On Baby A's birthday, the c-section surgery went as planned. I walked into the OR around 9:30am and was pushed out around 2 hours later. W was instructed to wait outside while the team was getting me prepared for anesthesia. He then got invited to come in and sat next to me while the team worked on getting Baby A out of me 😂. W was a good DJ and Baby A was born while Taylor Swift's Shake It Off was being played. So...did I feel any pain during this life-changing surgery? No, I didn't. I had a spinal block. I never felt any type of pain during the surgery. Getting the anesthesia injected - however - was the most uncomfortable part of the surgery. There was a lot of pressure. I felt my back being pulled or pushed, or something. It just felt very uncomfortable, not painful, but very uncomfortable. It was also hard to try leaning toward the source of that uncomfortableness. Learning to relax while being uncomfortable was a very hard thing to do. But it was necessary. Once it...
Last Thursday night, William was petting Duke per usual on his bum and suddenly it led to Duke's cry. The petting stopped immediately of course, but Duke was crying and his butt & back legs were shaking. We laid him down on the carpet floor and he continued shaking for a few minutes before he sat down and eventually laid down and took a nap. He was able to walk down the stairs and went outside for potty that night. He didn't want to walk back upstairs, so I carried him straight to our bed and we slept through the night just like any other night. At one point while still on bed, I gently moved his legs and checked for signs of leg injury. No visible signs were found. He kicked us, tossed, and slept just how he has been for the last 4 years.
Then came the dreadful morning.
He woke up, seemingly fine and walked around on the bed just like he normally does every morning. I walked from bedside to the hallway, just about to head downstairs and then I heard him jump down the bed followed by a whimpering sound. I turned and saw him walking toward me slowly and noticed he was shaking his legs as he made his way toward me. He whimpered, and whimpered turned into cries. I sat down by him and called for William. We dropped everything and rushed to a Banfield. The location we normaly go to for his vaccines/check ups was too busy. We were referred to another location and had to do a drop in, rather than seeing and consulting with the vet face to face. I will always remember that morning - how frightening it was as I carried him from the floor, down to the garage, to the car and had him on my lap the whole time as he was shaking and crying, then carried him through a PetSmart store to get to the Banfield hospital where he was checked in. The receptionist was very kind and kept talking to Duke. Duke returned his warmth by shaking his tail while still being carried in my arms, despite the large amount of pain he was in.
After check in, we were greeted by a technician, who ran down a list of questions with some I thought were just inappropriate. For instance, one question was "would you like us to trim his nails today?" Just What. The. Hell. I shouted "no." The technician must saw my face and immediately apologized and said it's a random question on the screen and that she must ask all questions on the screen before proceeding to the next page...then she carefully held Duke and explained the procedures of exams, and informed us the doctor won't see us at that time "because she's in another room"....and will give us a call after she sees Duke.
We dropped Duke off at around 11am that morning, authorized for x-rays and waited and got sent home and waited, waited, and waited for the doctor's call. We finally got the call around 4 and heard that the xrays confirmed of no broken bones, but his spine...has inflmammation near his hips and shoulders. Duke has been prescribed with 3 medications and "low activity" for 6 weeks, basically a bed rest as the doctor puts it. No jumping, no running, no stairs, no neighborhood walks, and keep him in a crate for most times.
We picked him up at 6:30 that night. He was so happy to see us, his tiny little tail was wagging and he acted as if he's in no pain. I held him in my arms from Banfield to the car and sat with him in the back seat. We had to make a stop at an Albertson's as it was the nearest store that had a pharmacy so we could pick up the prescriptions for Duke. William went in to the store and I stayed in the car with Duke. Duke grew anxious and was walking around in the car even though he wasn't supposed to move around much. The pain meds must have helped a lot because he was so stubborn on moving and I didn't want to put too much pressure on him by holding him too tight. Then it clicked me he was couped inside the hospital for a whole day, maybe potty break? So I carried him out of the car and slowly put him down by a small bush just by the parking lot. He immediately "let go" and peed for what seemed like forever....maybe a whole minute? Or maybe even longer than a minute? Then he shook his whole body, a habit he has after potty, and I carried him back to the car and he was a lot more calm then.
