Back on my feet!

Well, it’s been two days since Dr. Lirtzman removed a dime-sized cartilage flap from each of my shoulders, and already Dad’s having trouble keeping me quiet.  Consequently, I’m spending a lot of time resting in my kennel, save for short leash walks into the yard to go to the bathroom.  I’m not sure who this is tougher on, me or my people!  They’re so used to Rana and I doing our own thing.  Now they have to get up earlier and take me out under supervision.  Even feeding time requires a leash, because I like to jump up and down from the kitchen to my kennel, where I eat.  It’s kind of fun having another way to drive them crazy—you should see Dad trying to manage two food bowls and a leash all at once!

The night before surgery, Dad put these weird stickers on my back legs.  By the morning of surgery, I was feeling a bit loopy.  Come to find out, they were fentanyl patches, they’re sort of like band-aids that slowly deliver pain medication right through my skin.  They’re supposed to last for three days, then I will take pills for pain when I need them.  Dr. Lirtzman and his staff were great, they even put little stars on the card that identified my kennel at the hospital!  I got more pain medication right before surgery, then they knocked me out with another injection and put a breathing tube in my windpipe to give me the gas anesthetic.  The last thing I remember was Rebecca saying “OK, Archie, now count backwards from 100…”  Duh, Rebecca, dogs can’t count!  Anyway, next thing I knew, I was waking up under this neat blanket that kept me warm by blowing heated air all over my body.  I just kept my eyes closed and pretended I was still asleep so they’d leave that thing on me; it felt pretty good.

A few hours later, Dad came to pick me up and take me to the Emergency Animal Clinic in Gilbert, so I’d be closer to home for my overnight stay in the hospital.  Dad says I gave him the cold shoulder when he came to pick me up; I’m blaming it on the drugs.  When I got to the emergency clinic, I met my old friends Ashley, Lisa, Katrina, and Linda, who took care of me once when I was sick before.  I even wagged my tail when I heard Ashley’s voice!  Ashley made sure I had ice packs rotating on and off my shoulders all night.  By the time Dad came to visit in the morning, I could stand, but I still wasn’t interested in walking.  Dr. Wappel and Debra made sure I was comfortable all day, and I went home that evening.  The best part of my day was tricking Dr. Wappel and Deb into carrying me outside to pee and then getting up and walking into my kennel on my own to eat after they got done!

Since I’ve gotten home, Dad won’t leave me alone for a minute.  If he’s home, it’s “Archie, BED!”  If he’s not home, I’m in my kennel (with that stupid lamp shade on my head).  And I’m always on a leash outside.  I’ve been housetrained for months, and he keeps following me around on that darn leash!  But I guess laying around all day and being waited on hand and foot isn’t bad.  But for three weeks?  Ugh!  I can’t wait until Dr. Lirtzman gives me the green light in a month…