Well everybody told me rest rest rest yesterday I only got 2 hours of sleep! I had so much going on. Now she is home, and doing well. She is in bed for the night YAY ME 😉 Now we can move on to day two! NOw I gotta get her nice and healed so we can get her a pretty new hair cut so she can feel so much better! The groomers havent been willing to take her sinc she got hurt ;( Anyways, rambling again…. Thanks for all the support, I have one question, but bumps in the road, and ups and downs what are the bumps and what are the downs that you all talk about? Just so I know and prepare myself for htem? Thanks so much to everybody!
I’m so glad she’s home and settled in! That’s a definite ‘up’ moment!
I found the ‘downs’ are times of worry or discouragement. Baby would do better and then overdo a little, have some discomfort and get kind of sad about having to lay around again. It’s easy to get real excited about progress, so when she’s just resting all day again it’s a let-down. The meds can cause some strange behaviors as well. It’s easy to start to worry about whether or not she’ll ever have a great quality of life. The amazing thing is, that now that she’s recovered most of the worry has gone away, her personality has returned. She still overdoes and has rest days, but it’s not as big a deal.
Just take it a day at a time and remember – Recovery is a temporary condition!
Right now it seems she’s doing so well – so breathe, relax and sleep!
Hugs and Slobbers
Judy and Baby
I had similar experiences to Judy’s. Our ups and downs were mostly due to overdoing things, but on about day 4 or so Dakota seemed to crash. He appeared to be very depressed and unwilling to even make the attempt to get up. I can remember having to almost drag him outside with a sling on him just to get him to try to pee. At the time I knew intellectually it was a bump in the road that had been described to me; emotionally I wanted to lay down and sob.
Do remember that Sophie will continue to look to you for guidance on how to react to life now. If you seem upset about some aspect of her recovery, she will very likely sense it and she may respond poorly. I guess the best advise is to be a cheerleader with a grin on your face at all times. Then go to the bathroom and be unhappy. Just remember to look in the mirror and put your happy face back on.
And don’t ever be afraid to ask questions in the forum, even if you think it’s weird or has probably been asked before. Sometimes things are urgent and we don’t have time to search for it in the history. That’s ok. Go to the chat room and see who’s there and ask for help if you need it. If no one’s there, leave it open in the background for awhile and see if someone shows up.
Breathe. Pet your dog. Smell her fur. Be thankful she’s here.
Shari
Judy and Shari summed it up perfectly when Judy said recovery is a temporary condition and Shari said Breathe. Pet your dog. Smell her fur. Be thankful she’s here. Powerful insight from these two wonderful people.
Boomer is going for his 2 month ampuversary check -up next Tuesday. Our roller coaster has been about the same as Baby with the acceptation Boomer is a lot smaller being a Golden Retriever not a Mastiff. Medication seemed to be one of the biggest problems with me because Boomer seemed depressed (a side effect of the meds) then, we have stairs and he wanted to join the pack and not stay on the entry level in the living room during recovery. (Heartbreaking) But now, that is behind us. He still has ups and downs from over doing it, and his hair hasn’t finished growing back yet so he still has a bad haircut But for the most part, he gets around like he used to only with a unique hop instead of a smooth gait. So hang in there, get rest when you can, stay strong for your wonderful fur baby and remember we are all here for you.
Boomer and Tina
Judy and Shari said it well. Don’t be surprised if you see a bit of a crash after the adrenalin rush of coming home and once the soreness sets in (you know how when you go to the gym and the sore muscles REALLY kick in about two days later? – Kinda the same here, I think). If the ‘crash’ hits, don’t get discouraged, it will pass. Good luck with recovery!
Lisa