8/29/03 evening: We had to leave for my step-grandson's birthday party and got home and Syd had stayed in the basement and rested. He slept through the night with only a few times of whining slightly. I gave him 2 pills of Tylenol 4 with codeine to help him sleep, but he had not had any all day Friday.
8/30/03: Syd did well today. He went outside and seems to have mastered the ramp both coming and going. He slows way down when he first hops up onto the ramp going down but he sort of twists a little while going down, so I know he's got to be a little sore as he uses different muscles than he's used to. He has started to wiggle butt more and more when he sees us and gets up and down to go to various rooms without having to be coaxed. He hasn't had any pain pills today at all and he appears to be doing fine. He's concerned with the slight oozing and keeps trying to lick it and scratch it so we keep cleaning it and spraying it with the anti-bacterial/pain reliever spray to help numb it a little. He's being more vocal, which is a good sign as he was vocal to begin with before surgery! He slept most of the night. There was a few times he would start whining loudly and I would just rub his butt with my foot for about 15 seconds and he would get quiet and go to sleep. My husband came to bed and he started whining and my husband started to get up and take him in the other room since I had to work in the morning and I told him to just ignore him and I told him I would rub his butt for a few seconds and he would go back to sleep, which he did.
8/31/03: My husband said Syd ate a whole can of dog food today! So that's a good thing. After I got home from work, Syd and the other dogs were out in the garage and I was brushing everyone. My stepson came over and they all got up to greet him. Syd got up and was wiggling his butt and was happy to see him, whereas before when he's been over since the surgery, Syd just laid there and would not get up. Then Syd did something that makes me feel like he's feeling a little better. Before surgery, Syd had this thing he would do since he's a tall rottie, he would walk up to your thigh and then press his head into your thigh so you would pet him. When you would start petting him, he would move his head upright and if you'd stop, he would press his head into your thigh again. He has not done this at all since he started being able to get up and walk around, but tonight, he hobbled over to me and pressed his head into my thigh. I about cried! We got everyone fed (he ate another whole can of dog food tonight) and since a cool front moved through, it was like 63 degrees outside (compared to 103 a few days ago), so I left the dogs out in the garage and left the ramp door open to enjoy the cool breeze. They were all laying around so I went into the kitchen to put away things and I suddenly heard Syd screaming. I ran to see what happened and the little you know what had come up the wooden steps from the garage (3 steps up to a landing, then had to turn right to go up 5 more steps to another landing), then manuever through an area inbetween the doorway and the open kitchen screen door. He was standing by the kitchen door just screaming. I thought maybe he had fallen while trying to get up the steps but he didn't appear to be bloody. I got him to hobble inside and I cleaned him up a little (since he was oozing slightly) and put some spray on him. I then heated up some mac & cheese and was eating it at the kitchen table. Syd got up from where he was at and hobbled over to the table and looked at me like he wanted some. So I couldn't resist giving him a little mac with cheese on it since he'd had such a hard day. When I went to give the other dogs a spoonful, he followed me into the area by the front door where K.D. was. He is now sitting in the kitchen with all the other dogs and is being vocal to me and I think he is just happy to be out of that basement and onto the first level for the first time in over 10 days. Although he's been able to go outside and into the garage a little, the only time he was on the main level was the day after surgery when he made his way up from the basement and back down the stairs outside the kitchen to get to the garage when we left to go get some lunch. My husband had not built a ramp going from the main level to the garage yet due to it's going to take some time to build and someone told me that he might not use it, to try and see what he's going to be able to do first. Since he has been trying to go up and down the stairs on his own, I may just wait a few days and assist him in getting down the stairs to potty, then help him up the stairs until he gets used to doing that. If that doesn't work, I'll have my husband build the ramp. My husband told me tonight that I should have listened to him when we built our house to build a one level with a basement! Now I'm beginning to wonder what I was thinking! (we have both had back and knee problems since moving in, so I'm sure we'll be thinking that definitely as we get older!)
Anyway, that's all that is news with Syd for the past few days. I'm hoping that he's being vocal just to harass me and not in pain. I think I'll give him some Tylenol 4's tonight just because he was screaming earlier and he hasn't had any pain pills for a few days to speak of. I hope he continues to get a little better as we start chemo treatments this coming Thursday. |
