Sydney did a little better with sleeping last night. My husband and I were lying on the bed and he was on my side of the bed on the large dog bed. About 2 hours after lying down, he starts crying and whining. My husband got the pillow and blanket and laid down beside him massaging him until he fell asleep. Around 3:30am, Syd woke up screaming a little and I looked and saw that my husband had gotten up, but wasn't in bed. (Guess I was hogging the bed so he went upstairs to our regular bedroom and slept there even though it was a little warmer). So I grabbed a blanket and pillow and laid down beside Syd massaging the skin above his incision, his head and neck until he laid back and fell asleep on my arm. (I'm sure it has to do with positioning, but he likes me to lay down in back of him and he leans into me, then slides down until he's lying on his side. He doesn't scream doing it that way vs just slowly going down from a "down" position. So he got about a good hours sleep (and so did I). I could even feel him running in his dreams and he was twitching that right shoulder and wasn't screaming like he did the first few nights, so hey, that's progress! But when he woke up around 4:30am, he screamed and I stroked him again and he calmed down. He then woke back up at around 5:00am and was wide awake. I got up and checked my computer. He whined a little, but was more quiet than normal. I went upstairs to get dressed and started to wake up my husband, but I let him go ahead and sleep since he's had very little sleep wanting to be by Syd's side to comfort him. When I came downstairs, I could hear Syd whining and crying. He had slid off the dog bed and needed it moved in order to be able to get up at all. I took all the other dogs outside via the ramp and told Syd to get up. He did and walked to the room, but then he stopped short of the ramp. I went ahead and left the ramp door open and lights on so he could see should he choose to go outside on his own. He never did while I was home.
My husband told me later that after I left and he got up, he told Syd to go up the ramp and he did with very little resistance. He said he did so on his own and didn't need any help. I took off work early to be here before my husband left for work. I was slightly delayed on getting home and when I got home, he was quietly laying down in the bedroom. No crying, no whining. I went upstairs to change clothes and heard him crying and whining. I went downstairs and he wasn't in the bedroom. I looked and he had gotten up and was getting a drink from the bathroom bucket of water. After drinking, he laid down and I got a warm washcloth to clean up his incision. It was oozing and he is more concerned over the smell of it when it gets onto the dog beds or floor. He licks it up and kinda gets antsy over it. He seemed to relax once I cleaned him up a little.
I called my husband to see if Syd had eaten at breakfast and he said no. He tried canned dog food, hamburger, turkey, etc and Syd wouldn't eat anything at all. So I cut up a chicken thigh and gave it to him. I even hide his cephalaxin pills in part of the skin and he ate the whole thigh! (Yay!) I then gave him a small drink and left him be and took the others outside to potty and eat. When I came back in, he was whining and crying occassionally, but not as much as the past few days. I came down to make sure he was okay and went back upstairs to fix my dinner and let the other dogs in. I made sure they stayed upstairs and figured Syd would need his rest without everyone else around. I heard him cry and whine a few times, but only a few. I ate dinner and decided to go watch TV downstairs. I had my husband roll up all the nice carpet that we just had laying on the concrete floor (not installed, just laying there) in case he decided he wanted to get more back to normal and go to the rooms we usually are in (the TV room and computer room). Since Thursday, the only rooms he's been in are the two bedrooms and the bathroom. When I came down the stairs, he was wiggling his butt and stubby tail more than I've ever seen him wiggle! Then I looked over and he had peed all over the concrete floor. He looked so remorseful. I just went over and cleaned it up and told him he really needed to start using the ramp and getting use to it. After cleaning it up, I went to the TV room and he got up and joined me. I quickly got a dog bed for him to lie on and he did. But he kept licking the dog bed where the ooze had settled to where he was completely off the bed before too long. He seemed like he was still sort of groggy. I massaged his good front leg and shoulder. He still has some sores on his left forearm where they shaved it for the catheter. I also noticed he has what appears to be scratch marks and perhaps razor burn on his massive shaved area of his shoulder. So I think maybe he has been scratching with that back leg, although the incision is starting to dry up a little more each day. (Yay!)
I went back to my computer and Syd kept crying and whining loudly. When I'd go in there to see what his problem was, he would just stare at me and slightly wiggle his tail stub. I did that several times and the last time I told him that if he wanted to be with me, he was going to have to get his big butt up and walk in there with me. One of the other dogs followed me back into the room and I heard paw scrapes walking on the floor and looked over and it was Syd! (Yay!) I asked if he needed to go potty and he laid down. (That's what he normally does if he doesn't have to potty, he'll just lay down). I was watching him tonight get up and he appears to be getting a wee bit more comfortable at getting up (like it's not that much of a chore anymore). So maybe you all are right and it does get better. I understand Syd's "schedule" may be faster or slower, so I'm prepared for that. But at least he ate something tonight and he's getting less uncomfortable day by day. Not out of the woods completely, but he is now able to go from a side lying position to a "down" position and 8 times out of 10, he does not scream. That's a GOOD thing! I plan on giving him some more pills before bed so maybe we can try and get another halfway good night's sleep! |
