The Puppy Hope

Hope is doing wonderfully!!!!
Her sutures will be removed tomorrow, and the surgery site looks great. There is the one area by her elbow that had opened up slightly when at least one suture pulled out, but I think it will heal just fine by itself. Hope will be spayed in a few weeks, so Joanna can take a look at that area then and see if it should also be repaired at that time. Either way it is healing in well.
Here is Hope, in her custom made Jammies:

 

These Jammies are wonderful!  They were made by Elise Bonder just for Hope.  Here is Elise's website with more info:  http://www.dogjammies.webs.com/  Hope has to wear something over the sutures 24 hours a day so she will not scratch or chew the suture site.  So these Jammies have been a blessing. Elise sent us three pair of Jammies.  Two pair are knit, one with back legs, and the other without.  The Knit is very breathable which aids in healing as the sutures can get air to them more easily.  The third pair is fleece with adorable little lizards on it :-)  I had made Hope a fleece pair several weeks ago, but she quickly outgrew them and they aren't nearly as nice as the Jammies Elise made for her.  Thank you Elise.

  
  

Hope is doing great today. She got some extra time with me (or I should say, I got some extra time with her :-) since I haven't been feeling well this week. Most of my friends already know that Ben and I found out last week that we are expecting another little baby in September. Although this one probably will not be as cute, sweet, or well behaved as Hope is! So, Hope is my constant companion and gives me hugs and kisses when I'm not feeling well. I actually woke up this morning to find Hope using Ben's pillow as her own and staring right back at me, wide awake and watching me,... I'm not really sure why, but it was a little unnerving :-) So, I apologize for the lack of regular updates, I really did intend to update her blog every day, but it's gotten away from me a little bit. Rest assured that Hope continues to do well and is growing and healing nicely!

I know I've been a bad blogger :-) I'm currently having some technical difficulties with my photos, and I do want to show everyone Hope's wonderful Jammies. So, hopefully, I'll have all that worked out within the next 24-48 hours.
Hope is doing well, we have had a little more difficulty with this last surgery site, a small area opened above her elbow in a very high stress/pulling area of her skin. There was quite a bit of drainage for a few days, so she had to go back to wearing her gauze and VetWrap dressings for a while, but those are off again today. She has to wear Jammies 24 hours a day to keep her from scratching or chewing at the sutures but she seems to really like the Jammies and has no problem wearing them!
And she's had to stay on more crate rest this week so she would not pull at the sutures as she walks or tries to run around the house.
Hope was supposed to have her first Physical Therapy appointment today, but we pushed that back since we're still having some difficulty with the sutures, we didn't want to put any stress on them right now.
So more info to come about both her Jammies and her rehab (hopefully with photos soon as well!)

Hope - Post Op Day #1 Doing Well

Hope is doing very well post-operatively.  She feels so well, in fact, that it is difficult to keep her from going full-on puppy around the house.  Fortunately, she gets sleepy pretty fast.

The Second Surgery is Complete

After 2 weeks of healing up, it was time to return to Canine Companions for Dr. Jones to work her magic again.  Hope looked like she was doing really well and that last wound really needed to be closed up.

Hope gets to meet a fan.

All the old stitches came out without any trouble.  The first surgical site is healing wonderfully.

Hope got weighed and she is up to 13 pounds.  That is 4 pounds in 2 weeks or about a 40% gain in body mass.  It goes to show that a steady diet of rotisserie chicken, premium kibble, and love will work wonders. 

Hope is gets an IV.  She was a good girl.

Here is her wound post-surgery.  She is still intubated, sedated, and monitored.  The wound was closed very well by Dr. Jones utilizing a multiple levels closure.  It is our hope that the closure will hold.  The wound is in a high stress position that could make healing difficult. 

Here is Hope recovering from anesthesia, you can see she is still a bit off.

Here is Hope at home snuggling at home with her Dad.  So far, so good!

Hope's second surgery

Hope is going to have her second surgery tomorrow.  Joanna and Sarah are once again coming into to work on their day off to help Hope.  The plan is to remove the sutures from her first surgery and then close the remaining wound on her Right side.  I believe this will go very well and it should not take as long as her previous surgery.  Unfortunately, due to my work schedule I won't be able to be there for this surgery, but my husband will be and he'll also assist Joanna and Sarah.  Hope will be very happy to be free of her bandages!  Her dog Jammies are also scheduled to arrive via Fedex tomorrow (they would have been here today had I been home at the time)  So more info about the Jammies soon.  Hopefully, this will be Hope's last surgery to fix her wounds, and with any luck the only other surgery she'll need in her life is when she's spayed!  She has an appointment next Friday to meet her Physcial Therapist for evaluation and a treatment plan to help her recover from her muscle damage in her Right shoulder, so we're very excited about that also.

Wish Hope Luck and good thoughts tomorrow and we'll update information and photos after surgery is complete.

Updated photos of Hope's Wounds

Hope is healing so well!  Her wounds have done remarkably well, her surgery site is healing very nicely, and the sutures will be removed in 3 days.  The one wound on her Right side behind her leg that was left open after her first surgery is healing in very nicely also and it will be surgically repaired in 3 days as well.

So, I wanted to show you some before and after photos so far:

This is Hope's first visit to Dr Jones' office. These were taken on December 23rd, which was 2 days after I received her, and 4 days after she was initially turned in to FACE animal clinic.

