimes, but it's a bummer when it happens. He tossed his cookies, didn't want his breakfast, and was overall a little more grumpy than usual. It was his first and probably only grumpy day in his life, he's such a little happy boy. 24 hours later he is doing better, back to eating, and is back to a happy little pumpkin. He is having a hard time with me being preoccupied with Violet. Once she starts doing better I'll try to divide my time up a little better. It's hard because Violet finds Rob to be completely inadequate.

Well, until next time -