A Trip to the ER
Don’t panic, it’s OK!
Today was one of those truly epic days for Nikki. It started out just fine (by the way, Nikki has been sleeping perfectly soundly the last few nights, and by extension so have I… Makes for a much better outlook for the day if you ask me) with the normal morning routine, then a conference call, then heading into the office, where the only way I get info on Nikki is through the occasional IM from Mary..
Today I received several IM messages that started with, “Guess What Nikki did…”, so you can imagine that she was definitely very active today.. The most impressive feat of all was that she decided to go up the stairs on her own to prove that she could do it. (I’ve not been wanting to let her try UP on her own yet, but I guess she wanted to prove that she could do it). As you might imagine though, that wore her out a bit..
When I got home, Nikki was there to greet me and then she decided to hang out with me for most of the evening. I can’t really explain the bond that Nikki and I have with respect to this, but there’s something very calming about looking down and seeing her laying on the floor beside my chair while I’m working.
I had a bit of work to do tonight, so was concentrating on some stuff when I heard Mary yell. Apparently Nikki had decided to get up and play around a bit with the other dogs and got a little ahead of herself. She slipped on the wood floor (she had to work to find an area not covered by a temporary rug, but of course she found it) and came down hard on her wound. Well, we’re now 9 days post-surgery, so of course there’s a bit of fluid and everything else up there (Seroma I believe is what it’s called) and a fair amount of it decided to make an exit when Nikki hit the ground.. Mary of course did what I can only describe as a “Freak Out”, so the only option was to get Nikki loaded up and head to the emergency room. Nikki was a bit puzzled by the frantic actions, but she was happy that she got to go for a ride…
Once the vet saw Nikki, she described the natural healing process and the fact that seromas will develop, and that it was really nothing to worry about. She did take the time to drain it a bit more, but overall she said to let it drain on it’s own, and don’t worry… (Kind of hard to do when you see a puddle of blood and other fluids on your floor under your babydog after a fall…)
So, now we’re back home, and Nikki is back in her position behind my chair, and all is well with the world……
January 28th, 2010 at 21:52
Eeeek! That would have scared the wits out of us too! Mine never exploded like that but my pawrents did get a good freak out over it. Glad it wasn’t anything serious. Don’t scare us like that!
January 29th, 2010 at 05:46
Oh what a scare!!! Glad to hear she’s alright… 🙂
I remember when Jake had his first big fall 2 weeks after his surgery. He was swimming in our pool… then decided he was going to jump out all by himself from the loveseat area on the other side. Well, he thought he would land on his ‘invisible’ missing leg, and there was a huge thump as he landed on his chest/shoulder/incision area. I freaked out and almost flew over our pool to get to him… but he just picked himself up and hopped around the pool like nothing happened. It’s incredible how tough our big babies are.
Give your Nikki a big kiss from me!! 🙂
Angel Jake’s Mom
January 29th, 2010 at 08:19
One thing I forgot to mention in this post. Even though we went to the emergency room, and even though the doc did take the time to drain her wound, Banfield just charged us a $49 office visit. I love the way Banfield works, and I love the way the Optimum wellness plan keeps paying off.
January 29th, 2010 at 15:48
So glad to hear all is well with Nikki! I was also more traumatized by Holly’s first fall than she was. You never want anything to happen to them when they’re recovering, but they just want to get back into their joyful lives…
Give Nikki hugs from us!
Holly and Holly’s mom
January 29th, 2010 at 21:41
Still think the timing was incredible, had you read my note before Nikki fell? I hope so. As fast as the bleeding/drainging began, it seems to have decreased as fast as the onset. I kept warm wash clothes (folded in thirds, soaked in warm water and and rung out) and laid it directly across the wound exactly where it’s draining. I did this until 4:00 am going through every wash cloth in the house – it if touched the floor or got too stained it went to the laundry room and a soak in hydrogen peroxide, I’m a clean freak. The prescribed Benadryl worked for the most part to keep her more sedated and to keep the draining under control. The Elizabethan collar did not come off until this morning. She didn’t drain until this evening when she tried to play with Sammie, they want to play SO badly! The vet said if the drainage keeps up by this Wednesday, we need to reschedule the suture removal one week. With the drainage, the brusing in her tummy is dissipating – hence the “serum” of the “seroma” – all makes sense now that that was what the bruising actually was. Again wish, if this is truly so common, that someone – anyone – would have explained this so I didn’t almost run over the mailman on the way to the vet. Chin up Nikki, now we know it’s part of the healing process!
Paula and Kanga (roo)