She hates the cone with the heat of ten thousand suns, but she’s trying to be a good sport about it.
Still no news on the histopathology report. Hmf.
Tag: Frances
Fruit Bat
No news on the histopathology report. I should have heard from the vet today, but I’m guessing either they or the lab were super busy because this is a short holiday week.
I am not the princess of patience, though. If I don’t hear from them by tomorrow afternoon, I expect my need for information will win against my need to not make phone calls.
Four Days Post-op
Homemade Pill Pockets
I tear off a small piece of flatbread (tortillas or chapatis work just as well), place the pill(s) on it, smear peanut butter along one edge, then roll it up and seal it with the peanut butter.
Then before I give the pill pocket to Frances, I make sure she sees the knife with the remainder of the peanut butter on it. This is key if the dog is picky. You want their greed to get the better of them. Frances is so busy thinking about the peanut butter on the knife that she Hoovers up the pill pocket as fast as she can. Then I let her lick the knife clean as a treat.
Three Days Post-op
The incision actually looks pretty good. There’s some bruising, but minimal swelling, and everything seems dry and clean.
Will Beg for Food
Frances says, “This thing isn’t funnel shaped for nothing, lady. Toss some food this way.”
I’m fairly confident that she’s feeling no pain. And she shouldn’t be, given the pain meds she’s on. I had to set up alarms on my phone, to keep them all straight and to ensure I don’t forget any.
I also made a chart to mark off the doses I’d given her, so I don’t have to rely on my Swiss cheese brain to remember.
Post Op Review
The vet said Frances wouldn’t eat for them this morning. That didn’t surprise me. She did the same thing when she had TTA surgery. I think the anesthesia just really knocks the wind out of their sails. My “secret weapon” is bonito flakes. You can buy them in the cat treat section of most pet supply shops. They’re meant to be sprinkled on cat food, as a treat, but I add them to warmed water. The warmth feels good and it enhances the stinky fish scent, which tempts the dog’s (or cat’s) appetite. It did the trick.
After she’d tanked up on some bonito flake-spiked water, Frances ate a full serving of food, and then she begged for my breadsticks.
That Face
She lost her ears temporarily, but they came back with her appetite. My little fruit bat has returned!
The vet was not able to get all the tumors with this surgery. Doing so would have removed too much skin, which would have stressed the sutures and risked them failing. That means she’ll have to have another surgery to get the remaining tumors. If all goes well, he wants to do that on the day she gets her sutures out.
So this ridiculous soap opera roller coaster is not over yet. Ugh. We should know on Monday what the histopathology report says, and that should help dictate what the next step is. If all the tumors that were removed are benign, then there isn’t as much of a rush to get the remaining ones. They still need to come out soon, but maybe not immediately. If any of them are malignant, then the next surgery will need to happen ASAP.
But for now, Frances is home and resting fairly comfortably.
Clouds
It drizzled all day, but the sky was kind of amazing when I left work.
Frances had her surgery. It was a dramatic roller coaster of a soap opera. The pre-op x-rays showed a shadow in one of her lungs, near the heart. That had to be sent to a radiology specialist for a rush reading. Turns out it was (probably) just a blood vessel or something similar that was supposed to be there and not a tumor. Hallelujah!
Then, before starting the surgery, the vet did a more thorough examination of Frances’ undercarriage. She had more than just the two tumors I found. He said he’d try to get as many as he could in this pass (all would be ideal), but that if he removed too much tissue, the skin would be over-strained and the sutures could fail. He ended up getting all the tumors on one side, but the ones on the other side will have to wait.
Good news: No drain.
Bad news: Frances is still lumpy.
Good/bad news: We’ll know if the tumors that were removed are evil before the next surgery, which will help make the decision on how quickly that needs to be done.
In the meantime, I’m dogless for the night, which is very weird. They’ll call me in the morning to let me know when I can pick up Frances. Probably fairly early, was the vet’s best guess.
Bath Time for Frances
Tomorrow is Franny’s surgery, so tonight she got a mani-pedi and a bath. Not her favorite things! Peanut butter helps, though.
Bedonacouch Is Pit Bull Approved
Frances was a little skeptical
at first, but it didn’t take her long to decide that bedonacouch is the beat thing EVAR.
red paper boat 