Friday, July 9, 2010

Daizy surgery to remove Mandibular and Sublingual Salivary Gland

What a crazy couple days. I wasn't going to write about this but I should document it as there wasn't much on the internet when I searched for it. Maybe it will help someone else if they have to go through this.

What started out:

Jun 26- Sat = afternoon feeling lethargic and not wanting to eat (I ended up coaxing her with a smoothie in 1/8cup at a time portions..water,greens, cucumber, and added roast chicken)
Jun 28- Mon = noonish noticed her throat swollen all of a sudden
Jun 29- Tue = vet appoint, bug bite/allergies...wait a couple days
Jul 2- Fri = swelling went down in throat, but jaw still swollen around bone
Jul 4- Sun= swelling returned worst, under throat and down throat, 
Jul 5 - Mon= vet check- anti inflamatory and antibiotic prescribed, talked to Rita she helped me clear my head and look at options (talked about Dr. Susan)
Jul 6 - Tues= noticed small clear patch under jaw on fur...thought it was drool
Jul 7 - Wed= morning, swollen so much started to bleed through her skin, looked like she was shot in the throat, vet appoint afternoon, decided surgery only option.
Jul 8 - Thurs= surgery (home I fed her greens smoothie, roast chicken, and then honey later on)
Jul 9 - Fri = Daizy seems in better spirits, hoping she can keep meds down & body takes care of swelling...and makes sure no infection is left over.
Jul 10-Sat= Dr. Honey took a look and took the drain out.  

Warning Graphic Picture at the very end....

Here's Daizy the day after surgery. I kept things pretty low key but still fun in short bursts.



I'm hoping that things will continue to get better. Now's just a waiting game and making sure I keep the area clean and feed her healthy foods, rest,keep things as happy and normal as possible(just less racing around), continue on with anti inflammatory and antibiotics.

In the Raw Pet Food is where I get all my scoop on what foods can help her heal, and boost her immune system. For smoothies I'm avoiding all milk products, acidic veggies/fruit, and using soothing veggies (cucumber, zucchini, greens...) and fruit (blueberries, melons...), with a teaspoon of honey (without milk products so the antibiotics can work full strength). Meat I'm feeding her is cooked chicken (white meat has anti inflammatory properties), or scrambled egg. A quarter piece of toast and peanut butter to help hide those pills! So far so good!

link below has info I found really really helpful:


http://www.acvs.org/AnimalOwners/HealthConditions/SmallAnimalTopics/SalivaryMucocele/

Post Op care to keep area clean. Daizy was grouchy because the drain and stitches area was red and swollen, so I came up with this compromise. I soaked a dish towel in the saline solution (warm water and salt), leaving quite a bit of water in the towel, so it sort of rinses the area at the same time. Then wrapped it around the her head,and put a bit of pressure where I needed to make sure it was blotting the drain area and removing the gross stuff. I did this twice. First time to rinse and absorb the guck, the second time to make sure the area was clean. Incase anyone needs an alternative to blotting a sore area to clean it out...thought I should post it.



Daizy helps dry her stitches



Photo Courtesy of the amazing surgeon Dr. Tom Honey.   You don't know how lucky I am that Squamish has such high caliber veterinary care out here!  Plus wonderful wonderful warm, compassionate spirits to boot!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Cone? What cone? Lets play a game :0)
Happy recovery girlie!

Laura said...

Wow - how scary! Glad Daizy is doing ok now :o)

happyd said...

Way to go Daizy!!!!

So glad to hear she is on the mend!

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