We planned on travelling to Chicago to spend Christmas with our son and his wife. Well, we can’t leave two dogs in hospice with a dog sitter, so Ann and Steve went to Chicago and I stayed home with the dogs. They would return late, the night before surgery. I started researching hospitals. Prices were looking like $1,500 per night, minimum, with no guaranteed ceiling. That wasn’t going to happen, so we made plans to bring Casey home the day of his surgery. Ann woke me at 5:30 on A-Day and said “Maybe we should put both dogs down together.” GOOD MORNING! We talked about it as we fed the dogs and got ready to go, and I convinced her it would be too traumatic to lose half our pack in one day. Still, I was very concerned about bringing Casey home same day. The surgery center could not administer fentanyl, and we would be managing pain with Gabapentin, tramadol, and Rimadyl. Will that be enough? The surgeon assured me that Gabapentin is very powerful, and we should be okay. So . . . twelve days from diagnosis . . . here we go. I’ve got a great video of Ann and Casey walking into the surgery center, and I’ll learn how to add that later.
We were supposed to pick Casey up at 4:30, but at 4:15 they called and asked that we wait until 5:30. Everything had gone well, but other procedures as well as Casey’s had taken longer than expected. At 5:15 they called and said let’s make that 6:30. Of course, we were getting nervous, but were assured everything was fine. At 6:30, we were escorted to the waiting room and told it would be a little bit yet as Casey was still coming out of anesthesia. They brought him out at 8 PM.
I was a little irritated until I figured out what had happened. This is a 501 (c) 3 operation that does general surgery but is primarily a spay and neuter center. They’d made time in their schedule for Casey, and would be closed for the next five days with the weekend and New Year’s holiday. Not only had they made time in their schedule, but they stayed three hours late and kept him on IV pain relief as long as they could to help him make it through that first night at home. Anicira Veterinary Center, you are our heroes.
Here’s Casey, at home after his surgery:
WOW!!! WOW!!! Just catching up on all the blogs for Casey (and pack)! What a journey to this point!!
And you still have a sense of humor4e! Your GOOD MORNING comment when your wife decided maybe not to do surgery for one , but euthanasia for two was priceless!
I soooo wish you had found tripawds as all this was unfolding. I think the support and knowledge could have saved you a lot of stress and a lot of reassurance about pursuing amputation.
As you’ve already seen, recovery is no picnic for a couple of weeks.
Let us know where you are in recovery and what questions you may have and, most importantly, how handsome Casey is doing!!
Oh, and I love in Virginia west of Richmond. There are several tripawd members in the area all around the State.
And btw, Casey does not have a timeframe stamped on his butt anywhere. He doesn’t care about days on a calendar. He just cares about living a painfree life full of loving and spoiling and treats! He has no worries and just flows blissfully from one moment to the next 🙂
Hugs to all
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS. Hope Jake is doing okay
Thanks. We found TriPawds right away and it’s been a great resource. I’ll edit one of my first posts to make that clear
West of Richmond? We used to live in Waynesboro, and Casey’s (and Jet’s) breeder is in Scottsville.