Complainers never are very attractive; unfortunately, post by post, that is what this blog has degenerated into. I realize that no one wants to read about "I hurt...I'm feeling sick", but I've not yet figured out what to do about it - neither creativity nor patience were among the gifts given to me (is that another complaint?).
But -- two more weeks have passed. There certainly has been progress, but it would be lying to label it pleasant progress. I suppose the big news is that we took Smokey to the clinic for his knee surgery on the evening of Monday the 18th, the surgeons cut him the morning of the 19th, and we brought him home the next day. It's true he was medicated - but came back acting like nothing had happened, for which we are grateful. Oh, he did limp a bit, and for a few days he avoided bearing weight on the operated limb, but from the time he saw us in the clinic he acted happy, pranced around, and jumped up (a bit) despite the diminishing limp. He ate well - gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks! And he never took the first lick at his incision. We never even had to use the C-collar, just watched him constantly.
So it was a great shock last night when we woke and heard the ominous sound of licking. Now Smokey has had bad skin for years - the moist folds (groin and axillae) have an intractable tendency to become infected, so that it seems he is on antibiotics more than he is off. On the possibility that the condition might be exacerbated by a food allergy he has been on prescription food and semi-weekly medicated baths. But nothing ever stopped it completely. We always knew when the infection had returned because he started licking the infected area. And last night it struck again - we woke and heard that licking sound. Of course initially we immediately panicked that he had started to lick at the incision. But when we turned on the light, instead we found his chest wet. On further examination, his 2 axillae were inflamed and crusted with the infection, as was his chest in between - but thank God, the incision was untouched.
We trimmed the hair over the lesions and cleaned them, spraying with an antibiotic solution. We put a C-collar on him, fastened it securely, and went back to bed for a fitful sleep. After we had gotten up in the morning, walked the dogs, and everyone breakfasted, we took him back to the specialty clinic where the surgery had been done. A vet checked him over and opined that his incision was uncontaminated, but upgraded the antibiotic regimen and reminded us of the importance of keeping the collar on him (which we will do any time we can't keep continuous eyeball contact with him).
The humans aren't faring quite as well as the pets. Bobbi's bad knee cut into her work and even her church attendance. Lew's low back pain increased progressively until today he was unable to attend the ASL mass. Can he avoid the knife? We'll see.
Outside the medical area, life has been pretty low-key - there has been little time or energy for anything else. When Lew has not been caring for the animals, he has worked on genealogy, collaborating with his aunt Irene. Several times he was interrupted by phone calls from Dayton to straighten out prescribing issues for a rural patient. Not hard, simply difficult to get everyone and everything coordinated.
Positives? Bobbi continues her gratifying church involvement - though in light of her hip condition she has been overdoing both the time and the energy commitment. Lew finds that boredom is exacerbated by pain - but we have had enough excitement. Boring may be therapeutic.
