Super Shelby is home from her surgery!
It was a long day for the both of us. I'd dropped her off first thing this morning at 8AM. We were the first ones there, and at the time I was told they planned to do Shelby's procedure first. I was told they'd call me, likely between 1 and 2PM, to let me know how it went and when I could pick her up.
Well. 2PM came and went. And I'd not heard from the vets. How long does one wait to call to avoid being the troublemaker anxious pet parent? The vet clinic is very busy. Everyone there works hard to give the best possible care to all of our pets. I didn't want to get in the way of that. But Shelby's an old lady. And they were supposed to call me by 2PM. And we had a major wind storm here this afternoon with wind speeds gusting up to 100kph. What if the vet's phone lines went down? What if their power went out? Did they have a generator to keep everything in the surgery running?
I lasted until 4PM. Then I called. It turns out they had changed their minds and done Shelby's surgery last. She was the best behaved dog there! Everyone else was whining and crying and barking. But Shelby was good and quiet and patient. So they did everyone else first to get them out of the way and made Shelby wait until last! When I called them, they had just got Shelby settled into recovery and had been about to call me.
Anyhow... the upshot was that Shelby had done great in surgery, was in recovery, and that I could pick her up in an hour. Awesome! Except--after telling me that morning that Shelby would be able to walk the 800 metres from the clinic back to our home--they were now saying I had to somehow find a ride for her. She was still too groggy to walk. (Originally she was also supposed to be in recovery for a couple of hours before I picked her up. But now with them doing her surgery last, I was to pick her up after only one hour.)
I don't have a car. All of my friends who live locally to me either don't drive, don't have a car, are currently sick, are allergic to dogs, or share their car with someone who's allergic to dogs. So finding a ride for Shelby with no notice is not the easiest thing to do. (Which is why I'd asked in advance if she'd be able to walk home tonight!) But I got off the phone with the vets and tried to think who I could ask for help. Then I noticed that my next door neighbour's car was back in her driveway. She is super nice. And she has dogs! So I went over and asked if she could help us out.
My neighbour said of course she would help! As soon as she finished work. Which conveniently was at 5PM. So we went over to the clinic together at that time. Shelby was so stoned, one of the vet techs had to help me carry her out to the car! When we got back to the house, my neighbour parked in our laneway, so we'd have the smallest possible distance to have to carry Shelby. Then my upstairs neighbour arrived home right after we did. He had to park in the road, since we were blocking the driveway. Then he came over and helped me carry Shelby into the house. (Have I mentioned how much I
LOVE living in Wortley Village? Seriously. I have the
best neighbours!)
I have a dog bed here that is just a piece of that egg-carton foam with a plush covering over it. Shelby never uses it as a bed. (She sleeps on my bed--or rather: she allows me to share
her bed with her--at night, and during the day she has a futon beside my desk.) But the vets had said to avoid having her jump up and down onto/off of furniture tonight so as to avoid the risk of her falling and getting hurt. So I figured we'd put her on the dog bed, then I could just drag it into whatever room I was in, (since I have hardwood floors). So we put Shelby on the dog bed. Then I dragged it beside my desk. And Shelby immediately stood up and hopped up onto the futon!
The vets also gave me some pee pads to use tonight since I have half a flight of stairs to my front door, and they did not think Shelby would be able to handle stairs tonight.
Well, Shelby did not want to use the pee pads. She is a civilized lady! She does not do her business in the house! So around 8PM we went outside. I used a towel under her belly as a sling to help her on the stairs. But she didn't actually need any help to get down. Then she set off trotting down the street like we were going for a walk on any other night. I managed to get her to turn around and head back home after she'd done her business, and I did need to help her a little bit to get back up the stairs. But mostly she did just fine!
This is one strong girl!
Pronouns: He/Him
from
Thank you!
from
from
to you and Shelby.
All the healing and love to the two of you.
Yay! Super Shelby is home!!