We went to see her on Tuesday evening. She was definitely not having good pain-control. After more than 30 minutes in the room with her and having to call the front desk to remind them that she needed pain meds and to be brought back to her kennel (yes, I guess I'm one of "those" dog-owners), one of the techs finally came into the room. When I said that she needed more pain meds and to be brought back to the kennel, the woman said (with a scowl), "Oh, so you're already ready to have her brought back?" I explained that she wasn't comfortable and needed something more for pain. I asked what they are giving her. Her reply, "Hydro!" Imagine how hard I had to bite my tongue at that point? I said, pleasantly, "Hydro what?" She told me Shadow was getting Hydromorphone (Dilaudid). I explained that she probably needed more because she was obviously in pain. I then asked how they handle it when a dog has to use the bathroom. She said, "Well, dogs who have had this surgery don't like to walk, so they just go where they lie and then we clean them up!" I know that humans hate to go where they lie and dogs hate it even more. I finished with my questions and she then informed me that she was going to go get the muzzle. A muzzle for Shadow? Really?!?! When she came back into the room, I asked why she was putting a muzzle on my sweet dog, especially since Shadow didn't have a muzzle on her when she was brought in. She responded, again with a scowl and a sassy shake of her head, "Well, she tried to bite us when we brought her in to see you and you don't want us to get bitten, do you?"
How many of you would have gone off on this woman by now? Not me! I remained calm, knowing that giving her a piece of my mind would result in ill-treatment of my Baby-girl. When we got back to the house, I called the office and got her name. The pen is mightier than the sword, so I wrote profusely about her on my comment card! So there! I also shared with the day tech how nasty this woman was. She wasn't surprised by what I shared. Oh well! At least someone wrote it up.
I promised you pictures of Shadow. Sorry I didn't send these last night when we got her home, but it's pretty intense taking care of her. Poor baby!
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| Who would've guessed she has freckles under all that fur? |
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| Really, a pink cast? Don't they know her favorite color is Blue? |
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| Even Jorge wasn't upset that she laid on his pillows. Poor baby! |
I slept on the floor with Shadow last night. Hence my premonition of a psychotic break! She is really not supposed to do much walking at all, except for Physical Therapy (right now it's 2.5 minutes of walking 2-3 times a day). The tech told us that there are aqua treadmills in our area if we'd like to use that for Shadow. Can you imagine her on an aqua treadmill? She doesn't even like stepping in wet grass. Submerge her in water and have her walk on a treadmill? Never going to happen!
It's still raining and cold. The good news is it's supposed to reach nearly 70 today, for about 2 minutes, before another cold front and rain storm moves through. Patience!!!!!! (-:
One of my buddies left for Germany on Tuesday. She will be missed. Thank God for e-mail and Facebook. My new friends are scattered across the globe and I am really glad I will still be able to keep in touch with them. I am also glad I can keep in touch with my Wisconsin friends via Facebook. Now, to figure out how to Skype with my whole family! Baby steps with the technology.
I hope you're all doing well.
--DV
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