Casey's Surgery Day

Casey's Journey......... 

in his own words...........

I didn't get breakfast and i am depressed!

Never mind , dads got my harness out. Must be going out to breakfast! YAY! 

Ok dad doesn't know how this darn harness works! 

Yup he really doesn't know how this darn harness works!

Dad still figuring it out! 

Ok i think dad has it on! 

We are ready to go! 

Sitting on mom's lap waiting for dad to get his cappuccino 

Sigh... still waiting. 

Ok dads back. something isn't right here. nothing for me? Whats going on?

We're here. Oh no i know this place! 

 Front of Vet Hospital 

 Potty break before we go in 

 Changed my mind. I'm not going in! 

 List of staff 

Oh i hope i lost more weight! Yay they say a couple of ounces! 

 My stuff. thank goodness mom packed plenty of food! 

 I am ready to go home!

PLease can we go home! 

Ok lets talk about this. 

Ok so does anyone see that mom isn't listening to me! 

 This is my surgeon Dr Brad Coolman. 

Now i am getting scared 

Someones coming in ! Whose there!?

OHHHH the indignity of it all!

 Stripped naked. this can't be good.. 

I don't see her, i'm not going. she isn't there. not looking at her.

in da words of Casey's foster mommy.......

as everyone knows today was the day for the surgical removal of Casey's right lung. we started out last nite with him getting a good bath, teeth brushed and much to his delight a 3rd meal about 10pm last nite. someone (me) felt guilty because he would get no breakfast! As silly as it sounds i sat down with him and explained to him what was going to happen to him today. Not sure if i was making myself feel better or if he understood any of it. Off to bed we went about midnite expecting an early rise today. Up this morning at 6:30am to get ready for the day. All the dogs fed but Casey and believe me he was vocally not happy! He was excited to get to go though when we got his harness out. Although he knew something out of the normal was up. Hubby took him out to the car while i gave we're leaving treats. Unbeknownst to me bob was out in the car explaining to Casey what was going to happen today. Guess i am not the only silly! so anyway the pictures will show you our journey from home to when they took him for surgery. so surgery. doc thought about 1pm for surgery but it didn't go till a bit before 2pm and was over a bit after 3pm. i spoke with doc and he said the right lung was collapsed. top two lobes appeared all shrunken up. doc and resp vet almost wonder if the lung never formed completely. he says that usually when a lung is put in fluid it floats but caseys lung when put into the fluid to send it out went straight to the bottom. he wonders if it ever had oxygen in it. now that said it just a thought on their part nothing that is known. he is sending it out for cultures for bacteria and also histiopath for things like cancers, tumors etc. we are doing all this to be prepared for Caseys future. Doc says Casey did very well during surgery and that they had him resting comfortably (actually still asleep) in his cage. they cut an up and down incision a few ribs past his shoulder. the cut went in between the ribs and he pulled the ribs apart to get to the lung to remove it. once they got the lung out and suture closed what they needed to suture closed in there they then put the ribs back together with heavy duty sutures so the ribs will heal back together. then of course layers of sutures to get the muscles and skin back in place. he has a drain tube in place right now. his internal air pressure was off for a bit which doc said basically he had an air leak than it must have sealed itself because his pressure was more normal. doc says if all goes well and he isn't draining much and his air pressure is good the drain can come out tommorrow. the earliest he can come home is thursday. i asked if there were any concerns with his left lung and of course he didn't know much because when your in there you don't see the other lung since they cut through the side but he said that the xray of the left lung looked good. slight scarring from the bacteria he has been battling. doc did say that we certainly would know more as soon as the tests results of the bad lung come back. he did say that he may and thats only a may be prone to bronchititis with only one lung. just a maybe. so i just spoke to angie our awesome volunteer (6pm) and she says casey is just starting to wake up. his oxygen levels are good, he is nice and pink. drainage is minmal. bloodpressure is up a bit but thats likely because he is waking up and he is in pain. they are going to give him another pain shot in just minutes. i am glad when he wakes up he will see her. they do want to keep him sedated due to wanting to keep him on his side and of course pain management. we are ready for him. we stayed in town (hour away from our house) while he was having his surgery and shopped for a new bed for him. we ended up with a very nice orthopedic bed that fills his whole crate nicely so when he comes home he will be able to stretch out as far as he wants and have comfort on every inch of him. So for now thats the updates. i want to say the staff at the vet hospital were excellant. they explained everything to us thoroughly before the surgery. they called right as the surgery was starting to let us know and doc called us as soon as it was over and he was very patient with me and my millions of questions. Also thank you to angie for letting me schedule his surgery so she would be on duty. you have no idea how much better i feel that your there. i will call the hospital later and update again.