We’ve been lucky so far with a minimum of complications, so now that we’re facing a bit of a setback, we’re trying our best not to get too frustrated.
Aspen had her two-week check-up with the surgeon today, and we felt uneasy going in due to the following issue.
For most of her recovery, Aspen hardly paid any attention to the incision. She still wore a cone whenever she was unsupervised, but she rarely was rare as my wife or I were with her most of the time – I was lucky enough to have 3 weeks of vacation left to spend from last year. When we were with her, she got a reprieve from the cone and simply wore a t-shirt to cover the incision.
Unfortunately, we got lulled into a false sense of security. It took us far too long to realize that over the past 2-3 days, Aspen had become very interested in the incision. She’s as sneaky and stubborn as they come, and kept licking the area very quietly and discreetly until the t-shirt was left thoroughly soaked. Although the incision stayed closed, the area she seemed to focus on was red, puffy, and raw-looking.
At today’s exam, the surgeon was concerned that an infection could flare up, so for the next ten days Aspen will be a conehead at all times. She’s also back on antibiotics for a week. We truly love having a big dog like Aspen …except when her size means that each twice-daily dose of antibiotics consists of four huge capsules that she somehow detects (and refuses) no matter what kind of delicious/stinky food we try to hide them in! Finally, they stapled not only the irritated area, but the entire length of the incision (originally she only had stitches.) She seemed to be in quite a bit of discomfort/pain from that for the rest of the day.
So today was kind of a bummer, but that’s how it goes.
We had intended to post progress more often, but it has been a whirlwind or roller coaster so far. Here is our summary of Aspen’s first week: