Rufus update

Hi, dear readers. I’m still trapped in Atlanta; the change-of-flight fee came out to $400, and it turns out that Continental doesn’t have a dog-surgery bereavement policy. Ru had his surgery today, and Amy e-mailed me this update:

Dr. Raginski said Ru came through surgery well and is just starting to wake up. There was significant damage in two deep gouges to his right back leg near the knee, which they patched up as best they could by removing a bit of tissue and stitching him up with drains. The drains will keep the wounds open a little bit so they don’t sustain more damage if there is any swelling post-surgery. Because a grey’s skin is so delicate, she said he may pop a few sutures, so we need to keep him confined in a crate for at least the next 2-3 days to make sure he doesn’t use his leg at all.

Dr. Raginski said that she doesn’t expect the worst-case scenario to happen, but I wanted to know what we might be facing: The wound may dehis (spontaneously open) if the skin doesn’t heal well or if the muscle tissue becomes infected (which would be much worse than a problem with his skin). At that point, he’d need more surgery either to restitch the skin or to take away even more tissue.

But at this point a second surgery is still up in the air. We’ll have to see how he heals after this one.

I’ll keep you all posted as I hear more about our boy. Thanks for the good thoughts you’re sending our way. :)

It looks like Ru’s going to stay at the animal hospital for another night, so they can keep an eye on him and try to keep him from noshing on his sutures. I think my dad’s going to pick him up tomorrow and take care of him till we get home.

I also received photos from my dog-walker of Rufus on the way to the animal hospital. But I looked at one of them and realized that they would only make me feel more enraged and powerless. So I’m not going to look at them till I’m home and able to pet my beloved dog.

I’m sticking with my original conference plan for this evening and taking some work-pals to the Braves game. They know Ru’s my “fur-kid” and understand both why I’m pretty distraught and why their friendship & joviality will be a good thing for me.

Because if I spend another night brooding in my hotel room (and maybe running a few more miles on a treadmill in the hotel gym), I’m gonna go crazy.

3 Replies to “Rufus update”

  1. Best of luck to everyone, glad to hear that the surgery has gone well. And be sure to throw the book at your damn neighbors. Lousy dog owners — they’re a real plague on the rest of us.

  2. so sorry to hear what happened, we’ll keep rufus in our hearts and wish him a fast recovery.
    by the way, what’s your neighbors address? i know a couple of thugs that could take a ride over there-

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