Lily is doing so great!! I just wanted to lead with that since really, she is just moving forward so well. It was a rough first night but truly feel that things are getting better as each day goes by.
We picked her up from surgery on Monday, late afternoon, and there were certainly lots of nerves about what was going to be coming down the pipeline afterwards. She did, however, walk out of the vet’s office on her three legs right away! That felt really good to see. Before discovering the Tripawds community, we had heard different stories from folks about life on three legs and I think we were worried it would be weeks…months…before Lily was walking about. Not so! Little glimmers of hope are helpful.
After bringing her home, we mostly just laid with her for the evening and adjusted. Right away, one of the challenges we noticed is that it seems that Lily’s favored side to lay on is the side that was amputated on and so her circles to lay down were not working out for her and she was having a really hard time laying down and settling down even though she was still very sedated from anesthesia. Luckily, Lily is very food motivated which makes it easy to giver the load of pills that got sent home with us. We did invest in those pill pockets just to keep it simple.
That first night was the hardest night…Matt laid on the floor on a camping pad trying to get Lily to just lay down but they were both up for, literally, the whole night with Lily just standing and panting. I imagine she was in quite some pain and just reeling with trying to catch up with the new reality. Also, as much as I hate to admit it…apparently, I was just passed out in bed snoring and probably the real reason no one could sleep…..!
The next morning we got our first tail wag from Lily post-surgery! Surprising no one, it was in response to the appearance of breakfast! She went potty just fine and was doing great navigating on her new posts. We do have a sling to go under her belly for support but it seems like, at this point, she isn’t needing it. She is just doing better and better each day since Monday and is learning to lay on her other side. I imagine it is a bit like right or left-handedness. Her incision is looking great and though we did check in with the vet about some redness, it seems that it is all normal thus far.
We do have a collapsible cone for Lily that is probably better for navigation than the white plastic ones but still brings about a bit of dread…we have been trying to keep her incision covered with a t-shirt, mostly to keep our other dog Eva away from it, although it hasn’t really been an issues thus far. What is an issue is that we can’t seem to figure out the best way to put the darn thing on without it draping all over! There must be a market for rump covers somewhere…..
We haven’t tried stairs yet and we haven’t done any walks besides bathroom breaks. However, without even trying, this week ended up ALSO involving a jackhammer in the backyard for a concrete project that was scheduled (cause you know, when it rains….) and though we were worried about that added noise and stress in her yard while we were at work, Lily seemed to be just fine. Mostly at this point we are just trying to keep her safe and let her rest and heal.
This has been the weekend of preparing, mostly ourselves, for Lily’s surgery tomorrow. We have been filled with questions about what to expect for the first night after she arrives home and, of course, all the days after. Our surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and, unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to take much time off work so we are a little concerned about what is going to happen during the day. Will she just lay there? Is she going to try to get up and move around? What will the dynamic be with our other dog? She isn’t crate trained and it doesn’t seem like she’s interested in being in the one we have…currently the plan is to barricade her in the kitchen so she has a safe, confined place to be. So, we spent the weekend tackling some tidying projects and trying to figure out how to best make a safe space for Lily when she comes home. We have tile floors in the living room and are worried about her ability to navigate with a new three-legged situation on those seemingly slippery surfaces. We purchased some extra rugs to create some runways of traction but just don’t know how it is all going to turn out.
