Post Surgical Update

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. Thanks so much for your good thoughts, prayers,crossed paws and vibes coming my way. Yesterday went more smoothly than I had imagined. A very big thank you to my mom for hanging out with me at the hospital all day so Charlie could entertain Millie & Walter at home. I have to give the most of the staff at Strong Memorial Hospital an A+ rating for making my day go so well. I’m only taking off a slight bit for whoever is responsible for putting these things on me because…

ECG monitor pad

last night I discovered two of them still stuck to my left side and this morning I found another one on my right side! LOL! Of course I’m just kidding since there really was no harm done. I chalk up my inability to feel them to my use of drugs to ease my pain.

My foot is wrapped with cotton and an ace bandage.

Cindy’s post surgery foot

The incision was made on the left side of my leg where they took out some muscle and nerve for testing. My skin has a bit of an Oompa Loompa color from the antiseptic stuff they use on you before the surgery. I’m at about 24 hours post surgery as I write this and doing well. I will be able to shower tomorrow with a bag on my foot and can take the wrap off on Friday.

I’m supposed to keep my foot elevated as much as possible, not walk much and take stairs only when I’m up to it so for the past day and for at least a couple more I’m holed up in our bedroom. That means that Charlie and the pups are waiting on me hand and foot.

A little to the left Walter…that’s better…thanks.

And I mean that literally! LOL!

So the only issue I have had with this whole process is that when I met with the surgeon for a pre-operative appointment he did not tell me any of the restrictions I would have post surgery. One of the main ones is that I’m not supposed to drive until he clears me and according to the receptionist at his office that won’t be at least until 2 weeks from yesterday when my follow up appointment is to get my stitches out! He also gave me no clue that I wouldn’t be able to get around my house much afterwards so it’s a good thing I don’t live alone. I guess I didn’t realize how deep they would be going and that my leg would be wrapped up so I couldn’t even put shoes on. The moral of this story is to ask more questions about how you will feel after surgery when talking to your surgeon.

Overall I’m doing as good as can be expected. I’m trying to not take the heavy drugs and have switched to just ibuprofen (which seems to be working fine). Please keep your paws crossed and the good vibes coming my way so I don’t have any complications down the road and that the doctors will be able to use the biopsy to help with the neuropathy.

I am mostly using my Kindle to read blogs since sitting in bed with the computer on my lap isn’t that comfortable so please excuse me if I don’t comment much for a few days. Millie & Walter also have their paws crossed for the many other Blogville residents both human and animal that need some good vibes coming their way. Thanks for all you have sent our way too.

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Millie’s Mayhem & a Power of the Paw Request

Hi everyone it’s Millie here. Well do I have a tale to tell. Yesterday Walter and I were having our usual fun time snoopervising dad while he worked in the garden. We were getting ready to come in after a couple of hours outside but decided to get in one last round of zoomies.

Zoomies!

Next thing dad knows I come running out from the shrubbery sneezing my nose off with blood spewing out too. He calmed me down and called mom out to help him figure out what was going on. Well they couldn’t tell if I just hit my nose on something or if maybe something was stuck up my nose so they decided to call the vet. Of course it was lunch time and all of the vets were on their break but after a couple of phone calls Dr. Cooperman said she would come back early from her lunch to see me. It was less than an hour wait.

By this time I had calmed down and was resting. After all, I had just been playing outside for a couple of hours and was ready for a nap. When I woke up and got ready to go to the vets I started sneezing all over again and was spewing more blood. It wasn’t lots of blood but it was still a bit of a mess. Mom and I hopped in the car for the 2 minute drive to the vet.

 

The first thing the vet tried to do was stick this ↑ thingy up my nose. I didn’t mind much when she was poking around my left nostril, but there was no way she was sticking that thing up the right side. Little did I know that that would land me a trip to the back room. I said goodbye to my mom and when I got in the back they stuck me with a needle and I got very sleepy.  This time I really couldn’t resist when the vet stuck a bigger scope thing up my nose but I’m kind of glad she did because look what she found! OUCH!

Stick found in Millie’s nose

Mom came back and picked me up after about an hour. I was sent home with some pain pills and some antibiotics to make sure that nasty stick didn’t give me any bad bugs. I was still very sleepy from the drugs they gave me so we all decided to take a nap.

