Rollercoaster!

Thanks once again for all of the supportive and helpful comments!  I know y’all know how important they are as you’ve been there.  🙂

Yesterday I returned to work for the first time since Toto’s surgery.  My husband and kids were home with Toto and we pharmacists must open our stores on the weekends.  ;0)  Before I left, I noticed a bit of seepage from Toto’s incision.  Unlike some of your blogs I’ve read and photos I’ve seen online, our Toto has no bandages.  Her incision (which is somewhat horrific) was left uncovered and clean with (though I haven’t counted) nearly 100 stitches.  We’ve been using old t-shirts that I’ve tailored to kinda fit her to cover it up so we don’t have to stare at it and we’ve found it keeps her from trying to scratch at it.  Anyway, I asked Dan (the hubby) to call the vet if it got any worse…which he did.  To which they replied, “If it’s not dark it’s just seepage so you shouldn’t worry.”  The family left Toto alone for about 2 hours and when they returned home my husband could not get the bleeding/seepage stopped.  UGH!  I’m at work, unable to leave due to what I do and my husband is NOT a worrier!  Long story short, he decides to take her to the emergency animal clinic…the only place open I think in the state of WV on the weekends!  Longer story short, they removed a few stitches, they drain the incision, test it for infection (even though Toto is still on an antibiotic), stitch Toto back up – all without sedation – and determine that it was normal seepage that should be occurring but it had formed a pocket under the skin and had collected.  AAHH!  So, not a wasted trip and this morning she’s still seeping a little but now we kinda know what to expect.  And we were told to use warm compresses and to try to “milk” the fluid toward the incision to help it come out the correct way.

Whew!  My blood pressure meds had a workout yesterday!  Back to work for this weary pharmacist today, but at least I know my Toto is in my family’s very, very, very capable hands.  Very thankful for my husband.  I have no clue what mental state I’d be in without him.  🙂

 

4 thoughts on “Rollercoaster!”

  1. uggg….. that is a rollercoaster!!! Hopefully the seepage will slow down ( or STOP) today! I know it has to be tough to be at work and know that all of this is going on but like you said, thank goodness she is in good hands!! Hopefully she can spend most of the day sleeping and that might help the leaking? Tank loved having a warm clothe on his incision… even for just a few min. He hasn’t had any drainage issues but I guess it is like a human with a heating pad.. it just feels darn good 🙂
    Just wanted to let you know my thoughts are with you and Toto and I look forward to seeing an update that she had a great day!!!!

    Lisa and Tank 🙂

  2. Aww I”m sorry. Yeah, unfortunately seromas are nasty business. They’re common though and usually not dangerous. The drain will really help.

    It’s so hard leaving them for the first time isn’t it? Hugs coming your way.

  3. A little after the fact, and I wish I’d mentioned it earlier, but Happy Hannah had a HORRIBLE sero a for at least two weeks! It would justhang under the skin under and above the incision and would get tennks ball size—then maybe go down a touch–then swell way back up. I took her back to my vet a couple of times and, each time, he told me as long as it wasn’t stinky, smelly and oozing infection stuff’ it was just a lot of fluid waiti g to be absorbed into the system.

    Fortunately, she never appeared to have an infectio ….her surgery site wasn’t nearly as “pretty” as the ones I saw posted either! Yep, and they didn’t do any bandaging either!

    REALLY sorry Toto had to go through all this, especially the restitching. Ugh! Tell your husband he’s a good bo and give him a treat! Nice job hubby!

    Hopefuly’ everything will settle down i to a “normal” recovery—whatever that is:-) 🙂

    Thanks for the update! I kowit’s hsrd to believe right now, but Toto will recoverand feel sooooo much better! PROMISE!

    Lots of love,

    Sally and Happy Hannah

  4. Poor Toto – No matter what the vets tell us is normal, we wouldn’t be good pawrents if we didn’t worry over things. Seromas are pretty normal, but glad you got it looked at and it sounds like all is well. The T-shirts are great to protect the incision. Shooter only had a bandage for two days and was very glad to get it off so I’m sure Toto is better off without one. Like Sally said, Shooter’s incision was quite ugly and it took weeks for it to flatten out and required some fixing by our local vet (who didn’t do the surgery) to get it right. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the hair will grow back.

    Give Toto a big hug and hugs to you too!!

    Luanne & Shooter

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