Day One: The Op (Tuesday 11th February)

Today we dropped Dizzy off to the vets to have his operation. It was a fairly early start as the vets is just over an hour away & he had to be there by 8.45am. We where warned beforehand that there was a possibility that he may have to stay in overnight, depending on how well he came round from his anesthetic (they need the dog to be able to walk out of the vets before they will consider discharging them) and that we wouldn’t know until around 3pm when we could collect him.

The drop off was very quick – a quick weigh in and a few signatures giving the vets permission to perform the surgery etc before my boy was whisked off. He was so excited at all the new people there to fuss him he didn’t even look back & trotted off tail wagging.

Once I was home it was a long day of checking the clock & trying to keep busy to make the time go faster. 3pm did actually come round pretty quickly and the relief when the nurse told me on the phone that Dizzy was doing brilliantly and the op couldn’t have any better was unbelievable. I was thrilled to hear that he could be picked up an hour later & as Matt works five minutes from the vets, he collected him on his way home. It was an anxious wait for me & every car that went past the house, I was peeking out the window!

When they finally got home, I was a little surprised at how woozy and drowsy Dizzy still was (although I don’t know why as we where warned a few times that he would be). He had a small blue bandage around his front left paw from the IV & his back leg was shaved and bright blue from his ankle up to his hind quarters, by his tail. When my childhood dog had his legs done, I remember he had a florescent cast on for weeks after, but Dizzy just has a simple white gauze type bandage over the knee joint that has to say on for the next 3-5 days.

The biggest surprise for me though was the rattley, chesty breathing. Every time he inhaled his nose sounded snotty & his ribcage crackled. Apparently completely normal & nothing to worry about, it should subside in the next 24-48 hours. Not that knowing that made me any less nervous! We put him straight in the crate we had set up for him and let him sleep for the next few hours uninterrupted. He had a small dinner of cooled down scrambled eggs, which he devoured but had no interest in drinking any water.

Before bed, we carried him out to the garden & put him down for a pee (keeping him on lead) but he didn’t want to go – he wobbled a little on the spot & look sadly at us, so we carried him back to his crate. Once he was tucked up, he slept soundly (snoring very, very loudly!), not even waking up when I slid the buster collar over his head to keep him from getting at his bandages during the night.

It’s going to be a restless night for me, with Dizzy in his crate by my side. Fingers crossed he’s feeling brighter by the morning!