Millie with an ice bag pillow

The vet recommended to ice my nose to keep any swelling down so while we were napping I got to have an ice bag for a pillow. I’m feeling much better after my nap and dinner and haven’t been sneezing any more. Mom and dad have already told us that we won’t be doing much playing for a couple of days to make sure my nose heals okay. Don’t worry Tommy I’ll be fine for our date on Monday.

If you wouldn’t mind I could use some power of the paw just to make sure everything heals okay. Thanks friends.

Killer hydrangea

Notes from mom: It appears that Millie impaled her nose on a piece of hydrangea. Since it is early in the growing season this hydrangea hasn’t leafed out much. It is still kind of woody and we think that when she ran by it she happened to jam a piece up her nose.

Happy Hydrangea

This is what the hydrangea looks like when it is all leafed out and in bloom. It also isn’t as easy to run through when it is so full.

I’m very glad we decided to take Millie to the vet. Millie is a very stoic dog and never pawed at her nose as most dogs would have done with a foreign object stuck up there. You could tell when you listened to her breathing that it sounded a bit wheezy too so I suspected there might be something stuck in there. The vet said she was lucky to have such a long nose because a dog with a shorter snout might have had the stick go through and poke into her eye (yuck!)

A big thanks to Dr. Cooperman and the staff at Clark Animal Care for getting us in right away and taking great care of our special girl. Hopefully we won’t have this happen again but the way these two like to chase each other through the shrubbery there is no guarantee. Charlie will be going out and trimming back any pieces of the hydrangea that might be hazardous so we can do our best to minimize any future disasters. I know everyone out there will be putting their paws together to help Millie heal and I just want to thank you all now for that too.

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Auction for Tweedles

Hi everyone, it’s Millie & Walter here. Today we want to tell you about a great thing happening in Blogville right now. Our sweet friend Tweedles has been through a lot the past few months. She first had surgery for her back and then, weeks later, had a problem with her lung and had to have another major surgery. Her vet bills were huge so now the residents of Blogville have a chance to help her out.

Marg of Marg’s Animals has created a new auction site to help pets in need called Auctions for Petz. There are lots of lovely items up for auction and some of them don’t have any bids yet! We want to tell you about a couple of the items available because we made our mom donate them.

Catnip filled Fleece Fish and Mouse

First up are a couple of great toys for our kitteh friends! Now we have never played with any of these nip things, but we have it on good authority (Mayor Madi) that they will make any kitteh super happy. They are being offered together and our mom will ship them anywhere you are for free, even on the other side of the world from us! The shipping alone makes these a great bargain for any of our overseas friends.

Valentine Squeaky Bones

Next up we have a couple of medium sized squeaky bones with a Valentine theme. Are you stumped about what to get your sweetie for Valentine’s Day? Why not bid on these great toys to tell your best boy or best girl how you feel? Shipping anywhere in the world is free on these too and if you win our mom will even be willing to ship them directly to your sweetie for you. She would even ship them to two different sweeties if you are a big swinger like that! BOL!

Neither of our mom’s items have any bids on them yet so make sure you help Tweedles out and bid on them. You have until Saturday the 18th to bid on all the items so check out the rest of the offerings too. Thank you.

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Fight Like a Frenchie Day!

 

Today all of Blogville is putting on the boxing gloves to show Benny and his family just how much we love them and are here for them. If you don’t know Benny you should take a hop over to his blog and say hello. Earlier this week Benny and his family received some devastating news that Benny has liver cancer.

Andrea (Benny’s mom), Benny and Lily

Benny had never been sick one day in all his 6 years so when he missed a meal and then had some tummy troubles his mom rushed him to the vet. After spending a few days in the hospital Benny had stabilized enough to be able to come home. Now they are awaiting test results to see what course of action is possible to help Benny. All of this has and will cost them a lot so to help cover the costs they have set up a GoFundMe page where donations can be made. Any money donated above and beyond their needs will be donated to a canine cancer cause.

For those of you that don’t already know Benny let me tell you a little about him. He has always worked hard to help other French Bulldogs find forever homes. In the above picture Benny is working the crowd at a pet festival soliciting donations for his favorite cause the French Bulldog Rescue Network.

 

Benny & Lily have a great time exploring around their home in Southern California and have always brought a smile to my face whenever I see pictures of them or read their blog posts.

