Wednesday, April 2, 2014

There's No Place Like Home

Wednesday at noon, AU vets gave me an appointment to pick Cole up at 2 PM...right in the middle of my workday.  No problem:  the joys of being self-employed and having great clients.

As soon as I'd paid my $2600, we made our escape.

In spite of being dope up, Cole began whining in the back seat as soon as he saw his pastures.


Poor guy was stoned out of his mind, so he couldn't figure out how to get the treats out of the Kong.  I went back to work for three hours, came home...treats were untouched.  My little genius.


In spite of being cross eyed, he found and demolished his supper.


 
 

Hard to get a good picture of the leg.  But, compared to the last surgery,

 
with its 7" incision, this bandage is tiny in comparison.  The bandage comes off tomorrow. Cole remains crate-bound for a month, only out to do his business.
  So far, I'm bubbling with optimism, Cole doesn't seem distressed at all-- or is that the codeine that was hiding in his supper?  His ankle is full of edema, jiggly like a lunch lady's arms. He's already confirmed to start hydrotherapy sessions in 4 weeks with Liz Hodson.  How's that for quick recovery time?  In 4 months, he should be running (not warp speed).  Our trip home to Canada may not need to be postponed yet again.  
 
Jinx, who should have been overjoyed that the Golden Boy was gone for a while, refused to eat for two days.  Tuesday he ate his supper that I spoon fed to him and he returned much of it to me in the form of digesta nicely presented on the bed.  Why does he like to puke on the bed?  The kitchen's linoleum floor is five feet away.
He perked right up when his arch nemesis was back home.  Masochist.
 
 
While Cole was TKO'd next to my desk, Jinx laid close by (in lieu if his usual residence:  King size bed).  Weirdo.
 
 Myself, residing between two vet schools, have gotten the best of both.  The first surgery at Tuskegee was successful at first, but then not.  Now the baton's been passed to Dr. Montgomery at Auburn.  Persistence should pay off, right? 
 
I have faith that this one will work and that I won't be needing to shop around for the following with Mud Grip tires.
 
 
The staff at AU even painted his toe nails.  I've never had a manicure!
 
 
That proves to me that the student in charge of his critical care did indeed spend a lot of time with him!  The vet student, Olga Norris, deserves five gold stars!  She even iced his wound every 6 hours, which is what I must do now.
 
If a person or animal that I love is in pain or in trouble it drives me bananas not to be able to fix the situation.  A hen in my coop, eventually destined for the soup pot, being bullied day in and day out-- it was driving me crazy before I came up with the sweater idea.  I want to provide anyone in my posse with the best life possible, including Wilbur the frog in my lotus pond.  I 'try' to behave as though all life matters.
 
Thanks to friends, blood relatives in Canada, adopted family members all over the place who've treated me like their own, thanks for the encouragement. Y'all are the BEST.