A soothing voice.

The hardest sound to hear and sight to see, is your partner in such pain. Although Winston's surgery went very well and just as they hoped it would, his incision is double the length and his pain is much higher than I expected. Since we arrived home he has not stopped crying, whimpering, and howling. I'm doing everything that I possibly can without breaking the Dr.'s orders and he only stops crying when he hears my voice or is being pet by someone. I spent the entire night falling asleep talking to him and then being woken up by his cries reminding me to continue talking. My mom slept half of the night with him so that I could sleep. I had nightmares on and off about his incision opening and finding blood everywhere. I cannot use words to describe how hard it is to see him like this.

As long as I keep talking to him, using his name and "good boy" he is quiet...

In the car!

Well i got word around 3pm that winston was recovering great and that i could pick him up after 5! So im grabbing dinner after work and going straight to the hospital! I miss my baby! Ill update tonight when i get home. Thanks so much for all of the support!

The day before his surgery...

Well, I can't help but spoil Winston today. Tomorrow at this time he'll be under and having his spine cut open. I've been pretty sick all week so it worked out to his advantage - mom is home with him. He's been curled up on his bed watching tv while I knit and retrieving the needle every time that it falls. I think we'll take a short walk in a little while and maybe do one nice grooming session too. I'm very nervous and very upset that my digital camera is broken because I WANT new pictures of him. Anyway, just updating to update. He'll have his last meal this afternoon and then water will be taken at midnight. Thanks for all of your support.

More Illness Discoveries

The Bad News: It has been discovered through lumbar x-rays that Winston has severe spinal inflamation. He requires a surgery called a Dorsal Laminectomy in order to reduce this inflamation. He is scheduled to have the surgery done at Palmyra Animal Clinic on September 27th. The recovery is projected to be anywhere from 6 to 12 wks and he will have physical therapy starting in the 2nd week of recovery. The Dorsal Laminectomy has roughly a 65% success rate.

The Good News: There is a great chance that Winston, pending the success of the surgery, Winston might be able to go back to work! We have put my placement with a new dog on hold until we see how Winston's recovery goes. Hopefully Winston's IBD is directly related to the stress of his spinal inflamation.

Winnie is resting on his new Urban Sprawl.

Winston continues to eat Hill's Prescription Diet i/d along with Tagamet twice a day and Prednisone once every other day.

We'll try to update more often, thanks for being patient!