Coming home…

The wait was unbearable as Jackson would end up staying in the hospital for 2 days because of the extreme swelling that resulted from surgery. On 9/23/15 I went with my friend Judy  (she’s been so supportive of this process and has been there for me and genuinely cares for Jackson’s well-being, it’s great to have such wonderful friends in life) to pick up Jackson.  The wait was over, Jackson came hopping into the exam room on three legs crying like a baby and pushing himself into me.  I had never heard him whine like this before, but I knew it was because he was so happy to see his maw.   The site of his surgery was vast 33 staples in all and he had a lot of bruising around the surgery site and under his belly so this was very scary.  He had to go home with a drain in his underside that would continue to allow the site to drain and heal, this was something we both weren’t prepared for at all.  We got Jackson up into the back of my SUV with the help of a towel under his belly as a hoist and laid a towel underneath him to caught the blood dripping from the drain.  How was I going to continue to get him in and out of my car alone, up stairs, etc.?? He’s 85 lbs or at least was before surgery, my back was screaming just thinking of the backaches as a result of lifting him up.  On the way home we stopped at our friends Dan & Lauren’s (the vet tech who sent me photos of Jackson on the inside) who would allow us to borrow their playpen (from their own dogs) as the vet recommended us to keep Jackson confined as much as possible with his  “cone of shame” on. This was not going to be fun, but we would make the best of it.  Later that evening we would descend on my boyfriend, Steve’s home to stay as it was closer to work for me and the layout of his home allowed for us to put the playpen up in the middle of the living room and kitchen.  Jackson was so happy to see Steve and Jake, his 15yr old son, he cried again showing his happiness for coming home.

This day marked a great day for all, as my father who had been sick for sometime in and out of the hospital also came home. I felt guilty that I wasn’t there for my Dad, but I knew in my heart that he understood as I was dealing with Jackson coming home too.

The first night I had not expectations other than I knew I had to do cold compresses on the suture site and warm compresses on the drain 3-4 times a day. I thought this would last a couple of days but little did I know this would become my life for at least a week and then longer.  Jackson was restless in his new confined home and unsettled waking me up twice during the night crying at 12pm and 1:30am needing to go and pee.  What did we get ourselves into? Only time would tell!