After Chiquitas surgery...

The ICU called me the next morning at 8 am and said they took out the chest tube and wanted to monitor Chiquita for a few hours.  So I told them we would pick her up at noon.

She immediately stood up and was happy to see us.  As you can see she has this kerlex dressing around her torso, you can see her incision at 4 inches on her right back side without a dressing over it.  The only dressing she has is over the chest tube site.  Then on her right paw is co-ban where she had her IV.  Her back right paw has a fentanyl patch on to treat her pain.

When we opened her cage she came right into my arms.  It was a little intimidating on how to hold her.  The good news is our bill was less than we had originally thought.

We set her in a bed while we were still in the hospital.

She was pretty loveable with us on the way home.  After I dropped Bill off to his office.  She sat in the passengers side and would cry.

On our drive home I just talked to her and petted her head while she was crying to calm her down.  She would not eat in the hospital this morning so they could not give her some pain medicine.    So she was hurting. 

When we got home I gave her a double dose of tramadol in some chicken with her antibiotic, then I gave her some of her food and she ate well.

We went outside and she layed in the grass and seemed to enjoy the sun, every once in a while she would cry and whimper.

After we enjoyed being outside then I brought her up to her bed and put a cookie next to her with her water and played some classical music from pandora for her.  She rested off and on and then would wake up crying and then she would howl.  I called the hospital and talked to them about how I felt the medicine was not controlling her pain.  The nurse at the hospital said the animals get hisphoria after surgery because of anesthesia.  She would continue to howl and became restless, so she would stand at the top of the stairs and wait for me to carry her.  When I would bring her smaller bed to her she would get in it and then I would carry her down the stairs.  So this is our mode of transportation so we don't hurt her incision.  We have a bed upstairs and downstairs.  We take her back to the hospital in 4 days to remove the dressing and then in 14 days to take out the sutures.  In the meantime, they want us to keep her calm for 2 weeks. 

Chiquitas surgery....

 So, back in January 2013 Chiquita was diagnosed with a collapsed trachea, they did a chest x-ray and found a small mass next to her lung.  The vet put her on some medication for the trachea.  The meds never helped and her cough got worse, so I took her back in June and suggested a follow-up chest x-ray and found the mass to have doubled in size.  The Vet told me to go to a specialist and have it removed.  So I took her to Salt Lake, City to "Advanced Veterinary Care".  He re did the x-ray and showed me that she does not have or never has had a collapsed trachea and asked why? the Vet never suggested a consult in January.  The Specialist went over the risks associated with doing a thoracotomy/lobectomy surgery on Chiquita.  The mass would be sent to pathology, and which point we would know more about what we are dealing with.  So, I decided to go ahead with the surgery and comfort measures for my little sweetheart.  I kissed her good-bye and shopped around SLC during her surgery from 1130 to 1p.m.  Then I went back to see how she was doing.  The nurse showed me the mass they removed which was quit large for as small as Chiquita is.  They let me pick in on her after they had taken the tube out of her throat.  She was very sedated and she could hear my voice and started to cry.  I took a few pictures and they will keep her overnight and then take her chest tube out in the morning and watch her for a few hours in ICU.  Then we can bring her home.

I love my beautiful flowers in my yard....

I planted this ground cover last year.  They have just flourished.

This Hosta plant has doubled in size, they are hardy and gorgeous.  These are in the backyard.

This area in the back has a mixture of perennials and annual flowers and scrubs.

Last year my real flowers kept drying out, and I could not keep up with the watering.  So this year I got fake flowers to put on the stand.  They look great and I like the very low maintenance.