The Puppy Hope

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.

Hope continues to improve and gain strength and mobility. She can limp around to most places in the house now and enjoys short exploration excursions. We are keeping our eye on an area in her sutures that has had some drainage from it, but she's still taking her antibiotics and getting bacitracin applied to the suture site as well.
We removed her drain today and she handled that remarkably well. She either has the highest pain tolerance of any creature I've ever met, or she knows we're helping her and is willing to endure the pain. And, this is a big evening for her, since we both work the overnight shift in the ER tonight she has to ring in the new year at home by herself (with the cat and other dogs to keep her company,...) So, we fixed up a special dog crate for her, with her bed and a potty pad, her toys and a blanket that she likes. I'm very anxious to leave her but I really have no reason to be. I'm positive she'll be fine until we return home and then she can take her rightful place back on the bed with us while we sleep. She's probably at home dreaming about the new year and hoping it is better than 2009 for her! New Year's photos and wishes will be sent tomorrow!

Keeping Hope calm

Hope is obviously feeling better, and consequently become more of a challenge.  I'm not concerned that she'll pull out her sutures, but her wound is becoming itchy as it heals.  I'm sure the sutures and the drain is also itchy.  Quite frankly, I don't know how she can stand it, and it amazes me that she's handling everything so well.  But the dressings are becoming more for a challenge as we have to discover new ways to wrap it so she will not scratch them off, and today she actually did get ahold of them and chewed a peice of gauze in half before I could stop her!  I was made aware of some dog "Jammies" so a pair are being ordered for her and hopefully will help keep her from scratching and biting at the bandages.  A "Cone of Shame" collar really isn't an option since the sutures on her neck would be irritated by a collar,...  So, we're hoping we can come up with creative distractions until the Jammies arrive and that by covering all the bandages with the fleece Jammies it will help protect them from sharp puppy teeth!

She loves her Chewies and Stuffies and I change them out a couple times a day to always give her something interesting to occupy her time.  She is still making progress with walking, and will now slowly limp around the two bedrooms and down the hall to the family room to follow us or her favorite cat, Trillian, as she moves around the house.  We haven't let her interact with our other dogs alot yet, as we're afraid they'll be too rambunctious with her, but our cattledogs, Fanny and Kes, and our Tollers Cara and Mars have all met her and she seems to be friendly to them and wag her tail.  It's hard to believe she's not terrified of bigger dogs after all that's happened to her.  I'm constantly amazed at her spirit and sensitivity.  She is absolutely an angel!

12/29/9 A Quiet Day - Getting Stronger

Pretty quiet day for our family. We did have to leave Hope for a couple hours while we went to a Dr. appointment. Although I was worried,.... she didn't seem to be, it looks like she just slept on the bed while we were gone.

Her sutures look awesome her other open wound looks clean and is granulating in more every day (healing from the inside out) the swelling is getting better and her PenRose drain is draining less. I think we'll probably end up taking the drain out tomorrow! She is walking longer distances to explore around the house. She's still very slow about walking, and limps very tentatively on the right front leg, but she has improved soooooo much. She really enjoys her chew toys and she now has a Kong toy to play with that is stuffed full of Cheese, she thinks that's the best toy ever!
All in all her little steps toward healing have been astronomical.
I am continual amazed at her tenacity and obvious love of life.
Again thank you everyone for your warm thoughts of love and support for this little girl.

Busy day for our family and Hope today. We had the last of our family Holiday gatherings with a drive to Terre Haute, Indiana to visit some of Ben's family. Hope sat on my lap the whole way and played with her toys or napped. She's a very good traveler, and has now logged more miles this week than most dogs her age! She did very well visiting family, staying most of the time on her doggie bed or the cool tile floor. When we left the room to have dinner though she came looking for us. We had just sat down for our meal and Hope had been sleeping on her bed, so I thought she'd probably stay there. I was wrong, in about 3 minutes she came toddling in to the Dining room looking for us and following the sound of our voice. So, her bed was quickly moved to sit beside Ben's chair, and she was quite happy to fall back asleep there. Maybe she knows she's found people who love her and she doesn't want to risk letting us out of her site.

She was sleepy after this day of adventure and slept the whole way back home. Once at home she was wide awake and wanting to play and eat. We've discovered her favorite food so far is rotisserie chicken. She will eat her BilJac frozen dog food, and even found some of my adult dog's kibble on the floor and ate that, she isn't nearly as enthusiastic to eat it as the chicken. So, after we got home I stayed with Hope while Ben made a run to the grocery to pick up a chicken. Then, as Ben fed her, I ran to PetsMart to buy her some chew toys and another stuffed toy, and some puppy food for tomorrow. She's now happily laying on the couch with my husband playing with her new Chewies and Stuffies.

She is noticeably more active today, she wants to get up and walk around more. Which is a challenge for us, I want to try and balance her new found ability to walk and get some exercise with her resting quietly to allow her sutures to heal properly. She's had some very deep muscle damage to her shoulder which is now sutured so she needs to let it heal some before too much activity. So, she is doing short limping walks to follow us and then we find a quiet activity to lay down. This balance seems to be working well for now, but I can foresee trouble slowing her down in the very near future!