Megan's Abby 4/2014 surgery NECK

ISU called and said Abby has more pain this morning than yesterday, but Dr. Jeffery said that's common. They are going to give her Gabapentin and see how she does throughout the day. If all goes well, I will bring her home tomorrow. I will get my list of questions together tonight and make sure everything is ready at home.

I pick her up tomorrow morning! She still has pain, but they feel she's ready to come home. Of course, we will discuss meds, acupuncture, etc. She has always been very sensitive, almost like something a normal dog might seem uncomfortable with is enough to make her scream, so it's hard to tell if it is hypersensitivity or drama queen behavior. We have to err on the side of pain to be safe, though. I'm hoping that getting her into her own environment where there is less stress and she can get more sleep will help with healing. It's going to be a lot of work staying on top of her meds and appointments, but I think I prefer that over a too quiet house.

Abby is home. She was really excited to see me and whined until the car started moving. She wants to be in her crate and just sleep which I am fine with. The only med she is on is Gabapentin. She does seem to be rather thirsty, could this be caused by the Gabapentin? Or could it be from the Prednisone shot they gave her? They said that would stay in her system for about 3 days and it was given to her on Tuesday afternoon.

She ate fine, went out with no problems and has not cried in pain, just whined for attention.

She is scratching at the incision. Right now the bandage is protecting it, but it is falling off. Dr. Jeffrey said it was fine if it came off, but I may end up taking her to her regular vet to get another one put on tomorrow so she doesn't rip any of the stitches out.

Overall, I think she is doing good, but she still has healing to do before she is back to her normal self. It's good to have her home, though.

Abby is getting
100 mg Gabapentin every 8 hours and
25 mg Tramadol every 8 hours, as needed.

Her bandage was halfway off tonight and she scratched and ended up pulling a stitch. It bled a little, so I took her to ER since no one else was open and she continued to try to scratch. The vet working wrapped up her entire upper body to the point that she couldn't comfortably lay down and it was making breathing difficult. I went back and forth with him about it and ended up coming home and cutting it off because he wouldn't fix it.

I am livid! Unfortunately, her regular vet is closed tomorrow due to a family event. Right now, I have gauze on it and some tape that isn't sticking very well. I might have to put a lightweight, loose t-shirt on her for extra protection until I can get her in to get something better on. I don't know what else to do.

Other than that, she has some pain until the meds kick in, but not doing too bad overall today.

I'm now alternating the Gabapentin and Tramadol every 4 hours (eg Gabapentin at noon, Tramadol at 4pm, Gabapentin at 8pm, etc.) and it's working like a charm. She seems to be pain free. She even rolled over when I went to pick her up because she wanted to sniff around the house instead of going outside. I'm very happy with her progress.

I'm still having the issue with her trying to scratch the incision area. I have a bandage on it. The tape isn't holding well so I have some vet wrap around the top and bottom of it and I have a t-shirt on her that is loose enough to not irritate the incision, but fits wells enough that she can't get it off to scratch. Good thing she us used to wearing sweaters and coats, so she doesn't mind it at all.

Six weeks post surgery and Abby is doing great! We are weaning her off her meds and starting to take short walks to introduce activity back to her. Of course, she thinks she should be able to run and roll around, so I have my hands full trying to control her. We will continue with acupuncture and laser therapy and pray that she has had her last disc episode.