Post Surgery

Last Thursday my little Rooney had his eye surgery.  

Rooney attempted to sleep in and take it easy the morning of his surgery.  Poor little guy had no idea what was about to happen!

This would be his last picture sans the cone of shame.

Hubs and I took Rooney to the specialty hospital early that morning.  Buerly was not happy that we were taking his brother on a car ride without him.  The minute we walked into the hospital Rooney was ready to leave.  My poor little guy just sat there shaking like a leaf and crying.  Every once and a while he would attempt to make a mad dash towards the door.  Eventually the nurse came out to take our little guy back.

After we left Hubs and I grabbed breakfast and then headed home to wait for the phone call letting us know that he was out of surgery.  

Around 2pm we finally received the call from the ophthalmologist letting us know that he was out of surgery and had done great!  She told us that he was a good boy, that his eyes turned out great and that we could pick him up between 3:00pm and 4:00pm.

Of course, I was ready to hit the road to get my little one.  Once we arrived, I sat in the waiting room with Hubs anxiously waiting to see Rooney.  I was so nervous to see what he would look like.  When he finally walked into the room I about burst into tears.  My poor little puppy looked so unbelievably sad and pathetic!!! I instantly felt horrible!  We were told that his stitches would look like little, dark eye lashes.  Wrong!!!! He had these thick, black stitches under both of his eyes {the first look made me want to throw up a little} and this HUGE cone around his neck.  

Hubs loaded Rooney into the SUV and I climbed into the back seat to hold him on the drive home.  The minute we walked into the house Buerly came running to check his brother out.  Poor Rooney spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the house and crying.  We tried to get him to lay down and take a nap until the effects of the morphine wore off but we had no luck at all.  

Rooney and the "cone of shame"! This was taken right after he got home from the animal hospital.

Rooney had his own little pharmacy going on our kitchen counter.  Every 8 hours we had to give him an antibiotic, every 8-12 hours we gave him pain medication, once a day we gave him a steroid and four times a day we had to put eye drops in both of his eyes.  The eye drops were/are no easy feat!  He fights us every time we try to give him the eye drops.  

Rooney FINALLY laying down.

I remember Hubs looking down at Rooney and telling him, "I am so sorry buddy" over and over while he rubbed his neck.  We both felt pretty awful for the little guy but knew that in the end he would be better off.

Each day Rooney becomes more and more like his normal self.  The only difference is he has this ginormous cone around his neck.  Amazingly it seems like he has adapted to it.  Granted, he is a pretty go with the flow kind of pup!  

As much as Buerly acts like he dislikes his brother this picture proves otherwise.

Rooney is still awkward with his cone.  He is constantly clipping/catching the cone on walls and furniture. Going up the stairs is hilarious because he catches the bottom of the cone and falls up the stairs.  When he jumps off our bed he has to be careful not to catch the bottom of the cone otherwise he goes head over heels.  

 

Now that Rooney is pretty much back to normal we have to watch our shins.  Rooney has figured out that he can use his cone like a battering ram.  I cannot tell you how many times he has ran into our legs with that darn cone and it hurts!  His brother, Buerly, has it even worse.  Rooney will take toys away from Buerly and when Buerly attempts to take them back Rooney puts the cone down over the toy on the floor so that Buerly can't get it.  He also uses his cone to herd Buerly around.  My sad, pathetic little boogie has turned back into his mischievous, rambunctious old self.  

 

Rooney goes back to the vet next Wednesday for a recheck.  Hopefully he will get to ditch the cone after that appointment as long as everything looks good.  Once the cone is gone it will be time for us to repair the walls/furniture that he has scratched up with that stupid, plastic cone.  But we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This has been a difficult, expensive process but will be worth it in the end.

Have a fabulous Wednesday!