Olive is Home!

 

Olive had successful surgery on Tuesday, was kept at the hospital Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The hospital was kind enough to send me a photo of her resting comfortably after her surgery.

Olive resting comfortably after surgery. Looks like she got some very good care!

Finally, I got the call to come and pick her up at 2:30 on Saturday. The reunion was unceremonious; a technician brought Olive out to me at the hospital entrance with some written instructions and a bag of meds. Olive basically looked at me and said “you’re here. Let’s go home”. The tech helped me get Olive in the car in her usual space on the floor in front of the front passenger seat, and we were off. I have to make an appointment for a checkup in one week.

In the car and ready to go home.

At the vet’s recommendation I went out and bought a wire crate to keep her from roaming around, especially to keep her off the stairs. I had concerns that Olive would not take to being confined to a crate, but as soon as we got home, she went straight into her crate and lay down on the bed I placed there. I can take her out for short walks to pee or poop, but have to bring her in right afterward. After a few weeks I might be able to keep her out to walk around a bit longer, but probably none of her usual walks around the circle (about a third of a mile) for a while.

Her home for the next 4-6 weeks.

I have a regiment of medications to give her. She gets her Prednisone, Omeprazole, Cephalexin (antibiotic), and her thyroid medication twice per day, 8:00 am and 8:00 pm.  She gets Gabapentin three times per day, at 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and close to midnight. She also has a fentanyl patch (a sedative and pain medication) that I will be removing Monday. I am supposed to wear rubber gloves to remove the patch.

Olive ate well both Saturday night and Sunday morning. She wants a lot of petting and attention (who can blame her?) but mostly is content to stay on her bed in the crate. At one point she did clearly want to get up the stairs to her usual doggy bed at the top of the stairs, which is strictly out of the question for the next few weeks. I may bring that bed down to the living room. It would be a bit large for her crate, but if she wants to lay in it while I am there to watch and make sure she doesn’t get up and wander off, I suppose that would be ok.

I stayed in the living room and slept on my couch last night so that she wouldn’t feel alone. She did whimper once during the night, so I got up and petted her. She went to sleep and was fine after that.

4-6 weeks of bed rest and intensive care is what the vet ordered. It’s going to be a challenge for both of us. Then again, Olive is getting breakfast in bed, meals brought to her, even her water dish is next to her bed so that she need not so much as get up for a drink. She just might get used to that.

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I'm sure Olive would love to be doing this, but I'm afraid it won't be for quiet a while. Sorry, Olive.