Hey all. Just got back from visiting her.
She came out with a sling holding up her back end, and not putting any weight on her legs at all, they were just dragging behind her. A really nice nurse laid her out for us to sit with but she told us a few things that seemed to contradict what I was told earlier by a different nurse, which has worried me. Apparently she needs a little bit of help to pee, and has had an accident earlier today so they had to bathe her, but that she doesn't need much stimulation to go is a good sign (but there's a risk of her getting cystitis) for recovery and potential care needs. Apparently her legs are showing muscle reactions so that's a good sign too but she can't bare weight yet. I think she was in a lot of pain because she was not herself at all at first.
I got so much information from the surgeon I'm a bit bamboozled by it all and I don't think I took anything on board. The operation was to remove pressure, not a disk or anything, but the details of it all went over my head in a whirlwind of information and probabilities/possibilities. He told us that she's at a level four (out of five - being the worst) and that she could go either way with recovery and it's a waiting game to know how she'll turn out in the long run. He said it's not a degenerative condition (although every creatures disks degenerate as they age) and there was nothing we could have done to prevent what happened...I can't help feeling like there might have been....
He said she's at about a sixty percent chance of getting better at the moment but the initial signs are positive. He said there are a lot of potential complications that could occur and that she's got a long road ahead of her. They generally expect to see significant improvements with four to six weeks, but if it goes beyond twelve weeks without any significant improvement we may have to start making hard choices, but I'm trying not to think about that now as it's a long way off. He said he had a gut feeling that she would be one of the slower healers, so I really hope she proves him wrong but I'm worried to death about how she'll heal and how I'm going to cope with giving her the care she'll need to get there when she comes home.
For the first part of the visit she was really dopey, and not herself at all. She ate a piece of biscuit but didn't want much else at first. She then fell asleep while the surgeon was talking and when she woke up she was much brighter. (The nurse said that her pain meds had probably kicked in, so it's a relief to know that something is helping her with the pain.) She then ate all the biscuits I took and had some apple pieces too, but she filled up pretty fast and wasn't interested at all in her regular food, which doesn't surprise me. Whenever she's a bit off colour her interest in normal food is the first to go, but she's always up for biscuits haha!
Her eyes seemed much brighter after her nap and they were lighting up whenever we said words she's familiar with at home (like "Ozzie" - her big brother!) and her ears were going up and down as they always do. And she was curious and alert to what was going on around her - the nurses said they've already noticed she's a nosey little thing haha! She really is. We miss having our little "supervisor" around haha!
It broke my heart all over again to leave her, and I'm absolutely sick with worry for what might be to come for us all but it was so good to see her. I hate her being away from home but I know it's for the best and I'm hoping nature will be on her side and get her mended quickly and fully. As the surgeon said, it's in the lap of the Gods know...so I hope they're kind to her.
Thanks again to everyone for the continued support, prayers and good wishes. It really does mean so much to know people relate and care and everyone who's gone through this and come out the other side is a inspiration to me to keep my head up and fight for her recovery.
I've attached a picture I took of her. All her lovely curls are gone but I'm taking it as a marker for her recovery - keeping everything crossed that her legs will be back working long before her curls grow back.
@MIN - I can't believe I forgot to mention her name. She's called Lilith, but we call her Lili...or Pickles...because she literally cannot help herself with picking things up. She's always got to bring a "present" and loves to steal things while your back is turned and parade around with them. I really hope we get to see her do that again very soon.
