My Poor Dog…

Y’all, my dog is so pitiful right now.  See below.

How awful does she look?  Giz tore her ACL last week and we had an appointment with a surgeon on Thursday.  He said she definitely needed to have surgery so they kept her that morning and she had the surgery that afternoon.  We weren’t able to pick her up until the next day.  They shaved the entire back right side of her body.  You can see how swollen the shaved part is from the surgery.  They had to put several screws in her leg.  In addition to that, Giz has had this lump in her right side for years that we’ve asked our vet about and he said not to worry about it and that it was nothing, but the surgeon wanted to go ahead and take it out since she was already going to be in surgery so he took that out and it was sent off for tests to be done to figure out what it is.  I’m just hoping it wasn’t some kind of tumor or cancer.  Either way, it’s out now, so that’s good.  But now she has two big incisions that are stapled.  She has to wear the cone so that she doesn’t lick her stables and get them infected. 

I was at the pool with my sister, Carina and the kids when Justin picked her up and brought her home.  He called me soon after and asked me to come home immediately because he couldn’t take it.  She was in so much pain and was crying and whimpering constantly.  He wanted me to come home so he could leave the house and take a break because it was literally breaking his heart to see her like that.  When I got home though, the pain pills had kicked in and she was fine, just sleeping.  She wasn’t whining anymore.  Thank God, I don’t know if I could have handled hearing that.  I already cried once just looking at her.  The poor thing keeps running into stuff because of her cone.  She underestimates how big it is and she constantly runs into walls and tables and the TV.  Last night, Justin and I had to sleep in shifts so that we could watch her because she couldn’t sleep through the night.  She moved every hour or so and we had to make sure she wasn’t laying on the bad foot.

This experience, however tragic, has showed me how amazing of a dad Justin is going to be.  Guys, he literally slept in the living room next to Gizmo’s side all night so that I could sleep in the bed and actually get some sleep.  He has been by her side all day taking care of her and making sure she knew he was here for her.  It’s so sweet to watch.  Now I’m awake on my shift and Justin’s sleeping.  He’ll probably sleep most of the morning since he probably slept a whopping 3-4 hours last night.  God love him.

  

Sorry if these pics are graphic.  Please say a quick prayer for my dog that she heals quickly.  Our next appointment is in two weeks to hopefully get the staples out and the cone off, but we have to confine her from lots of movement for 6 weeks.  After 6 weeks we have to slowly get her doing her thing again for another 6 weeks before she’ll be fully recovered.  3 months people.  Gizmo is a very active dog and this is killing her.  I can see it in her eyes.  Pray for her please!!