Please, good thoughts and prayers...

by **CinderDee** » July 4th, 2009, 4:59 pm

I can't believe I missed this post. What a terrible accident! I'm so sorry.

Sending Dru & the puppies all our good thoughts! :goodthoughts:

by **amazincc** » July 4th, 2009, 5:01 pm

Oh, Gawd... OUCHIE! :shock:

Good thoughts for ALL of you. :hug3:

by **Malli** » July 4th, 2009, 7:27 pm

katiek0417 wrote:
Malli wrote:Is there a lot of black tissue? Do you know if they debrided the laceration ?

It looks really ouchy Most likely they used staples because they were fast (and therefore less anesthetic time) but man they must be uncomfortable....

Hang in there, Dru! I think she'll feel SO much better when she has the puppies, so much less tension...

I don't know what that means...

There is a lot of bruising...they told me that yesterday...but I didn't get a good look until today...

I know she has regular sutures inside...well, the kind that disintegrate...

But you're right...once he got looking he realized he'd have to do the inside sutures, then reconstruct some things, and a mastectomy...so they may have done the staples for speed...

debrided = cleaned and removed any non-salvagable tissue. Sometimes they scrape the sides of the laceration to encourage the blood flow to stay in the area, and sometimes they actually cut tissue out if they know it will die off.

the blood tinged discharge from the drains is good. You want to avoid anything that is yellow or green or any other weird color and thick. Watery and bloody = good.

Is there any black tissue? black = dead

Purple = might be viable, could kind of go either way. He would have flushed the subcutaneous ("under the skin" and above the muscles) space and probed it and the drains were placed where the pocket from the laceration ends and where fluid would be most likely to collect.
Hot compresses are good and will encourage blood flow and healing and bring any infection out.

Hopefully that helped

Maybe she can get some special treats for tolerating the compresses?

by **katiek0417** » July 4th, 2009, 10:53 pm

Malli, I'm pretty sure he fully cut out any tissue that couldn't be saved...he said that he had a hard time closing her up...

He actually used to work in an emergency veterinary hospital...

The problem I'm having with the warm compresses is that she gets too amped to lay down for them! All she wants to do is love on us, so she won't be calm!

Thank you for all the good thoughts, everyone! I think they're working! She's improving by the minute...keep them coming, if you could...we have some big days in front of us...

by **Malli** » July 4th, 2009, 11:34 pm

what if you and Greg did them together with a big kong full of wet food? one person holds the wet food and one person does the drain care/compress?

If you think she'll obey, I think its fair to use any obedience you have at your disposal here...

I'm impressed to hear that she's so tolerant of it :wink:

I think that type of thing is difficult for shepherds/herding breeds, IME pain tolerance seems not to be one of their strong suits...

by **katiek0417** » July 4th, 2009, 11:49 pm

Malli wrote:what if you and Greg did them together with a big kong full of wet food? one person holds the wet food and one person does the drain care/compress?

If you think she'll obey, I think its fair to use any obedience you have at your disposal here...

I'm impressed to hear that she's so tolerant of it I think that type of thing is difficult for shepherds/herding breeds, IME pain tolerance seems not to be one of their strong suits...

Unfortunately, I think being a working dog makes her more tolerant...Asja got severely hurt a few weeks ago at training (impaled herself with a rake)...and we didn't find the wound for 2 days...

But, unfortunately, out of all our dogs, she's just a pet, and has almost no obedience...she knows a few things, but nothing well enough to help us here...

She hasn't had much of an appetite, either... :rolleyes2:

I don't know if it's b/c she's got puppies laying on her stomach, but she only eats a little bit at a time...that's why I'm feeding her about 10 times a day!

But, seriously, she rolled herself over earlier for a belly rub, and all this stuff came out of her drains...it was clear/reddish...like a blood tinged clear liquid...ick... :puke:

I nearly passed out...and that was the first time I nearly got sick since this whole thing happened...

by **Malli** » July 5th, 2009, 2:29 am

oh dear

well, you do what you can...

by **katiek0417** » July 5th, 2009, 10:55 am

Malli wrote:oh dear

well, you do what you can...

Dru had a rough night last night...she was up at 3:30 panting a lot...I took her out to use the bathroom,and brought her back in, and she sat there panting...I think she was in a lot of pain...

I sat with her until about 8 when I finally decided I needed to sleep for an hour or so...

by **Leslie H** » July 5th, 2009, 11:42 am

Probably not at all what you want to hear, but is she going into labor?

by **katiek0417** » July 5th, 2009, 11:47 am

Leslie H wrote:Probably not at all what you want to hear, but is she going into labor?

Her temp was 100 last night, 100 in the middle of the night, and 100 just now...so I don't think so...usually I use the drop to 99 as my indication that it's starting...

And she's eating (she didn't eat before whelping with her last litter)...

Of course, she won't eat raw...she'll only eat the canned sensitive stomach food from the vet right now... :rolleyes2:

I swear, this dog might be the death of me...

by **amazincc** » July 5th, 2009, 3:59 pm

Eating is GOOD!!! :clap:

Is she still on pain meds every 6 hours???

by **katiek0417** » July 5th, 2009, 6:33 pm

amazincc wrote:Eating is GOOD!!!

Is she still on pain meds every 6 hours???

Okay, I went out and bought a bunch of different foods...she ate a little bit of Spot's Stew for dinner...step in the right direction...

I'm doing the pain meds every 6 hours if she looks like she needs them (up panting, etc)...I try to go 8 hours if I can...but I haven't been too successful with that.

by **TheRedQueen** » July 5th, 2009, 10:16 pm

Poor Dru!

Let me know if I can help with anything... :hug3:

I'm sure John would bottle feed some puppies!

by **katiek0417** » July 5th, 2009, 11:09 pm

TheRedQueen wrote:Poor Dru!

Let me know if I can help with anything... I'm sure John would bottle feed some puppies!

Thank you so much, Erin. :hug3:

by **iluvk9** » July 6th, 2009, 6:28 am

Hope last night was a good one!

by **TinaMartin** » July 6th, 2009, 9:09 am

Wow! I just read this. I'm sorry that she thought she was a kangaroo. All of the puppies will be ok cause we say so! Hope she is feeling better today.

by **blabsforbullies** » July 6th, 2009, 9:23 am

I was out of town all weekend, so I am just now seeing this. :shock:

First of all, I am hoping the very best for all of you!!!

Secondly, the incision looks pretty reasonable for what was done. :thumbsup:

The darkness around the incision itself is likely bruising. Sometimes, when there is a lot of tension around the incision (ie: it is tough to close), there may be some small pieces of skin that don't have adequate blood supply and may slough. I would think after she has the pups, the tension will decrease and then it will become more of a "keeping it clean issue" (which I know you will do :wink:

). Time will tell here. It may take several days for the skin to "declare" itself as healthy or not, but it looks, from the pictures, that she is doing well.

I hope that you are all holding up! :hug3:

Please keep us posted! :goodthoughts:

by **madremissy** » July 6th, 2009, 9:42 am

Still sending good thoughts to Dru for her to heal. Pretty soon it will be time to send good thoughts for a safe and speedy delivery. :hug3:

by **amazincc** » July 6th, 2009, 12:45 pm

How's the patient this morning???

by **LMM** » July 6th, 2009, 12:51 pm

I just saw the pics Katrina :shock:

Please, good thoughts and prayers...

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