Recovery of Rom, Part 3

This is hopefully the last chapter in the Recovery of Rommel. Our 4-year-old German Shepherd's brush with death has passed and hopefully this is the end of our medical drama with him. His staples were removed yesterday at the veterinarian's office. Farmer B called me from the exam room and said that quite a few staples had twisted in Rommel's belly causing him quite a bit of discomfort, squeaking and some blood upon their removal. The vet was quite impressed that Rommel was the same weight yesterday that he was the day he went in to have his spleen removed 10 days ago. His spleen weighed about 4 lbs, so that means our skinny dog actually put on 4 lbs in 10 days - quite a remarkable achievement for any dog, especially one recovering from major surgery. The pathology results showed that his tissue was consistent with a flipped spleen, so this surgery definitely saved his life.

Although we're still making him take it slowly, he's back to his quirky, nutty self now. We all feel like we can safely breathe a sigh of relief that he'll be okay. When someone you love (or some pet you love) experiences a brush with death, that's when you realize how much you really love them and how life wouldn't be the same without them. I'm glad we got that second chance with Rommel.

So this silly dog is getting extra hugs right now. And we're all trying to remember not to take each other - or our pets - for granted.

Here is the new spleen-less Rommel showing off his personality.




Hope that last picture of him showing off his teeth didn't scare you too much.

The Recovery of Rom, Part 2

As you know, we've been waiting for the pathology results from Rommel's spleenectomy. All of the literature says that most dogs with such a contorted, enlarged, rupturing and blood-filled spleen would have a very aggressive form of cancer. So we have been anxious since his surgery on Friday. In addition to waiting for Rommel's results, we have been dealing with Tropical Storm Fay. School has been cancelled locally for two days and Aidan missed his first day of Preschool today. It's just been a messy couple of days.

But the phone rang yesterday morning with the results and we're happy to report that Rommel is all clear and cancer-free! No one knows why his spleen decided to go supernova, but at least we know we can focus on his recovery now and move past the drama of almost losing him. He is such an odd dog and even though he can be high-maintenance at times, he is a member of our family.

He's been wearing the e-collar more than his anti-lick shirt lately because he has recently discovered the IV wound on his leg. He can lick it red raw in about 2 minutes. So we're not sure what's worse - wearing an e-collar or wearing a tshirt with a crotch-guard made of fleece and a large tube sock over one leg.

Our little Siamese cat, Darwin, just discovered Rommel's lampshade the other night. The cats normally give Rommel a wide berth because he does like to chase them from time to time. They never walk right up to him just in case he gets a wild hair and decides to chase them. Darwin took one look at Rommel with the lampshade on his head the other night and had to investigate. Luckily Rommel was too tired to chase him - and he gets stuck on every piece of furniture in the house when he walks, so it would have been a feeble chase anyway.

No news on the garden. It's too windy and blowy and wet to check out our little deathpatch of vegetables. Once the storm moves away and the tornado watches are lifted, we'll assess the damage - like it could really get any worse.

The Recovery of Rom

It's only been a day since Rommel came home all stapled up from the veterinarian, but he is improving. He's sleeping most of the day and very slow moving, but he's bright-eyed and actually eating. Eating is a new thing for Rommel - he's never been a big eater and to see him actually eat a whole bowl of dog food is new to us. Oddly enough one of the best high-caloric foods to give a dog to increase their appetite is beaver. Really. Beaver. So Farmer B and Aidan made a beeline for the natural pet food store to buy him a can of Beaver. I learned from the company's website that the food is made from surplus beaver that would normally end up in a landfill. I have never heard of surplus beaver - this has opened up a whole new world for us.

We wonder if this enlarged spleen might have been an issue for most of Rommel's life. He's always been a light eater and never been motivated by food - maybe his spleen has always been pushing on his stomach and intestines and caused some discomfort. I guess we'll never know.

On a brighter note I made Rommel a little addition to the tshirt he's been wearing. I call this my "post-surgery anti-lick dog suit". It's what all the cool post-op dogs are wearing. Farmer B's tshirt has been cut around the neck to accommodate Rommel's large neck. I also cut the sleeves off - along with a lot of the front of the shirt to accommodate his large chest and front legs. I cut a slit up the back so I can tie it "cheerleader-style" on his back to stop it from drooping. This wasn't quite working though - he could still stick his snout under the bottom edge of the shirt to get to his massive row of staples. So I got a piece of super-soft MM microfleece and sewed it to the bottom edge of the shirt. The piece I sewed looks like a large "V" shape - with a bit of extra fabric at the bottom of the V. The "V" pieces come up between his hind legs and have been sewn to the top of the shirt - where the "cheerleader" ties are on top. This keeps the soft fleece on his staples and prevents him from licking at his wound. Obviously we have to take his shirt off when he goes outside - and at night we're still putting on his Elizabethan collar so there is no chance he'll rip out any staples while we're sleeping. Its not pretty, but this set-up is working great for him.


Thanks for all the kind words and thoughts on his recovery. We should get the pathology results on Monday or Tuesday and we are hoping to hear the words "cancer free" more than you can imagine.

Since this is a gardening blog, I went out to the garden to take some photos of our plants to give you all a status update tomorrow. These photos will not be for the faint of heart.

A real emergency

We're taking a small break from gardening right now thanks to a real emergency in the family. Our beloved and quirky German Shepherd, Rommel, was acting a bit off this week and vomited all day and night on Wednesday. On Friday he wasn't acting any better and we could tell he was in quite a bit of discomfort. We took him to the vet and got x-rays and we were told he probably had an obstruction causing a blockage in his stomach. There was something large and out of place on the x-ray and the vet could feel that there was something large in his stomach that shouldn't be there - we assumed he'd eaten some trash or a toy and that he'd be better once it was taken out. He ended up in Emergency surgery on Friday. The vet called halfway through the procedure with the worst news. It wasn't an obstruction - his spleen was four times the normal size and was so fragile that his fingers were poking through it. They didn't think he'd wake up from the surgery.

But he did! Rommel did great during the procedure and woke up happier than ever. He's at home recovering with us right now. The vet told us that our next hurdle we need to overcome is getting the pathology results back - most of the time these things are an aggressive form of cancer. He feels quite positive that we might be one of the rare cases where it's not cancer, but he also did his best to prepare us for what could happen.

So we're still in shock and just trying to take care of him and make him feel better. He's only 4 years old and has always been a healthy and happy dog. Now he's all stapled up and is sleeping peacefully. He's wearing one of Farmer B's tshirts all the time to stop him from licking at his wound. After all, a tshirt is much more dignified than an Elizabethan collar.

And to top it all off, there's a hurricane headed our way too…so we have no idea how our poor little failing garden will do with that.

Updates to come. Send some good juju our way...we definitely need it!