Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2008. It was Mattie 6th birthday. That year Mattie wanted his party at a bowling alley. We literally invited his entire kindergarten class and a few preschool friends. The theme was Scooby Doo, as Mattie was a big fan of the show and all the movies. What you may not be able to see was while at the party, Mattie developed a fever. He made it through the party, but as soon as he got home, he went to lie down on the couch and fell asleep immediately. Which was unheard of for Mattie. 



Quote of the day: The coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• number of people diagnosed with the virus: 423,135
• number of people who died from the virus: 14,390

Poor Sunny waited in the surgical center yesterday for 12 hours before he went into the operating room. The center was dealing with many emergencies, so I am grateful that they found room for Sunny. 

At 9pm last night, Sunny's surgeon called us to give an update. She felt the surgery went very well, but the issue went beyond the ligament and impacted the meniscus [the meniscus is a piece of cartilage that provides a cushion between the femur (thighbone) and tibia (shinbone)]. 

Needless to say, we went to pick up Sunny at noon today. Because we aren't allowed into the center, everything is done by phone. So it took us over an hour of waiting until Sunny came out to our car. The hour wait makes sense, if you think about the fact that we needed to talk to the admin folks and then the tech who talked us through follow up care on the phone. When the tech brought Sunny out to the car, as soon as Sunny saw and heard me call his name, he perked up and tried to walk faster to the car. 

They gave us a sling to help Sunny walk. The sling helps us get up from a seated position. 

Peter and I have a lot of experience managing surgeries on limbs! As Mattie had three out of four limbs operated on during his cancer treatment. It is a bit daunting to see surgical incisions, and of course in Sunny's case, besides the incision, his beautiful fur was totally shaven off. 

A close up of the incision. Sunny's recovery is 8-12 weeks. In two weeks, he gets examined and then starts physical therapy for 6 weeks. At 8 weeks, he gets an x-ray to make sure the bones are setting and healing. He has a long road ahead and his movement is restricted significantly for at least 7 days. Including no steps. He is on three different pain meds and right now he looks sleepy and out of it. But I know that is better than the alternative. 

Sunny came home and was starving. He is happy to be home, happy to sit on his own doggie bed, and of course spent time on his 'yoga mat,' outside on our balcony.

Check out who flew onto our oak tree, right outside our living room? A big red tail hawk!