Potty trip went well!!  He got himself up on his own and walked without help to the front door which was about 25 feet.  I had to help him down the stairs with a towel and he was able to get out to the grass and relieve himself on his own.  Success!  Now, going back inside didn't work too well.  I guess I must have hurt him with the towel (it slid forward) and he turned and nipped me.  Thankfully didn't break skin but it was a good reminder for me to be careful.  I will have the muzzle handy for the next time.  My husband arrived home just in time and carried Harley back inside.  He's eating like a champ and overall doing much better than we thought he would.  We've already decided that 300mg of Gabapentin was not enough and have doubled it because that's what he was getting before the surgery.  Hoping that will also sedate him a bit so he gets a lot of rest.  I wish I could figure out how to post a picture......   

Harley continues to do well although we had a bit of an incident last evening.  I think I waited too long to give him his pain medication and the effects wore off.  He was sleeping so soundly that I didn't want to wake him to give meds.  He was up at 3:30am and needed to pee.  My husband carried him out and he voided his bladder on his own.  Now, getting him back in was very challenging.  I had given him his Gabapentin before he went outside to pee.  Harley wanted no part of my husband carrying him back inside and he was growling, snarling and snapping anytime we got close.  Luckily, it wasn't too cold outside and wasn't raining.  So we let him chillax for a bit while we figured out a plan.  We thought we would muzzle him and then get him on a blanket and carry him in that way.  Harley is used to the muzzle and we use it for all vet visits and any time we have to clean his ears (lesson learned after 3 bites.....  )  We waited for about 20 minutes which gave the meds time to start working and we went back to him.  I was able to get the muzzle on no problem but anytime my husband went to try and get him up (so we could move him onto the blanket), Harley was snarling/growling and trying bite through the muzzle.  It's a heavy duty muzzle so no way for him to bite unless it comes off.  We may try the cone of shame the next time (saw the ER techs used that instead of the muzzle I had offered).  My husband was able to get him up on his feet and then instead of putting him on the blanket, he picked him up and carried Harley inside.  When he put him down on the bed, Harley was still growling at my husband.  We let him be and I decided that he could probably be fed seeing it was now 4:30, and it could also get more pain meds into him (carprofen and codeine) and his Prozac.  Anyways, my husband went back to bed and I was in the kitchen getting the food for both dogs ready when I heard some shuffling behind me.  Yup, Harley had gotten up on his own and shuffled into the kitchen.  About 20 feet and he managed to stay on his feet the entire time while I finished getting his food and medication ready.  That was about 5 minutes.  He wanted no part of the raised feeder and didn't want to lay down to eat so I put his food down and he stayed on his feet the entire time and ate his food.  He had to adjust a few times but overall, his balance was pretty good.  With a full belly, and meds on board, I got him back onto his soft bed and he slept for another 2 1/2 hours.  He managed to figure out how to get himself back up the two stairs on our front porch (twice today already).  Going down is still a challenge.  I am staying on top of his pain meds and making sure they are not overdue.  He's eating VERY well.  Still waiting for the first   It's going to be massive!!

jerry said
That's such great news that overall he's doing well. Little by little he will get there. And try not to beat yourself up too much about the episode. Yeah, it does sound like he overdid it. Right now, potty walks to the yard are all he should be doing. We all learn on this journey, and sometimes things like this happen. But as long as you keep his activity level way, way down until stitches come out (and even then, it should still start up again very, very slowly), he should be OK.

If he's showing any pain signals let your vet know. But with you staying on top of his meds and keeping on schedule, my guess is he'll be fine in the morning.

And yeah that first can be a real doozy! Good luck!

  

Yeah - much more painful today.  Guessing the long-term pain shot/local anesthetic has worn off.  Harley was very subdued today - not upbeat like previous days and it was definitely much harder to get him up to go out to do his business.  On the third attempt (he hadn't gone for 9 hours), my husband carried him out and right after he put Harley the ground,  Harley tried to bite him several times....  luckily my husband is faster than Harley is right now.  I called the vet and told them that Harley is quite painful and that the current regimen that I had already doubled wasn't knocking down the pain.  They said that the doubled meds (which were the same amount he was getting before surgery) could account for the increased aggression.  I don't buy that but all they offered was Acepromazine which is a sedative.  He did have his first BM since surgery this afternoon which is a relief.  And we let him just lay  out in the grass for about 30 minutes with supervision rather than try to get him back inside when he was still upset with my husband.  He was not keen to get up at all.   I sat with him and soothed him for about 20 minutes and then I was finally able to coax him back to the house and up the 2 stairs with some turkey burger and then fed his dinner.  Luckily he's very food motivated but earlier today, he wasn't interested in food much which is another clue that he was not feeling too comfortable.  He's now resting comfortably with the pain meds given 3 hours ago and he just got his Carprofen about 45 minutes ago which should also help.   The vet recommended cutting the meds back to what she had prescribed which is only 40mg of Codeine and 300mg of Gabapentin every 8 hours along with 75mg of Carprofen every 12 hours.  He's over 80 pounds.....   

Today is a pretty good day for Harley.  He's getting himself up a bit more frequently than yesterday and overall seems much more like himself mentally.  He had one small incident this morning when he was laying on the floor on his "amp" side and had difficulty getting up.  When he tried, he cried and I was close by and he snapped at me.  I was far enough away to no be in danger.  I had to adjust him a bit so he could roll himself up and then he was able to get all the way to his feet.  Not being able to do much with a towel has been challenging.  With our last dog that we lost 3 months ago, we were able to towel walk him to/from the vehicle, outside to do his business and up/down the 2 stairs but Harley is not stoic and when get that tinge of pain, he gets snappy/nippy.   When I got home from walking the other dog, my husband had Harley outside and when I drove up, Harley popped up off the ground and was barking and wagging his tail like nothing was amiss.  

We are having problems getting an Oncology consult scheduled.  Everyone wants to wait until the pathology report comes back and then they'll schedule but most admit that they are already booking into February.  We have a consult at OSU vet school for Jan. 11th but hoping to find something closer as it is a 3.5 hour drive each way.