| The great folks on the CBC list warned me that some amputees come out of surgery and are ready to run up steps and act like nothing ever happened, while others are slower to recuperate. One of the reasons I chose to amputate was first, to immediately relieve any forthcoming pain (since Syd had barely begun to exhibit any pain or limping when he was diagnosed and bone cancer is EXTREMELY painful) and secondly, to hopefully help extend his life. I knew Syd and knew that he was a very vocal, outgoing, playful and energetic dog that always had a lot of SPIRIT. That spirit was what convinced me he would do well being a 3-legged dog. Others, such as my oncologist and vet and even my husband were skeptical, but I knew. I just knew. After bringing Syd home 8 hours after surgery and having him screaming and moaning like he was for a week now was almost too much to bear. But every day was a little better than the previous day. As mentioned before, most people who have gone through this experience before said it normally seems to be a magical number of 10-14 days before all of a sudden, they will become almost "normal" again. Obviously, they will NEVER be normal, but normal for an amputee. Syd was healing up well, but he would still get those muscle cramps or just moan and moan. Despite moving the computer into the room he was in, he kept wanting to get up or would cry and moan with me right beside him and when I would get on the floor to see what he wanted, he just wanted to snuggle and be beside me. I knew that I could not continue to do this the rest of his life and would allow him time to snuggle, but as the days wore on, I had to use tough love. This is where he would hobble into one room I was in and after awhlie, if I moved to another room, he would bark once to summon me. If I didn't immediately return, he would bark louder (just once). If that didn't work, he would then start crying and get louder. Then if that didn't work, he would start moaning. Several times he was within eyesight of me, yet he would do this. Whenever I would feel sorry for him and go to where he was at, he would be wiggling his butt and all happy. So I knew he wasn't summoning me because he was in pain or needed something, he just was wrapping me around his remaining front paw! So several times when he started doing this (okay, I'll admit, it took me a few times before I figured this out), I would just loudly tell him "if you want in here, get your butt up and come in here". The first time I did that, he tried barking once several times and lo and behold, here he comes! Of course, I would praise him and tell him he was such a good boy. That was so hard for me to restrain myself, but it's a necessary part of confidence building after surgery, I think. I could tell when it was a cry of pain or a cry of just wanting me with him. It's funny how our pets are so in tune with us emotionally that they know how to push our buttons. I guess that's why we have such a strong bond with them, don't you? Syd was healing well and it was moving closer to his first chemo treatment and lung radiographs. Another chapter would begin..... |
