Author: Gil

My dad picked up Rufus from the vet yesterday, brought him to our house, and stayed with him all day until Amy got home. After Wednesday’s surgery on his back right leg, during which he had two drains attached to his wounds, Rufus has to stay in his crate till the weekend (except for bathroom breaks). This is so he doesn’t move around and stretch too much, which could lead to his sutures getting torn.

His bandage is starting to slide down a couple of inches, so I’ll have to get some sorta adhesive wrap at the drug store this morning to keep the area covered. I’m going to move my desktop computer downstairs soon so I can work on page layouts and keep him company (and make sure he doesn’t try to lick his wounds).

He’s on antibiotics and pain medication; Amy gave him his pain meds last night about 40 minutes before I got home (despite a 65-minute flight delay, I made it back from Atlanta last night a mere 40-minutes late, zoomed off the plane with my carry-on, and did my best not to speed too much on the drive back). Much like I felt after my demerol injections in the days following my knee surgery (summer 1991), Rufus seems to think that he can go back on the track anytime, once the pain meds kick in.

Shortly after that, his eyes roll back in his head and he gets a little fuzzy about who’s whom.

The vet will check out how his wounds are doing on Saturday, and will let us know if it’s okay for him to go up and down stairs. If not, we’ll move the guest bed down to the basement, so we can sleep down here till he’s ableto join us upstairs. Don’t give me guff about this.

Anyway, the upshot is: the surgeon was optimistic about Ru’s recovery (I’ll have to talk to the vet to make sure our definitions of recovery jibe), I’m back home, my dad stepped up way beyond my expectations, and my wife remains the most wonderful person in the world.

Oh, and I’ve gotta check in with the local police to find out what’s going to go on next with the Aggressive Akita (I misidentified the breed).

And Ru just started snoring. Shh.

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.