Happy Presidents’ Day! It’s Lucky here, and today’s the first day since my surgery that I’ve been feeling well enough to blog (but Jeff’s been doing a good job filling in for me!). Jeff told you about my phantom limb pains which were awful, and I’ve had a few more of those since the last post. I’ve also had a couple of whining episodes after standing up and walking around for awhile. BUT, overall I’ve been doing much much better! My fentanyl patch came off yesterday (about 24 hours ago right now), and I’m just starting to feel a little bit more like normal. Of course, I’m still on 150 mg of Tramadol every 8 hours, so my appetite isn’t quite back to normal yet and I’m a little bit lethargic sometimes, but I’ve gotten back my desire to go outside and explore the world! As a matter of fact, today for the first time Jeff took me out to sit in the front yard and watch the people go by! Thank God, I’m so sick of just sitting in the house all day! As a matter of fact, right now I’m laying out front with Jeff, just relaxing and enjoying my life and the beautiful weather. Sometime soon I hope I get back the energy to actually go for a walk!
Today, I had my first post-op checkup. It was a lot of fun seeing the doctors, but the car ride was awful. It made me realize that although I’m getting better, I still have a ways to go. For starters, when Mom and Jeff went to pick me up to put me in and take me out of the car, it hurt like hell. The vet prescribed gabapentin for my phantom limb pain (finally!), so my family was really happy about that and I’m hoping it will make me feel better like Jeff says it will. When we got home from the vet, I didn’t want to get out of the car. I managed to avoid letting Mom and Jeff pick me up and get me out of the car for about a half hour. They tried to lure me with food, but I was not about to fall for that one! Finally they were able to get me out, and it wasn’t so bad after all. And the best part? They fed me lunchmeat and let me go straight out to lay in the front yard afterward!
In other news, my parents are really really weird. I pooped for the first time today since coming home, and they were really excited about it. Who knew humans could get so excited over poop?
It’s nice to be back on Tripawds. You guys have been awesome in helping my pawrents deal with me in the really difficult last 5 days. I’m hoping to go uphill from here, but you never know! I’ll keep you all updated, and I’m hoping to be able to play with some of the other San Diego tripawds when I get better!
P.S. – Jeff uploaded a video of the tail end of one of my phantom limb pain episodes this morning. He spent the worst part of the episode comforting me, so this video shows after the worst screaming part is over. I wanted to post a video for other tripawd pawrents to be able to see what it looks like, since my pawrents couldn’t find any examples online. Here’s the link:
So glad you’re on the mend and enjoying the sunshine!
Lucky, next time you need to go for a ride and don’t want to, you might try laying on a blanket and then letting your humans pick up the corners of the blanket to raise and lower you.
Also, my dog, Dakota, was refusing pills unless I wrapped them in a little lunch meat, but I started worrying about the sodium. So, I found that Dakota will eat the pills if I make him mini peanut butter sandwiches on crackers. I’ve used some crackers about the size of Wheat Thins, spread peanut butter on both crackers, and then buried the pills in between the crackers. It works even better if Dakota’s roommate, Evelyn the bulldog, is getting a sandwich nearby. Even if he doesn’t want it, he eats it to prevent her from getting it. I know you don’t have a dog sibling (I don’t think you do), but do you act possessive if the humans pretend to eat near you?
And welcome to the world of potty dances! Dakota is only on day 10, and everyone here did pee pee and poop dances for him. It’s a big deal. You don’t need to understand why, just believe it.
Good work on getting that Gabapentin. Please post whether or not it works, as we didn’t have the problem but I want to know what to do if we ever run into this tripawd business again!
Shari, Dakota’s wrangler
Glad you’re feeling better Lucky! We sure you have no more of those phantom pain episodes. Thanks for sharing the video so others know what they might expect.
Hey, a happy dance for Lucky! Isnt it great when they show a little independence? Even if it is being a little bullheaded like not wanting to get out of the car.
I bribe Daisy with Velveta wrapped pills. Yes, I know its fattening but I use just enough to mold around the pill. I think it hides the medicine smell.
Yahoo first poop!!! Yea we are a little weird here about that- but with all the meds our pups are on it is pretty amazing when things work, um, as planned.
And let me give you a hint Lucky- you don’t have to work so hard for those treats. I promise you will get just as many if you get out of the car without a struggle. See- you are a tripawd now- treats are awarded for just about everything…
Karen and the pugapalooza