Casey leaves da Hospital and comes home!!

Casey's Journey....

a note from Casey's foster mom.........

Sorry it took so long to update. Tried to call the vet hospital this morning at 9am but they were swamped and couldn't talk. i called back again and talked to Nurse Jamie and was told he was doing really well, doc had seen him and decided he was ok to come home. Yay! hubby was kind enough to drive me to the hospital to pick him up before he went to work. Had my eyes dilated during my eye appt and couldn't see to drive. We got there and was greeted by Jenny who got the bill for us and then took us to the room. Nurse Jamie came in and kindly read the release instructions since i couldn't read a darn thing!  she brought casey out a few minutes later and what a happy boy! i got sooooo many kisses. Casey decided i needed my whole face washed and even my ears! He was a wagging all over. We had a quiet ride home and when we got him he was very excited to see everyone. there was alot of ear and tail end smelling. Casey immediately tried to start playing but we had to put a quick stop to that. we got a good pee before we came into the house and he went from room to room to make sure everything was still the way he left it. He found his new bed in his crate and seems to like it. My dgter came over and tried to show me how to get pictures off my camera and we ended up texting them to a good friend and volunteer who emailed them back to me. sigh... i am just not good with technology. casey ate a great supper. i added a bit of venison burger on it for a welcome home supper. he loved it! another pee pee and checking out the different spots to nap. finally settled in on the dog bed in the kitchen he was on first! i took off the t-shirt stocking the hospital had on him and put on a regular shirt. he seems to leave it alone but it does itch a bit and he tries to scratch it. right now he is laying under a blanket with his brothers sleeping. the vet instructions for casey are he is to be on strict restrictions. no running, playing. short walks, on leash for potty. keep him out of the hot weather as much as possible. this we have to do for 4 weeks. of course make sure he leaves the staples alone. staples are to come out in 10-12 days from date of surgery. we are to watch for any signs of infection of course and to watch his respirations. take a peek at his gums to make sure their nice and pink. if anything is odd call the vet of course right away. so far all is good. i gave him a pain pill about an hour ago as he was starting to bite at the incision area and seemed a bit restless. right now he is a snoozing away. i will give him his other pain med at around 9pm so he can have a restful nite. seems like we are going to do alright. will start him out in his crate with his e collar on tonite with a onsie on and if he is naughty i guess he sleeps with me!

Pictures of Casey's journey home........

Hi i am jenny, i will give you your bill and take you into your room. (bill ended up a couple of dollars shy of 3000.00) we love jenny she always has a smile 

Here i come mom!!!!!!!

Your here, your really here!!! 

Kiss kiss kiss. i missed you!!!

which way , which way

hurry hurry this way!! 

where's the car!!!

 i see it!  

are you sit there or drive! 

 here we go!!

hey down there! I'm home!!

 i see you!

  kiss kiss. we love you ! we missed you! 

wiggle wiggle wag wag!! Yay! casey's home!! 

hmmmm...... now what should i do i am not supposed too... 

grr... smile... grr... smile... lets play 

head wrestle!!!

ahhhh..... this is better then that hospital bed!! 

  watching the hummingbirds at the window. love this spot. (this room has 9 windows all facing south. panoramic view from the couch for the dogs)

 ahhhh..... first pee pee at home. feels soooooo good! 

who turned on the heat!  (its 106 degree's here today) 

  love love the new water fountain mom and dad got at the iggy 500!
(mom and dad put ice in it) yummy! 

 geez Casey your being a water piggy!! we want a drink.
(Peanut fawn boy is ours and Nina white girl is a foster girl)

 i love my bindi sue!

i feel good! wanna play!!

ohhhhh my back itches sooooo bad and this feels sooooo good!! 

gotta get back into the routine, my paws are dirty!
 (Casey everyday washes each pad on his front feet) 

Ouch!

 sooooo sleepy....
(white girl is nina our other foster girl. she is a sweetie) 

sunshine... head nod... sunshine... head nod... 

double ouch! large incision goes down under
and towards the back you can see another smaller incision. 

grrr.. grr... my toy! i missed my toys!!!  

10 seconds of play and i am exhausted!!  

Casey is really doing well. its hard to keep him down. he wants to play so bad. each time i snapped a pix i had to stop him from getting rowdy. Right now he is sacked out under a blanket. Tommorrow should be interesting. he will have gotten a good nites sleep! i have a feeling we are in for some trouble!! ornery boy! i will update more tommorrow. 

