Tuesday Visit

Today my mother-in-law, Nancy, and I visited Boomer.  We arrived at 4 PM and stayed for an hour.  It was great today to get to hold Boomer and learn more about what it's going to be like when Boomer comes home.  He is still in the same place in terms of progress as he was yesterday afternoon, but today he was a little bit more himself.  We are happy with him staying stable.  He didn't look as drugged and the tech that brought him in today removed his blanket quickly because she wanted to see him wag his tail.  And he wagged his tail when he saw us!
Boomer also got some FaceTime in with his MiMi (my mom).  It was good that she was able to see him walk around the room with help today. I love that technology helps to bring everyone together.  Even my parents who are in Kentucky can feel like they are here with us and experience the ups and downs of this whole experience.

I was a little nervous holding him with his staples in his back, but the incision looked more healed today and I felt less nervous.  I think he was excited that I was able to hold him and he could be close to me.  Boomer still doesn't understand what has happened and is adapting, but I think it still confuses him.  From the point on his lower back where the disc herniated he cannot feel below that.  That is also the spot where his back starts to curve under when he's sitting on the ground.  I don't think he understands why his back is doing what it is and so he constantly moves his front paws trying to get comfortable.  It's like his front paws are always on a slippery surface and he's struggling to stay up.  He can stand on his back legs if you help to prop him up and he stays there for a few seconds before his legs start to give out and he sits down.  Dr. Bray told us that part of his PT is working getting him to stand for longer and longer each time that they work with him.

Boomer has a whole team of people working with him each day.  Dr. Bray also told us that Boomer seems to get annoyed with them when they help him to urinate, so they're hopeful that means that he will be able to do it on his own soon enough.  It may be that he is having feeling again around that area and that's why he's annoyed because he wants to be able to do it himself.  Hopefully that's the case!

Dr. Bray also showed me how to help him stand or walk around by supporting his back legs.  Boomer wanted to walk around the room once we were on the floor with him today, so he sniffed around and smelled the chairs in the room.  He also walked over to the door and I think he wanted to go outside, but we stayed in.

If you can see from the picture here, Boomer has lost his IV on his leg and you can see exactly how fluffy he is! But they took him off the IV pain meds today and are going to start working on giving him less and less of the oral pain meds as well.  They want to know where his pain level is and hopefully he can come off the pills soon.  Boomer also in these pictures is wet because he got a bath today! They washed off all of the pink that was on his fur from the surgery and the tech said that he loved when they rubbed his chest.  He kept his head up as to say "yes, that's the spot!".  They thought that it was so cute.

Nancy asked more questions about Boomer's recovery and what options we're going to have. Dr. Bray explained that Boomer will work to decide whats going to happen.  There isn't a prescribed time frame that things happen for dogs. It just happens when it does.  So hopefully he will start to walk again, but it really just is a matter of time.  So when Boomer comes home, it will still be a long recovery and he will have to get used to staying in a crate at home, but if that's what it takes, we'll get there.  He does seem to be walking around well with a sling and so he can still enjoy being outside.  We found out that Boomer wouldn't get a cart to walk with for about 2 months because they don't want him to become dependent on a cart instead of trying to walk on his own.  So my dad and Michael will have to put off the planning for the awesome carts for Boomer with racing stripes or flames.  And the construction of ramps for him will have to cease at least for a few more months.

This is my favorite picture from today.  Boomer was able to sit up (and I think comfortably) and in my lap.  I think he really enjoyed that we were on the floor with him and he was able to get comfortable with us.

We also found out that Boomer will have his staples will be in for at least two weeks, so when he comes back for one of his follow up visits they will take the staples out.  After Boomer did some of his exploring he got tuckered out and was able to get comfortable sleeping in my arms.  I think he was happy that he was able to be in a position that made him happy and he started snoring.  It was good to make him feel comfortable and know that he was happy that he was in my arms.

You can see in this picture that Boomer has a patch on his side and that's a port for him to get medicine in as well.  The other concern today was that he hasn't been drinking well, so they brought in a bowl of water and he drank twice for us, so that's good.  The tech thought that maybe he didn't like a stainless steel bowl.

We will wait for our morning update again tomorrow, but in the meantime I have Boomer's favorite toy, his hedgehog, packed and ready to take to him tomorrow.  Hopefully having a toy from home will help him feel more comfortable in his kennel.  (I was told today that his kennel is lined with blankets and pillows too!)