Last Supper Before Surgery

October 7, 2009 – Day 280

Tomorrow is a day I dread. It’s the day Little Bear has to go for surgery to have the lump on his chest removed. Check in time is between 7:30 and 8:00 for him so Ken will take him in on his way to work. Since the estimate included up to two nights stay, I called the vet’s office this morning to ask if we should expect that Little Bear will be staying at least one night. The woman I spoke to said yes, that is what we can expect unless the surgeon thinks that Little Bear will be better off at home with us – or better off at the emergency animal hospital, where he will receive 24 hour care. Dr. Person is going to do the surgery in the morning (if I remember correctly, the appointment is booked for 9:00). They’ll monitor him all day but no staff members will be on site between 6:30 tomorrow night and 7:30 Friday morning. The woman assured me that Little Bear will have enough pain medication to last him through the night though, if he stays there. If he has to be moved to the emergency hospital, we’ll have to pick him up and take him there.

In preparation for surgery, Little Bear couldn’t eat anything after 6:00 tonight so I made his supper extra-special. I chopped up a few cooked carrots plus took the meat off a couple small pork ribs and mixed it in with his dog food. He loved it.

I’ve been nervous about tomorrow all day today and I’m sure I’ll be on pins and needles tomorrow and probably for the next few days, since I don’t fully know what to expect. When we took Little Bear for an assessment, the vet said it will take up to a month for him to recover fully.