Guess wot????????? Caseys home!!!!!!!!!

we are home. we picked up casey about 1:30pm. he is doing very well. exhausted. i will get the pictures downloaded and update you on everything as soon as i figure how to get them off my phone. in my haste today i forgot to take my camera. will get them soon and will give a full update. i just wanted everyone to know he is home and sleeping quietly right now.

latest update on Casey with pictures!!!

oh dis cone of shame...

mmmmm noms!

more noms!

hee hee him gettin good nommy noms!!

so great to sees him doin so good

wonder wot him gots pizza bones??

here is an update from angel angie who must not have gotten off of work last nite at her scheduled time since i see this is at 1:30am.  as you can see casey is getting back to his loveable self. i did call this morning at 9am to check on him and to see if there was any news for coming home. they told me to call back after 10am because the hospital is full and ICU has not gotten all the doc info yet. i have an appt that i am leaving for in a few minutes so i won't be able to call till later morning. i will update as i hear something. texas, thank you for your well wishes. i appreciate it! casey is an awesome dog. its been a rough go with him and heartbreaking for us to watch him go through everything he has gone through. hopefully this will be the last for him.

Wednesdays last update for Casey from foster mommy...... :)

last update for Casey for wednesday. he has been awake most of the evening. alert and very interested in his surroundings. angie says he actually barked just a teeny bit at some of the dogs as they passed by and he really was interested in a kitty he saw. he has eaten some blue buffalo cookies. taken a potty break and did a good pee pee. still trying to get e collar off but the nurses have caught on to him. when he tries he hits it against the bars and it makes a noise that alerts them to what he is doing. they tell him stop and he does for about an hour. when i got off the phone he was settling down under his blanket for hopefully a good nites sleep. i am supposed to call in the am after 9am to see if its possible for him to be released tommorrow or not. i will update everyone as i know. i do have an appt in the morning so i might not post till after the appt. when we do get him i will get pictures of him getting sprung. so all in all its looking good!

7pm update on casey from Casey's foster mommy.....

7pm update. just talked to angie. casey is doing much better. he is more alert, standing up and moving about the cage. they had the e collar off him most of the day but he did end up chewing on the bandage a bit and at 5pm he decided he had enough IV's so he chewed the tube in half. they caught him in the act. seems he had absolutely nothing to say about his "efforts" to help the nursing staff out. so IV was completely removed with thoughts to put it back in later if he didn't eat and drink. Angie is now his bestest friend. she had a macdonalds cheeseburger and she shared a few bites. he wasn't eating before but he ate those down with no problem. she brought him some food at 7pm . his blue buffalo with green beans and he dove right into it! he ate it all. he had a nice pee pee and a normal poop outside. he is sitting up alert. definitely more like the old casey. As usual they are having difficulty keeping the e collar on. guess it gives him something to do now that he is awake and a bit bored! he hasn't been upgraded just yet but expectations is that he will be soon. i asked about release date since he was so much more improved and there is a tiny hint of maybe tommorrow but at this point we don't know for sure. concerns are they think they heard him cough so they are monitoring him for that. could have been the bulldog that is in the cage next to him but they are keeping a watchful eye. Infection is always a huge concern. also the heat we are expecting tommorrow is a big concern. we are told to expect 103 degree temps with up to 106. this is actual temps not heat index. anyway, he looks good. different dog than just a few hours ago. will update more in a few hours. angie will get some more pictures of him tonight. 

afternoon update on Casey from Casey's foster mommy......

Afternoon update on Casey. spoke with nurse jamie. Casey resp are normal, he is a good pink. blood pressure is within normal limits. Not really eating or drinking anything but IV's are on and will remain on. still listed on the critical status list at this time. tail wags whenever anyone speaks to him. they took him out at 1pm for potty but he didn't do anything. 2pm he peed in his crate. clean crate, clean blanket and he is snuggled back underneath it sleeping quietly. they will try food again later. nurse angie will get more pictures tonite and email them to me and i will be talking to her tonite several times. i will email more updates as i get them. thanks to all who have helped and sent warm wishes for his recovery. bob and i appreciate it and i am sure casey does too!

latest update today from Casey's foster mommy...

