The Big Day, part 1

Well today is Zane's big surgery day. I could not be any more nervous about this but I am focusing on staying positive. Zane's surgeon just called to say that he would like to do the surgery in two stages. He will do the fusion today and then next week follow up with the laminectomy. He feels this will be less stressful to Zane as the surgery to do both procedures is over 4 hours long. He would prefer to not keep Zane under anesthesia that long. He also assured me that we would get Zane back home as soon as possible. He appreciates that Danes are a rather sensitive breed and feels that Zane would be less stressed at home. I feel better already....

It's 5pm and I just got the call from the doctor that Zane's surgery went well. Zane is awake from the anesthesia and is resting. His xrays show that everything is as the doctor wants it. If he is not too painful tomorrow, he will be able to come home.

I can't even begin to say how different the mood of the house is right now. All the other dogs are so quiet. Zoe has been sitting by the front door just watching the world go by. Of all of them, I would think she would appreciate the peace and quiet the most. Zeke and Daizee have been playing together a bit but mostly just sitting out on the deck. This morning, Daizee was so sweet. She knew that Zane was not feeling well and she gently nitched up and down his neck with her teeth. She was giving him a little massage that he was loving. Then she cleaned his ears for him!

Tomorrow is the big day

A little behind in posting....
Zane's incision has finally healed over and I am going to have what is left of his sutures and staples removed today. Last week, I started weaning him off the prednisone in preparation for his cervical surgery on May 6th. By the end of the week, he was getting really wobbly. He lost his balance while barking at our neighbors from the back deck and crashed down kind of hard on his back legs. He held up his bionic leg after the fall and limped. The following day, which was Friday, he still limped and acted sluggish. I put in a few calls to the vets on Team Zane and it seemed that everyone was off for the day. I ended up speaking with one of the nurses that cared for Zane after the TTA. She assured me that there is not much he could do to damage the implants and that he was probably just sore from the fall. She recommended that I give him additional Tramadol. She was great to talk to as she formerly worked with a neurosurgeon and is well acquainted with what Zane will be going through with his upcoming surgery. She was right on the money and the extra Tramadol had Zane feeling a little better the following day.
On Saturday, Zane's neuro surgeon, Dr. Bergman, left a message saying that we could move up the surgery to this week to prevent any further problems.
So here we are just a day away from what is to be hopefully the final surgery for Zane. He has been put under 5 times in the past 6 months for various tests and treatments. Hopefully this will be the beginning of stabilization for Zane.

14 pills for breakfast

Zane is on a new antibiotic regimen to ward off any nasty bugs that may be hanging around his incision site. He is taking Antirobe, Doxycline, and SMZ. Add in some Tramadol for pain control and some Prednisone to reduce spinal swelling and Zane has quite a breakfast cocktail! Then we do it all over again after dinner.
Yesterday Zane went back to our regular vet in the afternoon. He did a nice job of restitching Zane and removed the loose dangling staples. Zane was nice and calm while the vet stitched him back up.
We finished off the afternoon with a small ice cream treat for Zane on the way home. We also stopped for carry out pizza...always a favorite with the pack. Poor Zane was going nuts smelling it all the way home.
We have officially broken in the new van now. Last week, Zane dripped blood on the new, overpriced mats and yesterday he enjoyed hanging his head out the side windows for a bit. Nose prints are on nearly every window and there is already a bit of fur floating about. Thank goodness for leather seats which have already been smeared with blood and covered with fur. They clean up nicely!
Today I should receive a new collar for Zane. It's called a "no bite collar" and is designed to stop licking. Hopefully, this should keep Zane from licking when I am not around. I have needed to keep a close watch on him lately so that he doesn't keep licking at his incision. Now I am just dying to get out of the house for a bit and not have to worry about coming home to an open wound.