 

And these are what the wound and surgery site look like now, on January 7th, 17 days after I received her and 19 days after she was initially turned over to FACE animal clinic:

Amazing isn't it!  The wound that is not yet repaired was initially almost the size of the palm of my hand, it is now roughly the size of a silver dollar, and healing in more every day.  I have no doubt that it would eventually heal in completely without surgery, however, it would take much longer, and I believe the size of the scar tissue would be significant.  I think once her surgical sites are healed and her hair grows in it will be difficult to see that there was anything there at all,...  She does have some thickened scar tissue on her withers, which may always be there to a degree.  But all in all, she's making amazing progress!  I worry that she'll have more trouble with the muscle pain in her Right shoulder, and that she may always have a limp.  But considering that 17 days ago when I met Hope, I thought she might not make it through the night, I'm now thrilled that she's walking at all!!!  She is one very lucky and very special little dog.  

Exciting day

Yesterday Hope and I went to Greenfield, Indiana to the feed store to get chicken and rabbit for for our other critters.  But, We had heard there was a pet sore in town that I'd not been to before.  So, we went to visit Speck's Pet Supply while in town.  I should point out that we live in Indianapolis, and Greenfield is about a 30 minute drive from our house, which makes the following that much more surprising to me.  Hope was wrapped in her blanket and she happily sat in the seat of the cart as we went down the aisle in the pet store.  One of the wonderful ladies who work there came up to us and asked if she could help me find something, I explained that I was looking for something for Hope and that she had recently had surgery.  She asked what the puppy's name was and I told her, "Her name is Hope."  I thought this poor woman was going to start crying, she was so excited to met her, and I said, "You know her?"  as she told all the other girls working that day that Hope was in their store!  It turns out that she knew about Hope's story and has been following this blog!!!  I was shocked, since I'd never been in this store or met these ladies, but they all knew Hope already.  What a thrill!  I'm constantly amazed at all the lives this little pup touches on a daily basis.

Previous photos of Hope's dressing changes

I don't have much new information to report,...  Hope continues to be more active and more playful, She's healing well, and still limping her way around the house to explore and follow her cat, Trillion,...

So, I was going back through some of the photos of Hope and wanted to post some pictures we took of how we did her dressing changes before her first surgery.  With everything that happened that first week she was with us, I did not post these pictures and explain the dressings so I thought I might do that today.

These photos were taken the day before her first surgery, so you will still see the largest wound on her Left side and her neck wound before they were surgically closed.

First the old bandages were removed. 

Then wounds are checked and cleaned if necessary.

We used a baby diaper over her dressings to collect drainage and excess honey, the the elastic part was cut out to prepare it.

We used Sugar on her wounds originally, to draw out drainage, and it has antiseptic properties.  Afer doing some internet searching, and talking to a dog friend who is also a nurse, we discovered that Honey could also be used and we began using that directly on the wounds instead of the sugar, because it was easier to use.  We applied a liberal ammount of honey directly to the wound or on the Telfa non-stick gauze pads and then covered the wounds with them.  Hope liked to try and lick the honey, here she is supervising.

Enough gauze were applied to the wounds so they were all covered.

   

Then the diaper was placed over the gauze to help keep them in place and collect extra drainage.

Then the diaper was wrapped in VetWrap, or Coban to keep it in place and help protect it from scratching puppy feet.

All done, for 12 hours!  The dressings are changed twice a day.  After her surgery there was no need to use the diaper, so we now cover the one open wound with the honey gauze and then keep that in place with gauze wrap then the VetWrap.  This method is much less bulky, which she appreciates as she becomes more mobile!  The remaining open wound is healing so well and is now about 1/2 of it's original size, I believe it would eventually heal in by itself without surgical intervention, but it would take at least another month or two.  So, her second surgery will be this coming weekend, to remove the sutures and repair that wound.  I will take new photos later today to show how it's healing on it's own with just our dressing changes and antibiotis.

 
  
 
 
 

 

Sooooo, I've been having so much fun with Little Hope that I've been a bad blogger. Joanna scolded me for not updating it.
First Off,...
Happy New Year!!! Hope is wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, and wishes that 2010 will be better for her than 2009.
Hope did very well on New Year's Eve spending the evening at home by herself in her big dog crate, She pottied in the appropriate area on her potty pad, and slept in her big fluffy bed and chewed on her chewy bones. She's such a good girl. She was very enthusiastic to see us when we arrived home from work! We got so many puppy kisses!
We had a quiet morning at home on New Years day, and in the evening Ben took Hope to visit some friends while I went to work. He said she met their Whippet and they immeadiately hit it off, Hope followed Rio the Whippet around their house and played with her and her toys. She slept in the car all the way home and then spent all morning in bed being a snuggle puppy. Her dressing changes are going well, although she's very itchy as everything heals. It is amazing to see her gain strength and stamina. Having seen her near death's door and now watching this little happy puppy who wants to play and explore the house.
She also barked today, one of her first barks that I've heard. She was being playful with the cat although the cat was not interested in her shenanigans and she barked once at which time the cat jumped off the bed and walked away.
More photos are coming soon, I promise. I work several 12 hour night shifts in a row and I just haven't taken new photos of Hope is a couple days, but I'll try to get some for tomorrow's update.