 

Lily is blowing raspberries at that evil cancer in her brother and we are joining her today. The “Fight Like a Frenchie” slogan was created (I think) by another family with a French Bulldog who is also fighting cancer named Murry Muffin. You can find more about him here on Facebook. They have some super cute bandannas that are available for a very small fee. I wish I could have gotten a couple for Millie & Walter before today, but there wasn’t enough time.

Please stop by Benny & Lily’s blog and leave them some words of support if you haven’t already done so.

We love you Benny, Lily and Andrea!

 

Fight Like a Frenchie!

 

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Black & White Sunday – Around our Town

 

 

We are participating in the Black & White Sunday blog hop. Photos by Charlie.

 

I would also like to ask you all for some Power of the Paw for our friend Lily Belle and her family. Lily is very sick and spending the night in the ICU at her vets. Her mom, dad and sister Muffin need some comfort too so please stop by to give them some support. Thank you.

 

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Nina’s News – Holding My Own

Hi everyone. I want to start by thanking everyone for all the prayers, vibes and good wishes you sent my way over the past few days. It was a bit tiring over the past few days when I was at the Vet getting my fluids by IV and I’m glad I didn’t have to do that again today. First thing this morning my Vet called to see how I was doing. Mom and Dad told her that they thought I was feeling better, but my eating still wasn’t what they would like it to be.

You see I like to keep them guessing as to what will satisfy my taste buds from one meal to the next. I get a lot of dog biscuits since that is one thing I seem to enjoy although not until late in the day and only in the bedroom 🙂 . For example this morning Dad tried to feed me some chicken and I wasn’t interested, but by dinner time when Mom hand fed me some I was all for it.

Tonight I had to go back to the Vet so she could see how I was and talk to Mom and Dad about how to keep me feeling as well as they can. I was not very happy with being there again and to show my displeasure I pooped in the waiting room 😀 . Dad was mortified and Mom just laughed.

The Vet gave Mom and Dad some medication to give me every day to make my tummy feel better and maybe I will want to eat more regularly. She also gave them some more bags of fluid to put under my skin a couple of times a day. I don’t really mind those treatments since Dad always lays down next to me and snuggles with me while Mom does the needle work. She really does a pretty good job and it has only hurt a couple of times. It only takes a few minutes for each treatment and we will be doing it twice a day probably for the rest of my life.

So that is all the news I have for now. In summary I will be getting subcutaneous fluids every day along with my anti-nausea medication. I will also be trying my best to keep the parents guessing as to what I will eat and when I will eat it. Mom and I want to thank everyone that has left messages and emailed us to lend their support and check up on me. If you could keep me on your Power of the Paw prayer list I would appreciate it.

Thanks for all the love Blogville. You all are the best!

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Update on Nina

Good morning everyone. Nina would like to thank everyone for all the power of the paw, prayers and healing vibes she received yesterday. We are happy to report that she is feeling better although certainly not out of the woods yet.

Last night she was very tired after spending the day at the vets to get her IV fluids. The best news is that she ate some chicken and a few dog biscuits last night. That is the most she had eaten for 2 days! In addition to the IV fluids the vets administered we also gave her some fluids subcutaneously last night. She was a perfect patient and only flinched a little when the needle first went in.  She laid quietly while the fluid flowed under her skin and we only made a little fun of her for looking like a hunch back (sorry no pictures as she hates the camera).

We all slept peacefully with only a couple of bathroom breaks for her overnight. This morning when the alarm went off (a rare occurrence around here these days), I’m sure she was not happy to think she might be going back to the vet. Despite all that she ate a nice breakfast of some more chicken. She hasn’t had a meal first thing in the morning for at least a month as she always seemed to have a bit of an upset tummy so this was a big improvement too. We are hoping that the appetite is back mostly due to the IV treatment although the vet did give her an anti nausea shot yesterday too.

Today she is at the vet until 1PM and we should be bringing her home with more IV fluids to give her.  The vet was happy to hear that she had eaten and was doing well. They will draw some more blood later today and see how she is doing.

Thanks again to everyone that stopped by and left messages. As we all know the blogville community is so supportive and helpful to all of us when we need it. I know that with your help we can weather this storm.  Please keep your paws crossed and the prayers coming to help Nina feel better. Thank you.

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