Let me take this opportunity to thank all of you who have been following the saga of Daisy and her belly. I am happy to report that, as of now, she has a clean bill of health from the vet and the surgeon. Last week was the first time Daisy had her e-collar off in two months, and needless to say, she's a very happy, energetic dog these days. She is also enjoying the unseasonably warm Fall weather we're having. She is sitting outside sunning herself in our side yard as I write this. The picture above was taken on our morning walk today. Ryan and I feel so grateful to have our dog back!!
When last we left you, the surgeon had sent Daisy's necrotic tissue out for biopsy. She had found no evidence of a hernia repair and had gone ahead and reconstructed Daisy's left abdominal wall after removing Daisy's mammory, fatty pad, and some necrotic muscle and skin on her lower left side. A couple of days later, the biopsy came back and showed minute amounts of extremely quick dissolving suture material. Therefore, it does look like the vet in Illinois did indeed perform a hernia surgery - and apparently did a nice job on the internal repair, because no scar tissue formed. What caused all of Daisy's troubles was the quick-dissolve sutures used in the initial hernia surgery, which are highly reactive. The quick-dissolve sutures are rather new and not widely used, and they can cause extreme allergic reactions in dogs - which is exactly what happened with Daisy. By the time we saw outward manifestations of her infection, it had spread from the site of her hernia repair all the way to the incision in the middle of the belly, and eventually ruined everything in its path. Thank God we had the repair surgery when we did, because the infection would have continued to spread and ruin all tissue in its path.
Obviously Daisy's surgery was quite extensive, and she was in a mountain of pain, which was incredibly difficult to deal with. Just touching her sent her into screams of pain. She had to be lifted in and out of the car, up and down stairs, etc. and for a couple of days it took Ryan and I about 30 minutes just to gear ourselves and Daisy up to handle any moving of her. Then we'd endure her screaming before, during and after handling her and she'd endure what I can only imagine was unbelievable pain, because she has a very high pain tolerance. Amazingly, within two days she was feeling much better and we took her off her pain meds - the vet thought she'd be a wreck for at least 3 or more days, but as I said, Daisy's tough. Ryan and I spent the week taking shifts with Daisy as she was not supposed to be left alone. Each of us called in sick to work at least once, but we were able to work it all out. We took Daisy to the vet this past week for a post-op follow-up. The only area of any concern at all is a strange lump Daisy has on her left side at the site of the second surgery. The surgeon is fairly certain that it is just a large lump of scar tissue since Daisy had such a radical surgery, but you can never be totally sure, so we are to watch it and make sure it doesn't swell or change. We've been watching it for about a week now, and if anything it's gotten smaller and it doesn't bother Daisy a bit when you squeeze it, so we think it probably is just some really ugly scar tissue. Plus, Daisy doesn't have the fat pad on that side to kind of disguise it - it just sticks right up under her skin. The surgeon said it will probably be about a year before the scar tissue settles. So Daisy has a wicked long scar down the middle of her belly and a big lump on her left side, but otherwise, she is perfect. Her activity level has returned to almost puppy proportions, she's eating well, playing with other dogs, interested in socializing with people again and just back to her old self. Hallelujah!
Again, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement. I know that all that positive energy had a positive effect on Daisy. I'm sure she would give you a big old tail waggle of agreement. Thanks again, all!!
