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[sweetdogs]

Hunter has a consultation with a surgeon on Monday. Thank you, Mary Pat for the recommendation! Keep your fingers crossed that we get there without another anxiety attack.

How did everything go?

[Guest greytfulhounds]

I am sorry I have not gotten here sooner with an update on Hunter. Hunter had his appointment with the surgeon Monday & things went well. He did pretty good on the drive to the visit but had a little bit of anxiety & trouble breathing while we were in the office but nothing like the anxiety attack he had when we were last at the regular vet.

 

The surgeon was great, very good with Hunter & very patient with me & my list of questions. I feel very confident putting my baby in his hands. Hunter's surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, 11/23. We could have done it sooner but my husband will be home that entire week & I am off that Thursday & Friday so Hunter will have one or both of us home with him for the first 5 days after surgery. The surgeon said he will come home 3 hours after surgery as he does not believe in keeping them any longer. He said to keep them longer causes the dog stress & could increase chances of AP.

 

I am still nervous about him going under & having the surgery but feel very confident with the doctor & the facility itself.

 

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences & for the support. I will update after surgery to let you all know how he did!

[Guest greytfulhounds]

Hunter had his tie-back surgery done on Tuesday. Overall he seems to be doing well. He had a rough night Tuesday night but I think that was more from the anesthesia & meds. He was much better by last night & this morning. He has eaten a couple of small meals but does not seem to have a huge appetite right now. Just taking things slow & letting him dictate the pace.

 

Thank you all for the support & all of the great information as we made the decision for surgery. Happy Thanksgiving to you & your hounds!

[duncan41]

:yay Greyt News! Happy Thanksgiving and continued uneventful recovery for Hunter! :yay

[sweetdogs]

That's wonderful news!

[MP_the4pack]

I'm glad the surgery went well. And I hope he has a complete and wonderful recovery!

[Guest greytfulhounds]

Wanted to stop by with another Hunter update, tomorrow will be one week since surgery & we are struggling with the eating & recovery.

 

Hunter was giving me a hard time with eating so I called the specialty center where he had his surgery yesterday. They felt strongly that he should be seen & in hindsight I should have requested they call his surgeon first.

 

We made the 30 mile trip & because the center turns into a 24 hour ER after hours they did not treat this like a regular visit & would not let me go back with Hunter. They took him from sitting on his blanket in the waiting room & turned him into an anxiety ridden mess!

 

The doctor sent a tech out to the waiting room at the point that Hunter's temp was 107.9, he was salivating & frothing at the mouth, pacing & panting with his back end giving out as he walked. The tech said the doctor wanted to set me up in a room because they thought it might calm him to be with me.

 

The doctor felt he was not calming down & we should take him out to the car, in his own surroundings & he would calm down. We got him to the car & opened the doors hoping the cold air would calm him....he just seemed to get worse.

 

The doctor then decided that he was not calming in the car & called two techs out to carry him back into the facility. I insisted to go in the back with him this time! They sedated him, repeatedly. Every time he came to they gave him a little more, iced him down, alcohol on his pads, x-rays of lungs & blood work. I INSISTED they call his surgeon!

 

Finally got his temp down & $700.00 later they wanted to send him home partially sedated so that he would get home without issue. So, they put him on a cart, wheeled him out to the car & put him in my back seat.

 

The surgeon finally called back just before we were leaving & the surgeon believes his problem from the beginning was acid reflux & needed more stomach meds. No AP detected & no need for all that they put him through.

 

It did not end there. I got him home about 11:15 pm or so & the sedation was wearing off...for the next 5 plus hours he panted, paced, shook & salivated. I called their facility at around 1:30 am. Thankfully the doctor that first treated him was gone. The new doctor looked at the notes from the first doctor & said that the first doctor not only injected him, repeatedly, with a sedative that only lasts for about 10-15 minutes (which is why they kept injecting him) but she gave him a shot of a pain med & that the pain med was what was still making him like this.....she said that the pain med affects would usually last about 5-6 hours. So for the next several hours I tried to calm him & finally, somewhere around 4:00 am or so he collapsed on his bed, let out a big sigh & went to sleep.

