Monday, 6/10/03

Max's surgery went pretty well, which is encouraging.  Can't help but feeling guilty because the nature of the mass removed was so huge - about 2 lbs.  Poor Max's body weight was down to 12 lbs.  We went to see him on Saturday to see if we could bring him home.  He was very weak, of course, and had a huge incision stapled shut from just behind his ribs to down part of the front of his left rear leg.  He apparently was feeling no pain, though - he was fairly alert and friendly.  He had a morphine-like patch that kept him, as the surgeon said, "in La-La land".  He had been pretty quiet after surgery, but spoke up when he saw us.

It was heart-wrenching to see him this way. I hated to put him though this, but we had to, in order to give him any chance of survival at all. We can only hope he won't be too traumatized once the pain medicine wears off.

He wasn't eating or drinking yet, and the specialty vet didn't board animals over the weekend, so we transferred him over to an associated emergency animal clinic so he could be closely monitored.  With Sky in delicate health, we thought it was better for someone to try to get him to eat and drink.

On Sunday, he still wasn't eating or drinking.  We dropped by to see him and encourage him to try to eat some dry food, but he was distracted by the noise of other animals in the clinic.  I think the patch wasn't giving him quite so much medication, because he was much more alert and more like his old nervous self.

9:39 AM

Called the Emergency Clinic.  Still no change.  In fact, now, somehow he's developed an ulcer on his left eye.  Look like he'll have to go back to the specialty vet clinic for more care, and he can't come home today. The surgeon who worked on him is not working today.

4:28

Took him back to the Specialist on my lunch hour, because the emergency clinic is not normally open for patients during the day. He looked unhappy but not in too much pain. Seemed to dislike the car even less than being where he was.  Still waiting for a call with a plan of action since 3:00 when I called them.  Wish we could just bring him home. I'm afraid he may become depressed - maybe that's why he's not eating?