just spoke to the ICU nurse taking care of Casey. i asked her if he was taken off the critical list yet and her words were cautiously optimistic. he will still be listed on the critical list for awhile yet. however that said there are definite improvements. casey had a rough nite. lots of pain. this morning doc saw him and there was minimal drainage so they pulled the tube. this has made Casey's comfort level go up. he had been biting at the bandage and right now he is not doing that.he has been rebandaged so what you saw in the last pictures he has still on. He has peed in his crate, i am positive that has greatly disturbed him. he does not like to have even a dribble accident. they have taken him outside once for potty. he didn't go out there. i am sure partly because he already has gone and the other reason is its windy today and he hates wind. he will drop to the ground or try to get back inside. they are getting oral pills down him with a pill popper. so he is getting some relief from oral pain meds and he is able to get his regular meds down now. they are keeping him on IV fluids yet because his intake is poor. he tried to eat a bite but is just not interested. Nurse samantha said when casey peed in his cage she cleaned it up and gave him a clean blankie and he pushed under it and curled up and is sleeping quite soundly. so sounds good. baby steps toward improvement but it was a major surgery so i am very impressed with the steps forward. he is getting great care from the staff at N.I.V.E.S  i will call again in 2 hours. i am trying to space it because i know the staff are very busy. i want to say thank you for all the well wishes. This has been pretty hard and scary. Mostly i feel sad for all the pain Casey has to endure.

Casey's foster mommy's latest update

Angie called me on her way home from work last nite. she let me know that Casey was having alot of pain. he was not making it to the time the next dose was due to be given. expected pain but alot of dogs with this procedure can make it 4-6 hours but at 3 1/2 he is biting at his side. hoping he will be better this morning. i am to call after 10am because the doc's and nurses are doing rounds and after 10am the nurse will know more about how he is doing and what the plan of care will be going forth. read below please. this is an update last nite after my last update and its straight from Angie. pictures are from last night. you can tell he is very much sedated and you can see the discomfort in his eyes. but true to Casey's awesome personality he is still trying to wag his tail.

notes from Angie at da vet hospital......

As I explained on the phone, we are keeping casey pretty much sedated with a pain medication that is in the morphine family of drugs.  The nature of his surgery is very painful and yet, as dogs often amaze us, he still had a little tail wag each time I checked on him.  There have been no post-op complications as of 11:30pm this evening, when I left his side.  His vitals have remained stable including respiratory rate, gum color, heart rate and temperature.  His blood pressure is a little high which is another indication of the level of pain he feels.  He has a chest drain placed on the right side and a full abdominal wrap to cover it and he will remain on his right side to ensure no air leakage.  His drain is producing very little bloody fluid drainage and almost no air so that is a good sign that the surgery has been successful.  I will send you an update tomorrow and more pics, hopefully with the chest tube pulled but most of that depends on how he does through the night and he is still listed as critical condition at this time.

Casey and hims Surgeon

update as of 11:10 pm 6/26/12

in Casey's foster moms own words.....

last update for the night for Casey. 11:10pm. spoke with nurse anna. she says casey is sleeping right now. he has refused all meds and food so they are doing strictly injectables for now. main thing is he is kept comfortable. he is respiration's are normal, he is good and pink. drainage remains minimal. blood pressure remains normal. all in all they say he is still in the critical stage till the 24 hours is up but he is stable. nurse anna says that our angel angie has told her how to comfort him when he whines and i was reassured that if anything at all changes for the bad i will get a call immediately. i have him as a full code so they know if anything does go wrong they have permission to go forth immediately. sounds like he is doing as he should be for the seriousness of the procedure. i will update more tomorrow. i am told best time to get good info is after 10am because the doc has done his rounds and the nurses have all the info on how the dog is really doing and what the plan of action is. so far all looks promising. thanks to all for your well wishes. Casey is a very special boy.

a gift from Olly Teddy

update as of 6/26/12 how long will Casey stay in da hospital?

minimum of 2 days but they told me more likely 4 days. alot depends on how the drainage does. they have to keep him on a drain vac to keep the fluid from building up in the space left open by removing the lung. it causes pressure against the heart and remaining lung. its also can be a great place for bacteria to grow. so if the drainage is minimal and he is breathing well he can go home after 2 days if not he will stay until that happens. the respiratory vet told me that they will cut him about 12 inches in the side of the bad lung. they will remove the lung clean out any debri and close him up. during the surgical time they will bag him and even for awhile following the surgery to keep the good lung working. he will have a drainage vac put in place and they will monitor that. he will be on IV's with powerhouse IV antibiotics. removal of the dead lung gives potential of some of the bacteria to be left behind in the open chest cavity whereas before it was in the enclosed respiratory system. i will know more of exactly what the surgeon will be doing. good news is that the surgeon has lots of experience. i researched and interviewed people who worked with him and the other potential surgeon and everyone said this guy was their surgeon of choice. the other doc is good but this guy is excellent. i am counting on that. he has done surgeries for me before for my dogs and for in the area fosters and done well