Thursday, April 22, 2010

Vet Stem: Injection Day - 48 hours post-op

2 Days Post Vet-Stem Fat Harvesting Surgery:

I woke up this morning,


But I didn't feel like getting up yet,


I like to roll around in bed and rub my face after I have woken up,


(mum: Sunshade is not a morning dog. She would always stay in bed until the very last minute, when I have her harness in hand, before she'd be willing to get up.)

Then mum got a call from MY clinic. They said they've got MY SuperSTEM-CELLS back already and wanted me to go in so they could inject them into me. My fat (still don't understand how they managed to find any) harvesting surgery was on Tuesday, and I was ready to be injected on Thursday.

I was very happy to hear that, (please excuse mum's hyper-ness, she was a little excited too)



(mum: Poor Sunshade, she's not used to only short potty breaks and no walks. When she saw that I'd gotten changed, she was just over the moon! Please excuse the messy floor..)


I put on a VERY special bandanna before we headed out the door,


This is a very special bandanna because it was given to me for my 8th B-Day by Maggie & Mitch, made for ME by their mom. I knew they were thinking about me, so I wanted to wear it to get my injections. Look at the boootiful Aire-gurrrrl on that bandanna!!


(mum: all of my most treasured Airedale items were made and/or given to us by Sue, M&M's mom!!)

All the get well wishes and AireZENS I have been receiving from all my friends will make those stem cells work, I just know it!!


I see MY clinic, I see it!


Now, where's MY Auntie Janice and Auntie Jen???


Like I'd mentioned before, everytime I go into MY clinic, I announce my arrival to the entire clinic. MY Auntie Janice and Auntie Jen both recognize MY SuperVOICE by now that they come out and greet me whenever they hear my announcement. Today was even better, Auntie Pipa was there too to greet me!



You have to know, I am usually a VERY aloof gurrrrl. I'm never shy or mean, but I sort of act "in different" when people who I don't really know or don't care about pet me. I don't really acknowledge their petting. There are only a handful of people in my life that get the kind of greeting you saw in the video. There is no better way to say this, but you sort of have to prove to me that you deserve my SuperDALE attention before I would give any to you. But once you have shown me, you'll have it for LIFE! That's just the way I work.

(mum: it's true, only VERY special people get the between the legs head rubs, full helicopter ears with smiley mouth, and none stop tail wags from Sunshade. Umm... and at the end of the video, what I was trying say was that - the site where the catheter was put in bothered Sunshade more than anything else....)

After the greeting, I happily followed Auntie Janice/Jen to the back even tho the last time I was in there, I was put under and woke up with a sore belly and wobbly legs. When I trust you, I trust you, no grudges held whatsoever!

I saw the box that my stem cells arrived in,


And my stem cells in these syringes. The two slender syringes are to be injected directly into my joints; one elbow, one knee. The larger syringe holds the IV dose.


It was time to get prepped for the injections. Auntie Janice put another catheter in me,


I was given the induction drug Profovol,


And..... I don't remember anything.....


The following, as told to me by mum.....

Unfortunately, I had to be hooked up to the anesthesia machine again. Since the needle will be going directly into the joint capsule, it would hurt a lot if I were awake.


My right elbow got shaved and prepped for the injection,



The needle went into my elbow first to make sure it had reached the inside of the joint,


The syringe holding the SuperSTEM-CELLS,


Syringe was screwed onto the needle that's already inside the joint,


And injected!


Then my right knee was prepped for injection.


Both of my knees had TPLO surgeries in 2003, but they have never given me any problems since the surgeries and are actually holding up very good. We decided to inject my right knee because we had enough samples to inject one more joint on top of my elbow, and my right knee felt a bit arthritic.


The knee injection process will be in the video coming up shortly.

Last injection, the intravenous dose,


Goes in the catheter, 1 milliliter per 2 minutes,


Summary of the injections, nothing bloody this time,



I was disconnected from the anesthesia machine, and while I was waking up, Auntie Janice again used her laser to promote healing of the stomach incision.


My stomach incision by the way is healing very well, that redness you see around is just a little bit of bruising that comes with any surgery.

(mum: Sunshade has been very good at not bothering the incision. She hasn't taken one look at it yet!)

I woke up!


