Before Rylie was discharged from Tufts Veterinary hospital I thought I was ready for her. We had the orthopedic beds, we had scatter rugs in trail from living room to kitchen and to the door in the front of house and out back. I had a blow up mattress in the living room so I could sleep next to her. The first night went pretty well I was hopeful and confident in the decision I had made for her. The next 2 weeks everything I initially felt was questioned when we had a lot of issues with pain management, a seroma that was increasing, lots of bruising and swelling , not eating , yelping out and crying. This was so heartbreaking to me since all I wanted to do was help my girl and extend her life to be full and happy and pain-free. Each day I had to force feed food down her throat. Force feed pain pills forget the holistic cancer fighting meds or immune boosting all I could get down her was pain meds and what food I could force her to eat plus the antibiotics. We had 3 trips to vet and ER Vet during the first week, with the addition of codeine the pain seemed better however this brought constipation and stomach issues where she didn’t want to eat
Wow that’s a tough time! You did what you had to do though, and as hard as it was to dish out the tough love, my guess is that it paid off?
Keep up the great nursing, you’ve got this!
Hi Kristen-
Sammy’s surgery was on 11/22 and we are having a similar rough time! He did not do well at all with anesthesia or a later pain injection we tried that was long acting. He barely eats (only if I hand feed or force it) and the screams are just awful. I don’t know what to do to make him feel safe and better at this point. I run a non profit rescue in the Houston area and we have had many amputees and none have had this rough of a time. It is just killing my heart…glad to hear you are finally on the other side and that there is hope!
It is so heartbreaking.. you are almost at 2 weeks right , Rylie started to be better and then each day a little more.. The force feeding was hard for me too its only been a week that she is now eating on her own.. but it has to be good and Im not putting any meds in the food. since I want her to eat. Meds have to be forced down still but she is better and less meds now.
There is hope!