Jason's profileAces and Eights (Jason M...PhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
July 21 4th of July Weekend In Baton RougeWith all of the craziness surrounding Baron's surgery, I wasn't able to post pictures from the 4th of July weekend that we spent in Baton Rouge, for my godson Nick's baptism. It was a fantastic weekend full of seafood, snoballs and family.
Thanks to Jen and Dominic and everyone in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We had an amazing trip and it was a blast seeing you all! We wouldn't have wanted to spend our 4th of July anywhere else than in the company of great family and friends. July 15 The Amazing Baron - Off The Injured Reserve!
Since I last updated, his condition just kept improving by the day. He never had another fever, and kept getting his strength and color back as the hours ticked on. His doctor called this morning to tell us that if he could eat something today, he'd be able to come home tonight. Unfortunately, he wouldn't touch anything they were giving him - no problem, daddy makes a wicked batch of cooked ground beef. We arrived at the hospital at lunchtime, grabbed one of the vet techs as a witness and he inhaled the beef. That was it, we were given clearance to pick him up after work. The vets and techs all autographed a bandanna for him, which he was wearing when they brought him into us. They also sent him packing with his favorite toy that he'd been playing with all day. They (once again) were all amazing and the great folks at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital are our new heroes. Before we get to the pictures, I have three words for you: Veterinary Pet Insurance. Although they'll only cover a fraction of the $8,000 bill (yikes), it's definitely a good thing to have. Okay, on to the good stuff...Here he is today and this evening as we're bringing him home!
July 13 The Amazing Baron *UPDATE*Well, it's most certainly been one of the longest, most traumatic days that we've ever lived through.
It's never a good sign when the radiologist tells you they've called in an emergency surgeon and anaesthesiologist, and "you need to spend some time with him before he goes in". I swear, for about four hours, we thought we were going to lose him. His fever was back to 106 and he was leaking septic fluids into his abdomen. The internist said that if he had a laceration on his intestines, the outlook wasn't very good, and her diagnosis was guarded.
After laying on the floor with him for fifteen minutes, we were notified that they needed to wheel him into the operating room. We gave him kisses and told that little s.o.b. that he was ABSOLUTELY NOT allowed to die on us.
We went to my moms house, and spent the next five hours with the family, which was wonderful. I think we'd have pulled our hair out if we'd have had to stay at the veterinary hospital.
Finally at 5:00, we started worrying - being that the surgery was only supposed to take an hour and a half. They got us on the phone with a technician, who went down to the O.R. and took our call from the scrub room. When she picked up the phone, we were expecting the worst. But I'll be damned...he did fantastic. Turned out, he had a ruptured spleen which was where the septic fluids were leaking from. After performing a thorough examination of every one of his internal mid-section organs, they removed his spleen, stitched his stomach to his abdominal wall (another story for another post) and sewed him back up.
The prognosis is very favorable. His recovery time will be a few weeks, and he should be back home by Tuesday. (Which is good, because Bubba is freaking out, without his puppy)
And we're just thrilled. Our baby is going to be safe and have a full recovery. Although the health of our bank account is another story entirely. I think we're going to have a "Baron Bake Sale" or "Baron Bikini Car Wash". Something like that.
Thank you SO much to all of you who've been on the phone and email all weekend, wanting status reports. And although they'll probably never read this, thank you to Jacke, Elizabeth, Dr. Fink and all of the other Emergency Care folks from Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital. If you're in Denver and ever need an amazing trauma unit, this is the place to go.
Oh, one last thing...Here's some pictures from tonight, after surgery. He was pretty doped up, but very responsive to us. Those of you who know Baron know that he was going crazy not being able to sniff around the vet hospital and give kisses to all of the girls in the triage area. I'm sure by tomorrow night, he'll have made 100 new friends, once he's up and about.
This is him in recovery. They shaved him up real nice for the procedure.
Here's his incision. All the way from his chest to his weiner. I know, I know..TMI.
And here's mommy cuddling. He was in need of some tlc. So were we.
The Amazing Baron
We had a very rough weekend with Baron, and I just wanted to keep you all in the loop.
On Friday night, we took him on a late walk and as we were bringing him inside the house, his leash got caught on the handle of our security door - pulling it into his ribs and pinching him between me and the door. He started yelping and crying so we massaged the area and decided to watch him overnight. Starting Saturday morning he was incredibly lethargic and had a fever, so we took him to our vet.
They transferred him to the Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital on an emergency basis to stabilize him because he was becoming unresponsive and breathing very heavily. They admitted him and started fluids and pain medication. He spent the night last night and they are running a series of tests this morning to try and determine if he has pancreatitis or any internal bleeding.
Things are very touch-and-go right now. His fever is back up and it looks like he might be there for a few days. We are on our way to the hospital now and will probably spend most of the day and evening there with him.
That’s the latest, for right now. He’s stable and in GREAT hands, so we’re expecting big things today from all of the tests they’re running. Please keep our little man in your thoughts.
(Here's a picture I took of him last night, thoroughly enoying the pain meds)
|
|
|
%3a+July%2c+2008&referrer=){kind=small}
