Hey all.  Gerry's a little bored, and sick of me watching him like a hawk and/or being in the cone, so that he can't lick.  But we're both resting pretty well and falling back into what has become the ol' recovery/medication routine by now.  If my count is right this is his 5th surgery in the three years I've known him (amputation, histiocytoma, disticia, and an infected mass in his gums plus fractured teeth).  I don't know if he's going for a record or what.  He doesn't even resemble any of the breeds genetically predisposed to disticia - that diagnosis had me so weirded out that I switched vets.  Probably unfairly though, cause the problem never came back after they zapped his eyeballs, and I've only heard great things about that vet since.  But I digress...

One plus side of recovery (only for us humans though) - the cute recovery pictures:

Yeah, he probably wasn't completely past the effects of the anesthesia for those pics. 

He's on Rimadyl for the pain - just for a few days.  He's also on metronidazole (anti-biotic, which I might have spelled wrong) for the diarrhea that hadn't cleared up yet (fecal was clear though).  And he's on Pepcid because the doc said something about removal of the MCT can release something or other and cause GI upset.  He's been on Pepcid and Metro before, but I can't remember if he has had Rimadyl before, or only Tramadol...  Either way, it's short-term so I'm not going to stress about it.  Just keeping an eye on the ol' stool.

Gerry is also already getting Dasuquin and a probiotic every day.

I'm impressed with how pretty the incision has been from day 1.  Granted, it wasn't an amputation, but still, I was surprised at the lack of redness, swelling, discharge, etc.

He's been sleeping pretty heavily lately.  I think that might be the heat wave we've been having though, as it's been knocking me out too.  

Results start coming in next week.  Neurology consult, thyroid panel, and hopefully the grading of the tumor.  The last two could take a little longer, or they could all be in by Friday.  Yikes.

He did well.  Had a sitter come hang out with him for an hour in the morning.  We'll do that for this week at least.  She said he was great and even went potty for her.  He was quite spunky when I got home and certainly has his full appetite!

Got thyroid panel results - normal.  One down, two to go.

Good news!  The tumor was a grade II with super duper clean margins.  The vet advised to keep an eye on that area it was removed from in particular for re-occurrence, and the rest of him too with less needed vigilance, but odds are low for it coming back and/or metastasizing.  

Also, our regular vet got the consult with neurology from UW Madison.  They concurred it was clear.  Their notes said it could have been atypical idiopathic seizures and a appointment with them could be beneficial.  On the one hand, I'm thinking I'd better be frugal with the Gerry fund (the savings account I keep for things like this - not that I ever could have imagined the last few weeks) for as long as I can - build it back up to it's former glory.  

Certainly if he had another episode, I'd see a neurologist asap.  But, it might be important to get their advice on the dog therapy dilemma whether he has another one or not.  Since he was so mobile and so loud during his episodes, he could easily be a danger to himself or others in a hospital or other settings, if it occurred there - unlike with your more traditional mill grand mal seizure (which one of the dog therapy veterans was telling me her dog had and was no problem).  I'll ask my regular vet about it.  See how comfortable she feels about advising me on the dog therapy problem.  Maybe she'll recommend we see a neurologist about question.  *Sigh*  I sure hope they're going to be able to tell me with confidence that after X number of months or whatever, it should be safe to say he won't have them again, but I'm not optimistic that they can say that.  After all, so far they can't even confirm if it was a sort of seizure at all.  It would be such a shame to have to quit it, but it could be so much worse if he did have even one episode on a visit.  Cause that could affect the entire program and other teams, or, like I said before, even get someone hurt accidentally.  Animal assisted therapy is about the people who need the visits for the comfort and joy of them, not about how good the visits would be for Gerry.  Him freaking out in the middle of the visit would be the complete opposite of comfort and joy, I'm sure.  Oh well, that's my dilemma in ramble-speak.

Speaking of dog therapy, in all our vet visits over the last couple weeks, I don't think there was a single one where he didn't go cuddle up to some nervous dog owner in the waiting room.  Seems almost counter-intuitive, but maybe vet offices would let us do dog therapy visits to their waiting rooms?    Then he'd be in the perfect place to have an "episode" anyway! 

So glad that we're stuck with this problem though!  (Instead of the big C problem)

Yeah, Vectra 3D.  And if Rita is sending nose-pokes, I'm sure Gerry sends muzzle licks back.