Doug had surgery scheduled yesterday, to open up his nasal passages and enable him to breathe better. The doctor had said that the out-patient surgery would take about a half-hour.
It's always a little scary to have a surgical procedure on a Friday because of the potential of having problems over the weekend when the doctor is unavailable. But, at least, this procedure was scheduled early enough in the morning to allow us to see whether problems would develop before the end of the day.
I started to voice that opinion to Doug the day before the surgery, saying "At least they'll be doing it early enough..." And Doug interrupted me to finish my thought with one of his own, saying "...that you'll be able to have your Doberman before nightfall." (If that doesn't make sense to you, see my post entitled "Conversations.")
Of course, these things are never as simple as the doctor makes them sound. We were at the surgery center for four hours, including getting checked in and signing releases, about an hour and a half of prep time, 45 minutes in surgery, and an hour and a half in recovery.
I brought Doug home, then drove back into town to get a prescription filled for pain medication and to get him a chocolate malt, which was sounding good to him and which the doctor had sort of recommended.
About an hour after I returned from that errand of mercy, we began to realize that Doug was in trouble from another direction. The pressure in his bladder was seriously mounting, and he was unable to void. I called his urologist and left a message for the phone nurse. About 15 minutes later, I called the scheduling nurse to see if Doug could get in to see the doctor before the office closed for the day. She informed me that the doctor was in surgery on Fridays, not in the office; and, besides, the office would be closing in 45 minutes. She asked if I would like to talk to the phone nurse. I told her that I had left a message for the phone nurse but hadn't received a call back. The scheduling nurse then transferred my call to the phone nurse. I waited on hold for five minutes before hanging up and getting ready to take Doug to the Emergency Room.
I won't bore you with details, but we were in the ER for three hours. When they eventually hooked Doug up to a catheter, he voided three times the content of a normal bladder when it's full. They wound up sending him home with the catheter still in and instructions to call his urologist on Monday.
There was still no message from the urologist's phone nurse on the recorder when we got home.
Doug was pretty miserable last night, but he did manage to sleep a little.
Today, the sun is shining; Doug's appetite is returning; and he's doing much better. The Doberman is on hold until another day.
Usually putting you under, the release time is after you have voided, the anesthesia or spinal block turns that off. I'm surprised they let him go, without going.Hope all gets better.
ReplyDeleteOut on the prairie-It does seem that it would be a wise practice to make sure the plumbing is functioning before sending the patient home. We wound up going back to ER today because the catheter was leaking. It had to come out, and the doctor gave Doug the option of having a new one put in right then or going home without a catheter and watching to see if things would work naturally. Doug opted to go home without the catheter. So far, so good. :) Thanks for your good wishes.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear of Doug's woes, Linda. But glad to know he's on the road to recovery.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hilary. He's feeling a little better each day.
ReplyDeletePoor baby. What an ordeal. It was good to talk to you a little bit ago and hear that things are going better. Hopefully this is the beginning of a sharp upturn in his health. You know you're both in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandra. You know first hand the importance of prayer. We have really appreciated those that have been praying for Doug through this. He's far from perky, but he's definitely better.
ReplyDelete