Surgery scheduled for Thursday 4/4!

[MomObvious]

Post a sign on the door asking people NOT to ring the bell!! And try to get someone else, hubby, kids, friends to take the other dogs out for some serious exercise for the first few days if possible---the whole house might be better with tired dogs and kids I would guess keeping him "resting" is going to be the hard part after a few days. So glad he is home and doing great

[Rdituro]

No it's ok. I realized I didn't make sense after I wrote it. The reason for all the crates & gates is to keep him from running to the door with the other two dogs. Keeping him confined as much as possible will keep him safe. I don't think in this circumstance I can be too careful. It's going to be a long six weeks is a understatement he already wants to run & play & it's only day 4 after brain surgery.

[Rdituro]

Took pain patch off today as instructed. I'm very glad we are taking one medication away. There are so many meds in the morning & he seems to stay pretty depressed & loopy until about 1-2:00 in the afternoon. That's when he gets another Tramadol. I can't wait until we are done with the prednisone but that's another 2 weeks after this week. Over all he's doing pretty well, eating, peeing, pooping & wagging his tail. Not scratching too bad at all, maybe 2X a day when he gets excited. Trying to keep his excitement to a minimum. He's been very good on his leash walks but I can tell some walks he wants to run & roam. Staples come out next Wed 4/17, another trip to Red Bank. That's ok, I'm really getting used to it & he's sooooo worth it.

[Rdituro]

So day 6 after surgery is a little tough. We were up all night, at least from 1:00 am on. Winston had his nightly meds about 9:30 last night and I woke up when I heard him panting & being very restless. I took him out of the crate & took him for a short walk & some water. We stayed in the living room where eventually after about a half hour he stopped panting but was then breathing heavy. I suspected the prednisone. I spoke to the Dr early this morning & we are reducing the pred to once a day instead of twice. Winston & I are having a pj & couch day today. He is now very tired but very comfy. Hope it goes a little better from here.

[Love my Cavaliers]

Sorry you had such a bad night. 10 mg of prednisone is a pretty high dose. He should do fine on 5 mg. I know I have trouble myself on 10 mg pred and I weigh a heck of a lot more than these little dogs

[Rdituro]

He's on 2.5 twice a day. Now we are going to do once a day & see how it goes. The reason it's so low is because he's had reactions before, he's has reactions to A LOT of medications & vaccines. It was supposed to step down to once a day on Sunday for 1 week & then once every other day for a week.

[Rdituro]

Staples come out tomorrow!!! Thursday will be 2 weeks since surgery. So to sum up what's going on now, since Winston is on the low dose of pred we've been getting up once during the night to pee and/or poop so we are a little tired everyday. He's been scratching at his head more than usual but it's very difficult at this point to know if it's pain from the SM or the incision & staples. They don't want him to wear an e-collar so thats a challenge. He doesn't scratch while he's in his crate so he does spend a lot of time in there & resting. It hasn't been too difficult to keep him resting because of all the meds. He seems very happy & comfortable. He is starting to become quite smelly so we are really looking forward to a much needed grooming in a few more weeks. I wish I had him groomed right before the surgery but I didn't want to stress him out needlessly. He is pretty much his old self. Time will tell. If anyone has any insights regarding their experiences after surgery please chime in. Thanks so much.

[Sydneys Mom]

So glad Winston is doing well. It won't be long now before he is running around again. As for being smelly, maybe you can get some doggie wipes and just spot clean. They're scented so will help with the smell.

[Rdituro]

It's ok he's not too smelly & I'm so glad just to be able to smell him.