Henny @ The White Coats...AGAIN. UPDATE #18 NOT GOOD

[chocolatepuppy]

Oh no, more prayers for Henny.

[Sparklecoon]

Henny's home again. She has a funky collar on that looks like a peoples cervical collar to prevent her from getting to the incision. They had to open nearly the whole incision (10 inches). She has three drainage tubes and a big ole dressing wrapped all the way around. She seems happy so thats all that matters. I'll have to post pics later. Thanks for all the prayers. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

[Freedom]

Not sure HOW I've missed this thread before now.

I am so sorry to read of all that Henny - and you - have been through! My goodness, what a lot to cope with for both of you. Praying that things settle down and she heals well.

Once the sutures have 'set' and the wound starts healing over, you can remove the e collar and leave a coating of Vaseline on the site. The Vaseline will stop and itch and sooth the sore, and dogs don't like it so she'll leave the site alone. but only AFTER the healing is well along. The Vaseline will keep the area moist and prevent healing so don't apply it too soon.

Please let us know how all of you are doing!

[chocolatepuppy]

Wondering how Henny's doing.

[Sparklecoon]

Her drain tubes became infected. If it's not one thing it's the other

I noticed some pusy drainage on Friday and removed the dressing the vet put on that he wanted changed monday (idiot!) and her drain tubes were definately draining and pooling in the dressing (Idiot!). I did a dressing change and cleaned her up with some saline solution (thank God i'm a nurse and have access to all this stuff) wrapped her back up and started calling around to different vets to see who would see her. Vets like M.D.s and tattoo artists don't like touching other peoples work.

Well we went to a vet saturday that would grasciously take us in. I'd changed the bandage before we went and by the time we got there her dressing was soaked. The vet was worried it was peritonitis (infection in the abdominal cavity) but she didn't show symptoms (diarrhea, loss of appetite). Her blood work came back A-OK (WBCs well within normal). They cleaned her up in the back and gave me two different antibiotics to give her (Cipro and Cephalexin) for the next week and a half. I also have to flush her tubes and puncture sites (where one of the tubes was inadvertently removed) with chlorhexadine 1-2 times a day for the next little bit.

I'm so angry with the original vet. when he changed her dressing originall her used TAPE to keep it all together and I mean directly on the hair and skin. You wouldn't believe how much hair came off when I removed it (And I wetted it as I went). There were also scabs all along her belly where you can see the first dressing had been removed at the office. I also asked when he put the drains in a week post-op if she needed more antibiotics and he said 'no, she's doing fine' .

Henny herself is doing great. She's so much happier now that the incision is open to air and she's finally tolerating a different kind of e-collar that the vet on saturday gave her though she's not to happy about it. The incision looks better already and the drainage is minimal to nonexistent. Hopefully the sutures can come out this week. She's eating well, has some pep in her step (though were keeping her pretty sedentary til all is healed), and she's stooling wonderfully .

[chocolatepuppy]

I'm sorry things took a turn for the worse, but thank goodness Henny's doing better now. I think it might be time to start looking for a new vet huh? I'll keep Henny in my prayers and hopefully she'll be all better soon.