Auntie Jen was there to stabilize me so I don't fall off the table,


I was still very groggy, my SuperTONGUE wasn't too super there. I didn't really have much control over it as you can see,


Mum came to be by my side too while Auntie Janice became trigger happy,


Unfortunately, I was still seeing stars here.....


You can tell I'm still not myself,


Otherwise, I would have been struggling to get away from mum's hugs and kisses!!! You all know how much I love those kisses right??


Auntie Janice came to stabilize me too. I mean, who can resist me?


Me and MY favouritest Aunties!!!


I was able to stand shortly after, albeit still quite wobbly on my legs,


Do you want to know what was the first thing I did when I was able to walk a little?

Well, I wobbled over to stare at Morris the cat of course. He was the guy I saw when I was waking up from my anesthesia on Tuesday. He woke me up then, and he woke me up now!


Just right before I went under today, I walked by Morris's cage and had a chat with him. (mum: it was more like you swore at him Sunshade....) So the first thing I did after I came down was to go check him out. Unfortunately my voice still wasn't working then...

Do you want to know what was the second thing I did after I could walk a little?

I went to look for food, Auntie Janice was getting her lunch out! (mum: she's got her priorities straight alright, cat first, food second!)


I watched all MY Aunties eating,


(mum: We had to stay until Sunshade was more steady on her feet. It only took about 15-20 minutes from when she was out of the anesthesia til she was able to walk properly.)

That's Auntie Jen's old Buddy, he's 15 years old and he loves to eat but is very skinny. He had vestibular syndrome before so now he can only turn towards the right when he walks. He was turning right, and he walked right into my face and was pushing against my neck trying to turn right and he kept trying, against my neck. Mum told me I couldn't get mad at him because he was just too funny, and old too.


(mum: Sunshade has been so brave, so stoic, so adaptable throughout this entire process. Not that it was a surprise to me as this was her 6th surgery, and she took the previous 5 (all more invasive) in strides. At the same time, its never an easy feeling to know she's going to be put under and she won't know why, to see the wound on her and know that she could be hurting. In the end, I just hope that the benefit of the stem cells will far outweigh the pain she's had to go through with this entire process. I am also very lucky and very thankful to have such a caring and skillful team of veterinarians, technicians, assistants handling Sunshade, my very special girl.

Sunshade's Surgical History:

2000 - spay surgery
2001 - Right elbow Arthroscopy
2003 May - Right knee TPLO surgery
2003 Dec - Left knee TPLO surgery
2005 - hardware (from the TPLO) removal surgery
2010 - Vet-Stem

6 comments:

Molly the Airedale said...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww, you wore your bandana that mom made for you, Sunshade! We are honored!
Mom has made the picture of you and your mom that Auntie Janis took our desktop! We are AireZenning like crazy for you!
We love you, Sunshade!

Maggie and Mitch

Princess Patches said...

Sunshade, we hope you are feeling lots better today! Us more mature doggies make our pawrents worry when we have to have surgery! I'm fine and you will be too!

Aire-hugs,
Penny (and Patches too)

The Airechicks said...

You will surely be the utmost SUPERdale once the stem cells are in place - until that time take it easy we know nothing will ever slow you down - you'll be in the yard rolling sooner than we think....

Keep HEALING and we'll be sending more AIREZEN and thinking of you getting better....

XXoXOooXXooX

Saw hi to Jaffa for us....

Nelly said...

Sunshade we're keeping our paws crossed that the stem cells do their job for you.

Lots of Airezen flying your way!

Nibbles & Headrubs
Nelly & Finn xx

Putter said...

OH Sunshade! We are JUST CATCHING up on this BIG adventure you have had! We are so glad all went so wellest! We love you! Keep us posted okay!

Love,

Putter ...

Scruffy, Lacie and Stanley's Place said...

Oh Sunshade...you were one stylin' girlie on the way into your surgery...does your mom know how bootiful she is? Oh my, don't ya ever get jelly of her? I don't have to worry about that with Mumsie...she's like 847 years old...no competition for the Lacie at all...

We love all your aunties there...and that face rub between the knees is vintage Babystan...he's almost knocked Mumsie off her feet multiple times...

yeesch...

I have to get her to bed...she's gotta go to workie again tomorrow...

Kisses...Laciecakes