It’s no surprise that yesterday was as emotionally overwhelming as it was for all of us. The sheer amount of guilt I’m feeling does not want to let go. She started whining a lot and that’s when we noticed she peed the bed again so we got her up and saw that pee had soaked her compression onesie that she needs to wear. I called the surgeon and asked the following:
- Is this normal for her to be peeing in bed?
- What can I do about the shirt?
They said, yes, it’s normal for her to wet the bed. They said I could remove her onesie and wash it. So that’s what we did. Amazingly after we took off the harness and her shirt she fell asleep right away. We put a towel over her bandage and then put a heating pad on top of it. After that we put a blanket over her. She was out like a light. She hadn’t slept like that since we picked her up. I felt like it was a little victory.
We left the apartment for about an hour or so to go see some friends down the street. Maggie was sleeping so we figured she’d be fine. When we got home she had gotten up by herself, drank an entire bowl of water, and put herself back to bed. Second victory. She does have heart.
She started whining slightly so we got her up and took her outside. She peed all by herself in her normal squatting position. That’s the third victory of the night.
She slept through the night and didn’t wet the bed. This morning she got up and was able to pee again by herself. We can see she’s figuring out her back legs as she walks out into the yard. It’s incredible. She wanted to sniff all around the yard and it ended up being too much for her so she just laid down in the dirt. We rested there together, on the ground, for about ten minutes. Heading back into the apartment she saw her boyfriend, our neighbor Mike, and headed over to him as quickly as possible, tail wagging like crazy, thrilled to see him.
When we came back in the apartment she wanted to hang out so she insisted on lounging on her rug by the couch. She stayed there for a bit, went and laid down in bed, but then got up a little while later to hang out in the living room with us.
She has a few fleeces that are cozy so I sewed the left leg hole in one of them and put it over her compression onesie. It now fully covers her bandage. I’ll be sewing the other one later today. We took a family nap and when I woke up I made some lunch for her since she hadn’t really eaten yet. She sat up in bed, ate her chicken and dog food while I sat next to her. Now, she’s sleeping again with the heating pad on her wound area.
I look at her and I feel this immense amount of guilt watching her struggle and I think I’m being dumb because she’s pulling through. It’s going to be a rough recovery especially as she builds up strength on her right side to compensate. Regardless of how I feel she is just doing her thing and doing what she can. She gets up when she feels like she can and puts herself to sleep when she knows she needs to sleep. She gets tired easily when she’s moving around but she seems okay. She looks at me with her sweet eyes and I love her. I tell her this all the time and I try to reassure (or maybe me) that this new normal will be just fine as we get out of this stage.
Hanging out post lunch
Maggie and me 