Tomorrow’s the day and I feel… calm?
Last week, when I hit the 7 days until surgery timeline, I became a wreck. I cried every day, at pretty much anything. I don’t know what my problem was.
“Oh boy” I thought, “If I can’t keep it together now, what is next week going to bring?”
Oddly enough, even though in exactly 24 hours Barret will be in surgery, today I feel calm, cool and collected. I feel prepared.
I spent the last week prepping my house and keeping super busy. I finished my basement (laid down flooring, and even bought furniture to complete the space where Barret and I will hole up until he is healed), I took a trip to Ikea and bought a ton of rugs and runners for the entire house, and I strategically installed my dusty baby gates at the top and bottom of my 2 flights of stairs. I bought gauze and vetrap, a heated bed and a velcro ice pack. Tonight’s agenda: sew a removable cover for the 3 in foam pad I bought at the fabric store.
Lastly, I spent hours playing fetch with the Red Ball with Barret. On a side note, it now has a small hole 🙁 What will we do without the red ball?
I don’t know if this feeling of calm will last, but I am savoring it as long as it does.
As marketing professional in the pet supplies trade for over 6 years and an pawrent of 3 dogs and 2 cats, I’ve gained a plethora of pet-related experience ripe for the picking, though I am new to tripawd pawrenting. My goal is to share my story and the knowledge I’ve gained with the pet pawrents everywhere. You can also find me on That Pet Blog or Google+.
June 10th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Beautiful post!! Your pups are soooooo ha some! Love, love, love the photos! Doesn’t it must make you burst with pride to see their mugs on “tripawd Broadway??:-) 🙂
You ARE prepared! You ARE a strong, clam presence form your Barret!
I think being on the site like you have, prepares you as best anyone can be prepared, for all the hurdles and rough spots of recovery. And you’ve also seen now glorious it is when the sparkle returns!
Better buy a whole lot of red balls, because Barrett’s gonna’ be chewing them all to shred when e feels better:-) 🙂
HEATHER, YOU ARE DOING GREAT….AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO!! Good job!
Going to the store to buy YOU a red ball:-) 🙂
Sally and Happy Hannah
June 10th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Heather,
I had a very similiar situation. I had 12 days to prepare for Jill’s surgery. I was in severe panic mode about a week before hand, googling everything I could think of, buying anything I could think of. Then, the night before, I just felt a calmness. Yes, I was still a little nervous, but I just felt calm about my decision. I knew I was doing the right thing for my little one and I knew we were prepared. Barret is going to do just GREAT tmrw and you have all of us to help you through it! One tip that I like to share that helped me get through my one lingering anxiety…….I was most upset about Jill waking up from surgery and wondering where I was (little did I know how high as a kite she would be). Someone on here suggested I sleep in a t-shirt I didn’t care about the night before surgery and leave that with the vet techs to have her sleep on as she was recovering. Who the heck knows if it comforted her, but when I went to visit her, she was snuggled up on that shirt and it was comforting to me to know she had my scent near.
Let us know how tomorrow goes and if you are at all anxious tonight, you know where to find us 😉
All our love and support,
Erica & Jill
xoxo
June 10th, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Thanks, Erica. I think I will take a shirt of mine in. That was one thing that made me most anxious at his last surgery… that he wouldn’t have anything of his for comfort. That’s a perfect solution and if it gets lost, it isn’t a big deal.
Don’t worry, I’ll be posting in the forums or in chat for the foreseeable future. Thanks for the kind words Erica and Sally! I’ll give Barret hugs for you 🙂
June 10th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
You are clam… because you know what is going to happen. you are prepared for when he comes home.. you have learned much from the great teachers here.. and all the blogs you have read, all the posts you have viewed.. and of course all the support that is behind you… you are not alone in this adventure.. we have all been there in one way or another. The only thing that you are not prepared for is just how gawddamn cute Barret is going to become as a Tripawd!!!
It seems to me like you have done everything it seems to make him have an easy, loving recovery. One thing that we also did for Franklin is that we raised up his bowls so that he did not have to stretch down to eat or drink..
When you go pick him up.. don’t focus on his missing leg.. focus on his eyes and see how happy he is to see you!!
you will do good!! I have faith in you!!
Christine… with Franklin in her heart ♥
June 11th, 2013 at 12:56 am
Heather – You are better prepared than so many of us were. We will be waiting along with you (impatiently I might add) to hear he is out of surgery on on his way to recovery. He has the most precious face and Christine is right that he will make the best looking tripawd around.
Sending you our very best thoughts for tomorrow.
Luanne & Shooter
June 11th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Heather,
Sending positive thoughts to you and Barret and your family. I think about this day over two years ago with Astra and OMG, I was a wreck, as I told you in our emails. Sitting here reading your entries brings me back to those weeks leading up to Astra’s surgery and I get teary eyed. She did way better with it than I did. Every day I look at her with pure amazement. She is one tough dog and my soul mate in dog form. Noone loves me more than Astra does and I know I made the right choice. Otherwise if I didnt, she probably would not be here with me today. Sending Hugs!!!! Liz, Astra, Kendra, Buddy and Scooter!!!
June 11th, 2013 at 5:33 pm
Thanks Liz, I really appreciate you coming back to Tripawds after I send you that PM to tell me about Astra’s story. It really helped hearing from someone who had the same diagnosis. Thanks for all the support from the entire community!