I carried him to the computer room as soon as we got home and his recovery time began. He passed out in his crate almost immediately after he was put in, though hours later he banged at the crate and wanted out. We know the crate would help with confining him in a safe space but we also wanted him to sleep more rather than spending time on banging at the crate, especially he's got a spine to rest well for. So eventually I let him out of the crate and we slept on the floor in the computer room together.
After lots of discussions and trials, we decided we will spend most of his recovery time in the computer room, where we normally spend most of our evening time in. Also, because there is no furniture in there that Duke would want to jump on. Before this incident, his daily routine consisted of lazy naps & chew chews of his toys on his bed right by us in the computer room. We want to not let him feel left out during this recovery time and keep him as comfortable as possible, so we made the computer room an enclosed area of the house.
Coincidentally, there's a bathroom right next to the computer room and the laundry room is across from the computer room, wherein accomodates the litter box for our cats. With 1 pet gate and how the floorplan is laid out, we're able to enclose the computer room while still allowing humans and cats to access the bathroom (or litter box). There's a drinking fountain that was already hooked and placed in the computer room before the incident so it works well with keeping furry ones hydrated throughout night. We pulled out a mattress from a sofa bed and placed it in the computer room. The mattress is quite thin, but it makes it better than just sleeping on the carpeted floor. Added a layer of sleep bag on top of the mattress, also topped off with some blankets so it's not bad to lay on. At night, 2 humans and 1 doggo sleep on the mattress while the cats sleep on either the cat tree (which Duke never showed interest of) or on the mattress as well. I was a bit worried that Beibei and Lulu may be a bit at the end of the bargain because whenever we're in the computer room, they're also "confined" to the area, though they seem to not mind it at all. In a way it seems like this recovery has brought all of us closer because the cats used to sleep in different rooms at night as they had the full access to the whole house. It's been a while since all five of us have slept on the same mattress throughout the night. Oh and it's a full size mattress, a lot cozier than our king sized bed.
In general, Duke spends most of the daytime either in the computer room or in an enclosed pen in the living room. At night, he sleeps with us on the floor just fine. No begging to go out of the computer room, no whimpering, no signs of discomfort. So far this system is working out very well. We will keep him in his crate when no one can be home, this will begin exactly a week from today when I begin my new job. He makes a sound we recognize for potty and we time his meals/meds and kind of know his potty schedule. We carry him in and out of the computer room/pen everyday/whenever need to. He seems to be growing fond of being carried to the grass for potty instead of the usual running down the stairs and back up.
It's Monday; day 4 since the dreadful morning. Fuve weeks and three days left to go!!
Then came the dreadful morning.
He woke up, seemingly fine and walked around on the bed just like he normally does every morning. I walked from bedside to the hallway, just about to head downstairs and then I heard him jump down the bed followed by a whimpering sound. I turned and saw him walking toward me slowly and noticed he was shaking his legs as he made his way toward me. He whimpered, and whimpered turned into cries. I sat down by him and called for William. We dropped everything and rushed to a Banfield. The location we normaly go to for his vaccines/check ups was too busy. We were referred to another location and had to do a drop in, rather than seeing and consulting with the vet face to face. I will always remember that morning - how frightening it was as I carried him from the floor, down to the garage, to the car and had him on my lap the whole time as he was shaking and crying, then carried him through a PetSmart store to get to the Banfield hospital where he was checked in. The receptionist was very kind and kept talking to Duke. Duke returned his warmth by shaking his tail while still being carried in my arms, despite the large amount of pain he was in.
After check in, we were greeted by a technician, who ran down a list of questions with some I thought were just inappropriate. For instance, one question was "would you like us to trim his nails today?" Just What. The. Hell. I shouted "no." The technician must saw my face and immediately apologized and said it's a random question on the screen and that she must ask all questions on the screen before proceeding to the next page...then she carefully held Duke and explained the procedures of exams, and informed us the doctor won't see us at that time "because she's in another room"....and will give us a call after she sees Duke.
