Yorkie Health Update

Well, thought some of you might be interested on how our little Yorkie, Hawg has been doing. This will be the last of your Yorkie Health Updates. Haven't written about him much because I don't want to bore you will all the mundane little things that really don't need to be covered. Hawg got his stitches taken out today and is doing just fine.

It was a little touch-and-go for him this last week, actually more touch-and-go for me, not him because I was not sure how fast he should be healing. Hawg was still doing some internal bleeding 7 days after surgery, and the vet had originally said the bleeding was to have stopped after 5 days. Since I am such a worry wart, I called another vet, described the procedure that Hawg had gone through and asked when there should be no more bleeding. Based on what I told them, the vet indicated that the bleeding was normal up to 10 days after surgery, because Hawg's surgery was so extensive. Well, imagine how much better I felt.

As if on command, the next day, Hawg exhibited much less bleeding, and by the 10th day, there was virtually no more blood. Yippie!!! Then all I had to do was to worry about how and where to get his stitches out. He had a total of 10 stitches, and normally I am not squeamish about that, but where the majority of the stitches were, well, I wasn't going to be snipping around ANYTHING...

When we arrived in Corbin, KY yesterday, I started asking around for a vet. I couldn't keep Hawg's stitches in forever, so figured this would be the best time to get them removed. I was pointed to the Corbin Animal Clinic, which was about 2 miles from the motorcycle rally. I rode over there yesterday to ask if they would remove Hawg's stitches, and was pleasantly surprised to receive such a kind and positive answer. I always worry about going into a vet's office in an area that I am not familiar with. The people at the front desk were wonderful and kind and gave me a few blocks of time that I could bring Hawg in. Gratefully, I went back to our motor home and let Hawg know he only had one more day before he had his stitches removed.

This morning I loaded Hawg up on the bike and we rode together to the Corbin Animal Clinic. Within about 10 minutes after arriving, they came out to get Hawg. They verified where all the stitches were supposed to be and took Hawg in back. Within 5 minutes (seemed longer to me, but as you know, I am a worry-wart) he was back, sassy as ever. The vet said he is healing well and should be just fine. After my stomach finished doing all kinds of back-flips, I thanked everyone at the Clinic, put Hawg back on the bike and headed back to the motorcycle rally.

It took me about an hour to calm down after that (it only took Hawg about 10 seconds to calm down...) and now he and I are much happier. I am sure he feels much better not having all those stitches and I feel better knowing there is nothing more for him to do except finish the healing process. Hawg is loving this venue, the people we have met are awesome and are definitely "dog" people. He is being spoiled by everyone he meets, so I am positive his healing will proceed even quicker now that I am not nervous (my stress did cause him to be a bit stressed too) and he now gets to meet people again (again, in my over-protective state, I wouldn't let anyone touch him while he was "healing", since I didn't want anything to go wrong...I am such a pain sometimes...). Both dogs are still happily eating their StemPETS nutritional supplement too, which is probably what is keeping Gypsy healthy and helping Hawg to heal well.

Next time you see Hawg, you will never know he had any type of surgery. On a slightly different note, Gypsy has really been liking my over-protection of Hawg because I don't walk them together. She gets individual attention when we walk then he gets attention. Gypsy has been thriving on this individual attention, so I may make more of a habit of walking them separately. We shall see, since each dog loves a good brisk walk. The even better news is that by my walking both dogs separately for the last almost 2 weeks, I have lost a good bit of inches around my middle. My belt is now pulled into the last notch. The extra walking along with my watching what I eat (and taking my StemEnhance regularly) has finally done the trick to helping me to lose that extra padding. More reason why I may just keep walking the dogs separately...we shall see.

Until tomorrow...