Surgery Is Not Fun For Anyone

It all started when I caught a cold. It was just your everyday normal common cold, but it totally knocked me down. It got to the point that I knew I was bordering on bronchitis and pneumonia. THAT terrified me, so I laid perfectly still and didn’t move for a whole day. It did the trick and I felt a slight improvement the next day.

Healing has been slow and I’m still not totally well yet. My persistent cough is hanging around, but at least I don’t have to sleep sitting up in the recliner anymore.

That brings me to the next issue. My daughter and I had totally differing views on whether or not our dog, Bella, should be bred. Bella does have a pure toy poodle blood line, so why shouldn’t she have puppies? Well, I could think of lots of reasons that Bella should not have puppies and Alyssa thought of a few reasons why she should get pregnant.

Time kept passing us by without Bella having puppies or getting spayed.

Since Bella is 4 years 7 months old, we needed to do one or the other. Now that Alyssa has matured a bit, my reasons to have Bella spayed made much more sense. I made the appointment to have the surgery. Bella has become my baby, so I have been a nervous wreck. The closer the surgery date got, the more upset I felt. Then when I caught my cold, it just added to the anxiety I was feeling for Bella’s impending surgery date. Finally the big day rolled around.

I had to take her by 7:30 a.m. for the surgery at 9:30 a.m.

After dropping her off at the veterinarian’s office, I came back home. I was so upset. I couldn’t concentrate. I was a mess and everything I touched, I either broke or dropped.

By the time the doctor called to tell me about the outcome of the surgery, I was climbing the walls. Because of Bella’s previous life-saving surgery from long ago, there was scar tissue on her organs. Some of the scar tissue attached her left ovary to her intestines, so the surgery was a bit more complicated. The doctor had to carefully detach the ovary from the intestine before he could remove it. I’m glad he started our conversation with, “Bella is doing fine and is okay” before he told me the nitty gritty of the surgery.

The doctor’s staff loves Bella because she is so quiet and cuddly, so I knew they would take good care of her. However, I couldn’t hardly wait for her to wake up so that I could bring her back home. Eventually 3:30 p.m. rolled around and I high tailed it to the vet’s office. Even in her semi-groggy state, Bella was very excited to see me. She had enough pain medication in her so she wasn’t too uncomfortable. As I drove, I talked to Bella all the way home. She occasionally licked my hand, but for the most part just laid very still.

For the past two days, all I’ve done is hold Bella. That’s all she wants me to do and I have gladly held the sweet little dog. It feels like I have a sick baby again because I’m having to watch the clock to make sure I give her the antibiotics and pain medications on time. It has confirmed something that I already knew…

A 51 year old Sherry is not meant to have more babies to raise.

I’m tired y’all.

Bushed.

Worn to a frazzle.

Tuckered out.

Exhausted.

Dog-tired, pun intended.

When Bella’s sweet little eyes look up me, I know she must wonder what in the world has happened to make her feel so yucky. So I just keep holding her, kissing her furry little head, gently rubbing her, coaxing her to drink and eat, disguising her medication in bits of yummy food, and singing to her between hacking coughs. You know, she doesn’t even care that I’m coughing. She just closes her eyes and lays her head on my chest. I think she likes my singing which means Bella is the only living thing on this planet that likes to listen to me sing.

Needless to say, between the lingering cold and taking care of Bella, I missed Halloween and have been unable to blog. So that’s where I’ve been. Everything is going to be okay, but we both have to get well again. Bella will get her stitches out on November 14th and hopefully will feel much better with each passing day.

Looking on the bright side, although surgery isn’t fun for anyone, at least everything is improving. My gratitude list for today includes the following:

1. I was able to pay for the surgery.
2. Bella came through the surgery fine.
3. We won’t have to worry about her female organs getting diseased and killing her.
4. I’m able to stay home and nurse Bella back to health.
5. Alyssa is here to babysit Bella while I go to the grocery stores.
6. Bella is an excellent patient.
7. I handled my fear much better than usual.
8. I’m taking one day at a time.

Yep.

I think everything is going as well as can be expected.

Since I’m about to fall asleep at the keyboard, I should bid you goodnight before my head droops and hits the desk