One week has gone by since Annie's doctor visits and unexpected surgery. Dr. Cohen's assisting doctor called a few days after surgery to check on Annie and inform us the surgery was successful. We were told the tumor was benign (thankfully) and we should talk with Dr. Cohen concerning the time-frame for the next visit.
Confined to the house, back porch and front porch an unhappy Annie's daily walks were suspended until the sutures heal. An excitable walker, Annie pulls. She wears a harness but the surgical site on her left shoulder fell directly under the straps. Any rubbing of the area would open the stitches so no walks.
Today Artie called Dr. Cohen to ask about resuming our walks. Not a problem according to the doctor. Because Annie is doing so well we can move to the 4-6 month checkup schedule. The wound has 2 layers of dissolvable stitches; we could remove the visible ones today or leave them in until the 10-day mark. Dr. Cohen told us we could remove the stitches because she knew I had experience removing sutures. No one should remove sutures unless they've been taught how to do it! Artie agreed we should leave the stitches in until the tenth day.
A short while later the phone rang. It was the doctor at Hope Vet calling with the results of the urine analysis from last week. The urine was free of bacteria; the infection cured and although it wasn't mentioned by the doctor, I now had a good solid routine for collecting sterile urine specimens from Annie. We heaved a collective sigh of relief. Hopefully this will be a small island of time away from medical issues - all of us need a break from emergencies.
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