Settling into the new reality...

And so, a routine was established get up, take Penny outside, clean her pen, do the laundry, feed the dogs, give Penny her medication, give Penny her hot packs, give Penny her exercises- then try to get to work.... We were pretty lucky, as my husband was able to come home at lunchtime and check on her when I went back to work, and our new friend "A" was having Gidget a couple times a week for us till we got settled.   On top of all that cooking the chicken and rice, bathing her and trying to keep her clean.  Our backs nearly broke from all the bending down, so we took a leaf out of infant care, and set up a baby change table, on a trestle table in our lounge room where all our things were in one spot.... the puppy pee pads, medication, baby wipes, hot pack, nappies, gloves, face washers etc- We also used a laundry basket to put in her while her pen was being cleaned, and to keep her with us in other rooms.  

My patience was pretty thin.... very snappy and I could not form my words properly- it was like my brain was frozen. Weird. I was getting angry and was easily agitated at the slightest things.  And crying all the time. My esteem of parents everywhere went up about 1000 notches... how do you do it? 

The valium was a blessing and a curse.  It was good, because it really did zonk her out, so she was not caring that she was in a pen night and day.  We did a lot of positive re-inforcement during this time, petting her and dropping little bits of chicken into her when she was quiet, and, hard as it was, ignoring her if she was barking.  It was a curse, because she was zonked out, and we could see how doped up she was.  

Then the blood in her diarrhoea started..... As if having an incontinent dog with diarrhoea wasn't enough!  Now there was blood too.  Blood and poop everywhere, all the time.... OMG the loads of washing we did!  Off to the local vet, where they confirmed it was just a lesion in her rectum, not actually blood in her stools, so we had to bathe it in saline, and try to keep her clean.  2 days later it was not any better, so off we went again, and was given some neo-sporen to apply 3 times a day.  This did eventually clear up, but it took about 4 weeks.  The diarrhoea lasted on and off for about 10 days, but we kept her on chicken and rice  for about 3 weeks, and gradually changed her over to her usual diet.  

I had to learn how to express her bladder and her bowels... it's not as bad as it sounds.... I just googled it, as you do these days, and got several you-tube videos.  The bladder was easy, I was just gentle, but firm in pressing, and never squeezed her too hard or if she was tense or unsettled.  Of course, she still dribbles pee when you pick her up, so we have developed a technique of putting a face washer on her bottom when collecting her.  It doesn't always work, we still have to clean the floor pretty often.  Bowels not so easy, of course in the beginning it just ran out.... 

"A" had done a wonderful thing in the last couple of days.... she had started up a fundraiser for us.  I would have never asked anyone for money to assist us, but she went ahead and set it up.... donations from everywhere poured in!  It was amazing and so appreciated.  Our neighbours were very large donors, (they love little Penny) but completed strangers, people from the dachshund community, friends overseas, it was incredible .  It gave us the opportunity to make on-going care decisions - like physio and acupuncture that we could not have afforded without the donations.  We had letters and gift parcels arrive as well, the generosity of strangers in a time of need is overwhelming. 

Penny with one of her get well cards

The question of money brought up the question of pet-insurance.  Good? Bad? Should we get some for Gidget?  I posted the question on a fb page and got every response from : "We have RSPCA insurance, they are great and paid out when" .... "to we have RSPCA and dropped them because after fully paying for 3 years they declined our claim" 
and 3 companies seemed like they got good reviews, with PetPlan and RSPCA getting a bit better response than the others.   

One lady replied : "I don't mean to sound rude, but if she needs an op like Penny and you didn't insure her when you had the chance, people may not be so generous in helping you out"  

Which was a fair comment I suppose, but hurtful never the less.  

Several people advocated starting a savings account just for pet emergencies, and put money into it each week like you would pay an insurance company.  This seemed like the sanest solution, after Kane did some on-line research into pet insurance and came away disgusted with limits, age, breed, %'s etc.  Of course it will take several years to have any 
substantial amount of savings in there, so once again, you take a risk...

Then another wonderful thing happened..... "A" found a lady selling a pet-pram on a garage sale site, and contacted her to see if she would take a bit less for it..... she told the lady our story, and the lady ended up donating it to us!  OMG, we were so blown over.  And the pram has been a blessing!  It really helps with bringing Penny from room to room, and I am even able to take her to work with me one or two days a week.  Seriously, I don't know how we would have managed with out it.  It's been an amazing boon to our new reality. 

Penny and Gidget in the new doggy pram

These days were really stressful, but because we had so much to do, we just didn't think about it... we just got in there and did it.  I did find that most of the cleaning and physio was falling to me, hubby would help if asked, but had no initiative to do any much without prompting.  I was seriously feeling like I imagine mothers of infants to feel, all the burden, the responsibility, no rest, no time to do anything else but look after the baby.... hubby was still sleeping his regular hours, reading, going on the internet etc... where was MY time?  In all fairness though, he was helping with our meals, doing the shopping and coming home at lunch to clean her etc, so in reality he was helping, I just *felt*  so alone, and that the burden was all mine.  

Around day 10, most of her medication was finished, so Penny was not so zonked out, and starting to come to.  We continued with the passive resistance exercises 3 times a day, and I started to look into going to a physiotherapist when her stitches came out, and when the surgeon gives her the all clear. 

Next phase.... the long haul.

Oh, and this week we took Gidget in to be de-sexed!  Seriously, two dogs in stitches at once! There was nothing to be done though, Gidget was already 9 months old, and I was anxious she was going to go into heat any minute.  And then, you know what?  Some good samaritans fixed up Gidgets vet bill!  Yep!  Amazing friends I have!