Surgery Update: Day 9

Unfortunately, no news is bad news for Sadie. WARNING: This will be a long post. :-)Yesterday she started to bleed and seep again a bit. I thought it was due to having the 5 additional staples put into her leg and just kept an eye on it.

This morning I needed to take her out of her kennel to potty before leaving for Bible Study. She stepped out of the kennel and blood started to stream down her leg and drizzle all over the carpet. A quick look at her leg and the kennel confirmed that she had a lot more bleeding. Great! I called Dr. C (the lady answering the phone knew who I was right away - maybe not a good sign?) and they agreed that I should come in that morning. They had 9 am or 11:30 am. Selfishly, I took 11:30 am so I could make at least part of my Real Moms Bible study. I had to miss it last week for a vet appointment and really need that time in my life right now.

When I picked her up at 11:15, she was still bleeding but not quite as drastically as the morning. True to his word, I was able to park the car in front, with flashers on and he came out into the waiting room to see Sadie. I guess that she has some seromas which are causing the bleeding. He said that the incision needed to be bandaged to give it some compression and that he was concerned. He emphasized that last time we met, he wasn't too concerned, but now he was concerned. There is a big risk of infection, which would mean that the TightRope would have to be removed and that's obviously BAD. He asked to see her tomorrow to change the dressing and warned me to look out for swelling of her lower leg.

After leaving Dr. C's we drove up to my friend Dionne's house for our usual afternoon cropping/playdate. She graciously said I could bring Sadie with me (she has two dogs herself). When we arrived I was mortified to see that the new bandage had fallen down her leg and she was again bleeding all over. I pretty much walked into her house and burst into tears. Dionne, bless her heart, immediately gets out this huge tub of bandages and wraps, and expertly re-wraps Sadie's leg up! She also brought out this huge dog bed for Sadie to lay in next to our scrapping table. I have such awesome friends!

Then - ironically, Dionne had to go to a 3 pm vet appointment for her dogs at - guess where? - Dr. C! I jokingly told her to tell him I said "hi" and that his wrap fell off already. :-) She did actually talk to him about us and he told her "I'm very concerned about that dog." She said, "you're not the only one." He said that he was surprised/offended? that I waited to call him two days since my last visit. I guess he was serious when he said to call him 4x a day and bring Sadie to see him daily... He told Dionne how to wrap the bandage around her waist and then down the leg and gave her a roll of tape to bring back. So we wrapped it a fourth time and it's been staying much better. He said that if the bleeding doesn't stop, she'll have to be hospitalized.


Right now, I'm keeping her laying down as much as possible (as we have been this whole time) and trying to get her to eat and take her pills. She used to eat pills with cheese, no problem, but now she's wised up. She won't eat any cheese at all. The smaller pills I've been able to hide in a marshmallow but those big antibiotics I have to literally force her to swallow by closing her mouth and massaging the throat. Not pretty, but it works.

So, more prayer please! The TightRope seems to be working well, as she's still putting weight on it and walking great, but it's just this darn incision that won't stay closed that's the issue.

I'll update tomorrow. Thanks for your concern and prayers. I am emotionally drained about this.