Penny comes home after Intervertebral Disc Hemilamenectomy

On pick up, Dr. David calls us into his office and shows us Pennys CT scans where we can see how large the disc rupture was.  It was at T12-T13, but had exploded up to T11.  We spent a bit of time going over the medications, and his main concern at this time was her bladder, and diarrhoea she had developed from one of the medications Carprofen, which is a pain medication that often causes tummy upset and loose stools.   He said she is recovering well, and urinates when being picked up, which he took as a good sign.   The valium really knocked her out, so if I felt it was too much, I could 1/2 the dose.  I asked if there was enough Valium for me too, but alas, no.....

I asked him if he could tell from the scan if she was likely to have another incident, so he showed us where he could see some disc calcification, but re-iterated that it could mean nothing, or those discs could rupture, or that she could have a rupture in a completely different area, there was just no way to know- keeping in mind that 1 in 20 dachshunds will have a repeat disc rupture.  (yickes!)

We went over together how to set up the area of confinement, she needed to be kept rested and confined for 6-8 weeks, and he filled us in on some post op care.  She needed to be fed on chicken and rice till her tummy settled down, her feet and legs massaged, and hot packs 4 times a day.  Her bedding needed to be kept clean and dry, and we needed to monitor her skin for bed-sores. After 3 days, we needed to start her passive resistance exercises, manipulating her legs and hips 4 times a day. Stretching and bending, and then cycles.  She could be put in a nappy, with a tail hole cut, but we needed to change the nappy as required, to eliminate urine scalding.   She could sit with us on laps for short periods of time,  the more human contact the better. Yeah!  Her stitches would come out in 2 weeks, and if she needed a bath, for her not to be submersed, just a sponge bath till then.  He would see us in 8 weeks. 

Well! The list was pretty long!   "J" made me an invaluable spreadsheet with what medications we had to give her at what times, with a tick box so if my hubby gave her meds in the afternoon, I would know I didn't need to and we wouldn't double up. She also put in in a tick box for if Penny had urinated or not, which was also handy to keep track of in the beginning. 

There is a great list of medicines and what they are for and side effects on the Dodgers list web-site, I found it really useful.   Penny was taking 1mg Valium 3x day, 5mg of Dibenyline 3x a day (both for her bladder- the valium I think to stop it spasming.) Then she also had 50mg Amoxyclav 2x day (antibiotic) and 10mg of Tramadol (pain killer) 2x a day.  

The bill? $4600.  We emptied all our savings and what little cash we had on hand, and I took a salary advance from work.... Thank god we had it.  It seemed like an awful lot of money, but I know we got off pretty cheaply!  OMG, if we didn't have it, I don't know what we would have done, it doesn't bear thinking about... well we had it, and now we don't. 

It was pretty challenging at first.  We were soooo happy to have her home, we thought the worst was over.... Ha! People had said the 1st week after surgery was the hardest, and yes it was hard, (but in looking back, I think weeks 4-6 were the worst.)  She was doped up to her eyeballs, and her eyes were glazed over, and she took little interest in what was happening, except food, of course.  

The first thing you notice though, is the smell.  She smelled like antiseptic, poop, wet dog and general  nastiness.  We gave her a warm sponge bath straight away.  I was so scared of hurting her, but it needed to be done.  The first few days were bad.  I would get up in the middle of the night and check her.  Gidget was miserable sleeping by herself, I don't think any of us got much sleep in the 1st couple weeks.  

Penny zonked out in her pen

Next chapter:  Adjusting to the new reality