Part 2
I returned home from the hospital, my mind and eyes cloudy, and was greeted by my beagle, Doc. Of course, he was excited to see me as usual, but after his initial joy dissipated, he wandered around my apartment looking for Bender as though he’d simply been mistaken that we went off without him and that Bender must have been hiding somewhere all along. This was another knife in the side. I sat down on the couch and Doc laid his head in my lap, perking up from time to time when he would hear another dog bark outside as though that might be Bender coming back from whatever errands he was running on his own.
A short while later, my 2 friends came over to join me in celebrating Bender’s namesake drinking away the evening while I waited for the vet to call and let me know how the operation went. We raised a glass or two (or six) to the little guy while we played video games and I tried to take my mind off of the stress and fear that threatened to bubble up inside me. I always find that the times I would most prefer numb myself by drowning my sorrows, it seems bizarrely difficult to get drunk. I suppose sorrows have gills.
Around 10:30, my phone finally rang. I took a deep breath, then a shot of cheap whiskey, then another deep breath and answered. The surgeon told me that he did really well and they were able to clean a lot of the mess up and set his discs back in place and that she still believed he would have a very solid chance at regaining his mobility. She then went on about how I still needed to temper my expectations and patience as this would be a very slow process and began to list off the different things I would need to do to prepare for his return home, what he would be able to do as well as what he wouldn’t.
‘He’ll need to spend almost all of his time in a crate for the next 6 weeks or so. It’s not uncommon for him to be unable to pee on his own for a little while, so he will need to have his bladder expressed. Under no circumstances let him jump down from any furniture or use stairs…..’
At this point, my face must have been disguising my relief and optimism and I looked over at my friends who were staring at me with their arms out. Oh yeah, they can’t hear the other side of the conversation… I let out a short, breathy chuckle and gave them a thumbs up. They sighed in relief and sank back into the couch now content to wait until the end of the phone call to get a full update.
After 20 minutes of surgery synopsis, post op instruction, and expectation management, the surgeon let me know that she would be leaving for the night and that I could visit him in the morning and Bender’s doctor would be able to give me a more complete rundown of what the upcoming months would have in store for us. I thanked her profusely and hung up. After a couple more hours of knocking back beers no longer with an anvil dangling over my head, my friends headed home and I crawled into a bed which was less crowded than it had been in years. After a few hours of wondering what Bender’s current bed was like and if he was scared, I eventually I drifted off into a fitful sleep.
Sunday morning, my friend and I hopped on our bikes and rode over to the hospital to see how the little guy was doing. We waited in a room for about half an hour before a nurse brought a swaddled Bender in. He still had the IV stent in his front leg and was now sporting a large bandage over his freshly shaven back. He looked like some sort of sad dog/turtle hybrid. Well to me anyway….
He was pretty out of it due to the pain killers and such, but he definitely perked up a little bit when he saw me. I’m not sure why I expected to see improvement in his legs immediately following the surgery, especially considering how much the surgeon had stressed me managing my expectations, but his legs were still like those of a rag doll and my heart sank again seeing him so helpless and banged up. He let out some slow, soft whines as he sat there while I asked the doctor when I would be able to bring him home. ‘Hopefully Tuesday. Ideally, we want him peeing on his own and standing up first, but he is already eating plenty so we will see.’ I felt a little better. If the doctor was hoping he could come home on Tuesday, then that must mean he expects him to progress over the next couple of days to where I can see some real improvement
We spent another 20 minutes or so with the Bender giving him timid ear scratches before they needed to take him back to rest. I told him I’d be back the next day and gave him one last scratch under the chin before the nurse took him away. His kept his eyes on me until he was out of the room and I could hear his exhausted whines slowly fade as he drifted down the hall…..
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