Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Luna Petunia is in Surgery



We had a lovely long weekend vacation in a cabin nestled in the mountains of Tennessee. I'll share about that in the next day or two (not much to tell though, there was a lot of lollygagging!) but today was our first day back to civilization and reality and it's been a tough one.

Luna has her reconstructive knee surgery today. I had to take her to the vet this morning, my alarm decided it didn't need to go off and I woke up 10 minutes before we were supposed to be there. So I threw on pants, hopped in the car, called and let them know we'd be 10 minutes late and off we went. Which was a total bummer, because I had hoped to spend some time lazing on the couch with her before I had to leave her. Luckily, the consultation and admissions process took nearly an hour, so we got to snuggle up together before she was escorted out by a vet tech.

Which is hard enough on me anyway. Every time I have to leave her at the vet I feel horrible and sad, walking out of there with a dogless leash. Today the tech handed me her collar for safe keeping before she escorted Luna away and I literally ran out the door so I wouldn't cry in the office. The only time I've ever been handed any of my dog's collars has been after they've passed away. The feelings associated with that simple act are so visceral and overwhelming that I couldn't keep it together. When I rolled in to the Starbucks drive thru to grab a quick breakfast I'm sure the girl at the window was a tad freaked out by the waterworks.

I won't hear anything about how she's doing or how the surgery went until late this afternoon. The surgery itself is to re-align her leg, since she has a genetic defect which caused it to grow a bit curved instead of straight, so her tendons keep her knee cap from sitting properly and therefore keep her leg from working properly. They'll be cutting off a chuck of leg bone and reattaching it in order to straighten the line of her tendon, as well as moving a smaller tendon so that everything will be properly aligned and functional. She'll be in recovery for the next 8 weeks, no running or jumping. Just very, very leisurely 5 minute strolls out to go potty and bed rest for the first little bit and then very slow increases in activity from there.

She's a jack. and a young jack at that. So this bed rest, no running, no jumping thing will probably amount to quite a bit of confinement and being tethered to me with a lease 100% of the time. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm keeping myself as distracted as possible and waiting for my phone to ring.

P.S.


This painting was in the room we were in while doing the admissions thing and every time Luna would look at it she would growl. Guess she's not a fan of Warhol? :)

5 comments:

  1. sending good wishes and healing energy to your puppers!
    blessings
    ~*~

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  2. Lots and lots of love for your fur baby and you!

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  3. Oh poor Luna and poor you! Hoping you are both recovering nicely very soon. Ha ha - so funny that Luna barked at that painting. My dog used to bark aggressively at the first snowman in our yard every single Winter.

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  4. Oh, poor you! (Luna will be fine, lol)

    I know just how you feel. A much beloved spaniel I had a long time ago had to have surgery to remove a harmless tumor. I broke down in tears when the vet told me, much to my embarrassment. I understand completely how walking out of there with a dogless leash feels...heartbreaking. But it's going to be a good thing for her leg to be fixed! And I have a coworker whose hound mix had to have a very, very similar sounding surgery as Luna's last year. She's doing GREAT and feels so much better. I'm sure it will be that way for sweet Luna, too. :)

    Best wishes to you both!

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