Surgery Update: Day 17

This update mainly pertains to yesterday and Sadie's visit back to Dr. V, the surgeon. He said that he spoke a couple times with Dr. C and had a faxed copy of all the notes from their office. He assured me that he concurs with everything they've done and thinks they've done great with her.

Obviously, there was a huge hole in the incision, which was continuing to leak out quite a bit of fluid. He called it serosanguineous, meaning a mixture of serum and blood.

He looked at "the hole" and said, "Wow, you can see right down to the tissue, there." Yeah, not good, I thought. Then he said, "and gosh isn't nice and pink and healthy looking!" I had to laugh to myself. This is a true silver lining guy! If you want to see "the hole", click here. It is too nasty to post.

We are to keep her on heavy restriction until the drainage stops and the hole scars up. This is likely to be "weeks" not "days", so bummer. He also would like it to be rebandaged and flushed with chlorhexidine every 2-3 days. He emphasised several times that he is more than happy for us to come in and see him as often as possible, but understands that the drive is a bit far. If we decide to do the flushing with Dr. C, then he would like to see us in two weeks at the latest.

As for Sadie's lack of appetite, he recommended going off both pain meds for a couple days and see if that helps. If she doesn't seem in much pain, then we're done, but if she's hurting, then we'll add just one of them back.

I've been able to get her to eat her dry dog food from my hand, with peanut butter on it and with a lot of coaxing. We've cut the amount WAY down from normal, since she is literally on bed rest and laying down 95% of each day.

Guess we're in for a long wait. My prayer focus is still for infection to stay far away and for the hole to close up soon, so we can begin rehab.