We dropped Duke off at around 11am that morning, authorized for x-rays and waited and got sent home and waited, waited, and waited for the doctor's call. We finally got the call around 4 and heard that the xrays confirmed of no broken bones, but his spine...has inflmammation near his hips and shoulders. Duke has been prescribed with 3 medications and "low activity" for 6 weeks, basically a bed rest as the doctor puts it. No jumping, no running, no stairs, no neighborhood walks, and keep him in a crate for most times.
We picked him up at 6:30 that night. He was so happy to see us, his tiny little tail was wagging and he acted as if he's in no pain. I held him in my arms from Banfield to the car and sat with him in the back seat. We had to make a stop at an Albertson's as it was the nearest store that had a pharmacy so we could pick up the prescriptions for Duke. William went in to the store and I stayed in the car with Duke. Duke grew anxious and was walking around in the car even though he wasn't supposed to move around much. The pain meds must have helped a lot because he was so stubborn on moving and I didn't want to put too much pressure on him by holding him too tight. Then it clicked me he was couped inside the hospital for a whole day, maybe potty break? So I carried him out of the car and slowly put him down by a small bush just by the parking lot. He immediately "let go" and peed for what seemed like forever....maybe a whole minute? Or maybe even longer than a minute? Then he shook his whole body, a habit he has after potty, and I carried him back to the car and he was a lot more calm then.
I carried him to the computer room as soon as we got home and his recovery time began. He passed out in his crate almost immediately after he was put in, though hours later he banged at the crate and wanted out. We know the crate would help with confining him in a safe space but we also wanted him to sleep more rather than spending time on banging at the crate, especially he's got a spine to rest well for. So eventually I let him out of the crate and we slept on the floor in the computer room together.
After lots of discussions and trials, we decided we will spend most of his recovery time in the computer room, where we normally spend most of our evening time in. Also, because there is no furniture in there that Duke would want to jump on. Before this incident, his daily routine consisted of lazy naps & chew chews of his toys on his bed right by us in the computer room. We want to not let him feel left out during this recovery time and keep him as comfortable as possible, so we made the computer room an enclosed area of the house.
Coincidentally, there's a bathroom right next to the computer room and the laundry room is across from the computer room, wherein accomodates the litter box for our cats. With 1 pet gate and how the floorplan is laid out, we're able to enclose the computer room while still allowing humans and cats to access the bathroom (or litter box). There's a drinking fountain that was already hooked and placed in the computer room before the incident so it works well with keeping furry ones hydrated throughout night. We pulled out a mattress from a sofa bed and placed it in the computer room. The mattress is quite thin, but it makes it better than just sleeping on the carpeted floor. Added a layer of sleep bag on top of the mattress, also topped off with some blankets so it's not bad to lay on. At night, 2 humans and 1 doggo sleep on the mattress while the cats sleep on either the cat tree (which Duke never showed interest of) or on the mattress as well. I was a bit worried that Beibei and Lulu may be a bit at the end of the bargain because whenever we're in the computer room, they're also "confined" to the area, though they seem to not mind it at all. In a way it seems like this recovery has brought all of us closer because the cats used to sleep in different rooms at night as they had the full access to the whole house. It's been a while since all five of us have slept on the same mattress throughout the night. Oh and it's a full size mattress, a lot cozier than our king sized bed.
In general, Duke spends most of the daytime either in the computer room or in an enclosed pen in the living room. At night, he sleeps with us on the floor just fine. No begging to go out of the computer room, no whimpering, no signs of discomfort. So far this system is working out very well. We will keep him in his crate when no one can be home, this will begin exactly a week from today when I begin my new job. He makes a sound we recognize for potty and we time his meals/meds and kind of know his potty schedule. We carry him in and out of the computer room/pen everyday/whenever need to. He seems to be growing fond of being carried to the grass for potty instead of the usual running down the stairs and back up.
It's Monday; day 4 since the dreadful morning. Fuve weeks and three days left to go!!
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