Thursday, December 10, 2015

Memories from the Vet’s Perspective

At our last vet appointment we were reflecting on how far Henry has come since he had his kidney removed and how scary the day of the surgery was. As Henry's peeps, we remember being in heightened anxiety that day and just filled to the brim with worry. It is still a vivid recollection about how they called us earlier than expected to come see Henry and take him home. They were worried about how he was doing. He simply was not coming out of anesthesia very well at all. Peep #2 rushed there and saw this first hand. Henry was indeed a hot mess. With that said, as soon as he heard peep 2's voice he immediately got excited. Peep 2 picked up Henry and just held him tightly. Henry instantly began to melt. He was still panting and overall "off" but he knew he was in loving arms and he was starting to settle and relax. It took the entire rest of the night for him to really calm and be restful, but he made it through the surgery and getting through that night was the immediate goal. He had staples across his entire tummy area and looked a bit like a pug Frankenstein, but he was moving forward. That was all we could hope for. Upon pick up, our vet was admittedly nervous about his recovery and while he was truly amazed how fast the love of Henry's person impacted his so positively, he was still concerned about taking Henry home. He knew ultimately, though that he'd be better off at home than in a strange over night medical facility. And our vet also knew that if something were to go awry we would get him to that emergency location with the speed of light.

So, back to our vet's recollection. And how we learned the rest of the story. And I must admit that while it was gut wrenching to hear, I am completely relieved that he waited to share some of the grizzly details with us at this MUCH later date. If he had shared any earlier then I think I would not have been able to take it. And it was kind of crazy how he can speak about now with a chuckle. He was describing the surgery and how when animals are on their back (as they are when they are operated upon) all of their organs and parts fall towards the back leaving the beating heart right there on top. And when he had Henry open and was cutting his kidney out that all kept seeing was his aorta was just pulsing. He was worried that with each move of the scalpel that if he even just nicked the wrong vein that he would bleed out right there. Doc told us that he was literally sweating through this operation. It was nice to hear that he was human and was concerned, but boy was it frightening to hear just how close we were to one small move costing Henry's life. And it wasn't like the doc was tooting his own horn about what a great job he had done (but believe me, we have often praised his work!) it was more like he was also relieved to have made it through that day. We had discussed the possibility of Henry dying on the operating table and that was, of course a huge concern and would have been just awful, but we knew we had to take that risk since the cancer was not removing itself.

We have come to learn a lot in life and one of the most important things we have learned is that perspective is everything. And if you can just shift that even slightly when needed then that is a wonderful gift. In this instance, the perspective of our vet was extremely powerful. We could see from his vantage point the different type of stress and pressure of getting this "just right" because even one small move could have meant everything and not only would Henry no longer be here, but he would have had to TELL US that! We have a great rapport with our vet but I am really not sure just how that would have played out. Fortunately, everything worked out in a winning scenario and we don't have to consider the what if version. Our continued kudos to our vet and his team. We are truly thankful for all his efforts and also his steady skilled hands. So, over a year later, having that perspective puts yet another spin on memories from that day.

#thisshouldhavebeenourthanksgivingdaypost #oozingwithappreciation #henrystrong #henrymadeitthrough #ourvetistheman #henryisthemantoo