My Dog Is Stoned

This afternoon, I met with several of the folks who will be on Reyna’s surgical team. The news was all good. This morning, the vets were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to replace Reyna’s right hip (the worst hip) due to lack of bone, but the x-rays showed that there was just enough bone left in the socket to hold the cup. So, on May 7, Reyna will have her right hip replaced. They’re planning to do a cementless replacement, which is preferred, but there’s always a chance they’ll cut her open and realize they need to do the cemented version, for one reason or another.

After talking to the vets, I feel a lot more positive about the upcoming surgery. This is really nice, considering that the other night I dreamt Reyna died on the operating table. But we’ll just ignore that dream. The vets gave me a lot of details about the surgery, what they do and why they do it. We covered what exercises and activities she’s allowed to do, as well as the types and quantities of meds she’ll be taking. The vet said that, at 8 weeks post-surgery, the hip is as stable as its going to get, and after 8 weeks, we can start working our way back up to normal activity levels. Slowly, of course, and contingent on how she’s feeling. Her stitches can come out 10-14 days after the surgery, and then we can start extending our outside time, especially if that helps keep her relaxed. Oh, and she’ll most likely come home on Friday (the surgery is Thursday), because they all think she’s the type of dog that will be calmer at home. To help ensure that, she’ll be on several meds.

Although, they don’t plan to keep quite as drugged as she is right now - she still has a lot of the sedatives in her system. Her eyes are still pretty glassy, and she’s been incredibly still since I got her. Out in the yard, she looked at her ball, but didn’t actually move from where she’d decided to sit down. She’s been zonked out on her bed almost the entire time we’ve been home, just occasionally waking up to shift position a bit. Interestingly enough, Duncan has stepped up for guard duties. A group of kids on bikes went by, which would normally have Reyna barking at the kitchen windows. She barely even glanced at them, but Duncan went to the windows and barked the requisite warning. He’s decided that leaving her alone tonight is a good idea. I think it had something to do with the look she shot him while he was licking her face.

We got some other really great news today, although I’m still aggravated about the circumstances. Reyna had a slew of tests run nearly three years ago when she was having seizures. At that time, I was told that Reyna had a mild heart defect that wasn’t a problem then, but could become one as she got older. Because of that, the surgeon wanted Reyna to have a cardiology consult before her hip replacement to make sure there wouldn’t be any complications from the defect. Well, I found out today that, about a week after our visit three years ago, some senior radiologists looked at her chest x-rays and decided that she didn’t have a defect, it was just the way she was positioned. Of course, they didn’t bother to contact me about it, or apparently even put a note about it in her original record (which is what the surgeon looked at back in November). I found out about the change in diagnosis from the orthopedics intern this morning. They went ahead and did new chest x-rays today, and the cardiologist and radiologists all agreed that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her heart, it is perfectly healthy and normal. While 90% of me is thrilled about this, 10% of me is still really annoyed that they didn’t bother to contact me three years ago and let me know I had one less thing to stress over.