We're so excited for Walker to be coming home tomorrow. I saw him pretty soon after the surgery, and if you asked me on Monday if I thought we'd be preparing to welcome him home on Friday - I might have called you a few shades of 'crazy'. He was out cold when we saw him - I wasn't prepared for how he was going to look. He was off of the ventilator, but there were monitors attached (what seemed to be EVERYWHERE), and his tongue was sticking partially out of his mouth. Combined with the incision on his head, my poor puppy looked like he had been squished by a car. I couldn't sleep well that night as every time I closed my eyes, I saw him frozen in that position. Earlier that day, he had been panhandling to us for food, sassing me and resting his head on my shoulder the whole way to the surgery.
Day 2 - Walker was better on Tuesday. His eyes were open. His tongue was still sticking out of his mouth (which for some reason really upset me), but when he heard my voice, his eyes went crazy looking around. He started whining to us as best he could, and it really seemed he recognized us. He sighed when I started patting him. The doctor told us (that morning) that he wasn't using his left side, and probably wasn't seeing out of his left eye - which can happen. Use of his legs and left side is supposed to return, but his full vision may not. If that's the worst, and we get more time with him - we'll take it a million times over. In the early evening, the doctor called us to tell us Walker had a seizure when he pulled him off of the anti-convulsion medicine. Seizures may also continue to be a regular part of his life, but when they restarted him on the medicine, he was fine.
Day 3 - I was a nervous wreck in the morning. When I talked to the tech in the ICU, he told me that Walker's vitals, stats, temp were "ok" and "within normal parameters". Every other time I'd talked to him, I was told they were all "good" or "great". Needless to say, I started panicking because of syntax...oops? When the doctor call, he gave us great news: Walker (in his opinion) was out of the "gray". He still wasn't using his left side, but he was more responsive and alert. Our visit confirmed this: he tried to get up to see me, and he tried to move his left leg in his efforts. He lifted his head to keep checking to make sure I was there with him in his cage, and he whined to my mom and dad and raised his head for them as well. This was the day that first truly filled me with hope.
Day 4 - Walker improved by leaps and bounds: he stood up when we saw me, although he almost fell over because his left side is so weak. Still not seeing out of his left eye, he was REALLY persistently whining (in true Walker fashion) since his requests for one of the following were being ignored: food, home, attention. He was whining loudly, and when I asked him if he wanted to "go home", he became silent. When I mentioned Brady's name, it was like he started screaming: I think he was really telling us he's ready. The doctor confirmed that he's ready to leave too - all that's left for us to think about is the nursing care he'll require. We decided to pick him up on Friday, so that we could prep the house and plan for him.
We are keeping Walker on the first floor of the house, particularly in the kitchen. We are removing the kitchen furniture to give him plenty of room. In the kitchen we are placing a twin bed foam padding thing wrapped in a contractor's trash bag (less crinkly than others!) underneath old comforters. We raided Goodwill for surplus comforters, so we can rotate them out and wash them if they become soiled. We purchased piddle pads to put on top of his bed. We also have 2 large body pillows that we will wrap in contractor trash bags and place in body pillow cases. We have some smaller pillows for extra comfort, and we may stuff a few of them in an extra body pillow case if needed. We are putting Walker's bed (again, wrapped in a contractor's trash bag) in the family room on the hearth, so that he can be in there with us. We are pulling up all of the area rugs in the family room, and connecting area. We are also moving the porch furniture to the side of the porch. We will use the area immediately outside of the door (on the porch) as his "bathroom". He will only have to worry about 1 step, we can offer him some shade in this terrible heat, and we will hopefully still provide him somewhat of a connection between using the outside as his bathroom. We are prepared for accidents inside of the house of course, but we will try to encourage him outside if he can handle it too. We also have purchased a pill gun to help him take his meds if stuffing them inside of his food fails. We also stocked up on canned food (and dry food) that we can water down for him and use for the syringe feedings. We have a clipboard for the charts we will create to track his food, water, meds, etc. Additionally, we are covering the car seat in a plastic bag, covered with a blanket and piddle pad, and we have sent our other dog, Caliber, to my in-laws house for a few days to give all of us a chance to assess and game plan without worrying about him being overzealous, chasing the cat, etc.
We know this will be a huge exercise in patience and we have a lot to learn about how to care for him, but we're hoping that we're off to a good start. Can't wait to get this Boxer home!