 

He is very tired today, still has not eaten anything but a couple of treats. I can only imagine that at this point his throat is a mess. I really hate being so helpless. I would do anything to make him okay.

[MP_the4pack]

I'm so sorry you're going thru this!! I've never used their ER service, just regular hours. I hope he improves!!

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed. Did the surgeon put him on Pepcid? (He did that with Onyx)

[Guest greytfulhounds]

I talked with the surgeon this afternoon, who is also the founder of the facility where we had the procedure done. He was outraged at what happened to us last night & the fact that he was not consulted until things had gone horribly wrong. He listened to my anger, helped me with what to do to get Hunter eating, gave me his personal cell number to call him directly & not the facility if there are any other problems, credited my entire bill & called again this evening to see if Hunter had eaten & how he was doing. He also called my personal vet expressing his outrage at what happened & how he was working to help us get things back on track.

 

I have to say I was surprised & pleased with the professional manner in which he is trying to make things right.

 

He had me give Hunter the metroclopramide they sent me home with last night & make him some scrambled eggs. Hunter took the medication with a treat & ate all the scrambled eggs. He also wanted me to make him eggs, chicken, rice & broth for the next several days & to put them in the processor to mash them up. I went out & got all of that tonight & just finished cooking. He did stress that the metroclopramide will not be a long term thing, just until we get his GI system back in order.

 

I can not believe all that has happened in the last 24 hours but am so relieved that for now things are turning around for the positive. Hoping & praying that Hunter's appetite picks up. I will cook for him for the rest of his life if it makes him happy!

[mangos_mom]

Sorry that you had to go through all that, but glad to hear that things seem to be turning around. And impressed with the surgeon's response to all of it. to you all

[sweetdogs]

I'm glad to hear Hunter is doing better. I hope this is the last bump in the road & that he's better than ever very soon.

[Guest MnMDogs]

I've been thinking about you and Hunter, and I'm so sorry that you've both had such a hard time. But it sounds like he's turned a corner and is on the road to recovery. Do you know if this is typical of the surgery, or if it was made worse by other gi issues? Continued good thoughts headed your way.

[MP_the4pack]

Holy Cow!

 

Now that is what I call customer service. I'm so glad this doctor came thru for you. I'm sorry the ER was such a catastrophe, but I'm glad the surgeon put things right.

 

I feel better about staying with them for their specialty services. (Pearl used the cardiologist there for 8 yrs)

 

(by the way, for those that don't know, my Onyx had her LP tieback done by this doctor almost 5 yrs ago, when she was 11, and is still chugging along now at 15)

 

Hunter, feel better baby.

[mangos_mom]

How's Hunter doing today?

[ZoomDoggy]

Yikes. I just saw the good update and the scary one. I'm sorry you went through that with the e-vet. I hope that's all in the past now and you're on to good appetite and clear breathing from here on out!

[Guest greytfulhounds]

Hunter has had a good day today. I was almost afraid to type this as I do not want to jinx anything!

 

The surgeon added Reglan to his Pepcid yesterday along with scrambled eggs, chicken, rice & broth. So far, Hunter has had 4 small meals in the last 24 hours & is getting ready for his dinner which will be his 5th. He had a good stool this morning & 2 small amounts of soft stool but the surgeon feels that the rice will help that. The surgeon thought that the whole original issues were acid reflux related & with this added med would help & it has. He stressed that the Reglan would only be short term until we got the GI tract going again & that he would take the Pepcid for life. So far, so good.....am hoping we are on our way to recovery.

 

Overall, minus the weekend issues, this surgery has been a positive for his breathing.....what a difference!!

 

Thank you all again for all of the kind words, support & advice.....it has really meant a lot. I just lost my Danny to osteo a month ago so my emotions have been at an even higher level than normal over Hunter's surgery & recovery.

[Batmom]

Glad your boy is having a better day today. Can imagine how worried you've been. Hugs to both of you.