5.05.2019

pupdate: diego progress report




Diego seems to be doing all right. He's able to hobble around on three legs pretty well. The incision looks good, and so far he's leaving it alone, so we don't have to make him even more uncomfortable by putting a giant cone around his giant head.

I say he seems to be all right because he's so quiet and sad. He can stand on three legs to eat his food, and he hobbles around the yard on-leash, but getting from standing up to lying down is a nightmare. It can take him 30 or 45 minutes to figure out how to lie down, or perhaps to get up the courage to try, because it's clearly painful. When he finally exhausts himself standing, he lies down with obvious difficulty.

He's got two patches of pain meds on one side of his body, and we have extra pain meds along with antiobiotics that we're giving him around the clock. But I'm not sure it's enough.

The vet sent us home with instructions for physio. The program should begin with "1, quit job"! There is no way working people have time to do all of it. It's all good stuff -- cold compresses, massage, passive range of motion exercises, short controlled walks -- but the program is totally unrealistic. We also have to find time to get Kai to the beach or a ball field for some exercise.

We are incredibly fortunate to be able to give Diego this surgery, and I fully recognize my privilege in doing so. But I cannot stand to see one of my dogs in pain. It is the worst thing in the world to me. I don't know how parents of critically ill children do it.

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