The Hospital - Round 2

As some of you know, Ranger and I had another lovely stay in the hospital last week.  This time, though, I went prepared for a stay!

We went armed with the Precision Pet SnooZZy Sleeper Bed, Black , the Wubba, the Wobbler, and antlers, we went in for blood work and stayed for 2 days.  Yup, I was down a few pints again! This time we landed on the second floor.  Nurses were *amazingly* nice.  We're so blessed to have had so many good experiences with great nursing staff! 

The Precision mat worked SO much better this time.  We'd been using it at home, so he knew at the hospital that it was *his* place.  (Note: if you're taking your dog on vacation this summer, it is a great idea to start using one thing constantly that you will be taking with you so the dog acclimates to that.  It will make his time in new environments (be it hotels or relatives' houses) much less stressful for you and your dog!)

He was quite vigilant while they managed to have to replace 4 IV sites.  No, I'm not kidding - I blew out 3 sites.  My arms are still bruised from 2 of them.  He really was not a happy monkey about me having those!  I will say, though, he was very very good about staying down and in his place on the mat and just raised his head up to lay it next to me while they did the IVs and vamp'ing.  He, of course, didn't eat very much and without his trusty water bottle, he wasn't so thrilled about the drinking part either.  He has really taken to his Lixit Dog Water Bottle (which we got at Prairieland Feeds in Savoy, IL!) at home and I find it really helps him regulate his own drinking throughout the day.  That's quite a feet for my little camel!

He went out with 2 terrific nurses while we were there.  I sent him out on his Gentle Leader and they said he did great, but couldn't wait to get back to me!  LOL.  Even  G.T. showed up while I was waiting in the ER and she took him out for the last time that night after I was settled in my room and she said the same thing - he just wanted to get back to me.  Far cry from the dog I had 2 months ago!!  The bonding exercises seem to have really helped in a lot of ways - in other ways, well, we'll save that for another post!

They replaced my blood (again) in a much quicker fashion (we're getting this down to a science!) and that was that.  Had a followup 2 days later with a new doc and *everyone* in the office loved Ranger.  (He's SUCH a flirt!!)  He did great in a down/stay while I was on the exam table (though he was a picklehead about getting to the down/stay in the first place - it was an 8am appointment, no time to run him tired before hand, and I was anxious as all hell - so he was not exactly in the most centered and focused frame of mind!)  But, all things being even, he didn't do a bad job at all.

So we're back home, he's curled up on his SnooZZy Sleeper mat next to my bed, and we're trying to get back into some kind of routine.  I have meds to take 4 times a day and we're working on him being my reminder for those.  Its the 2 during the day that we have trouble remembering! (I know I could just set an alarm or something - but I shut those off, think about taking the meds and then forget to do it anyway!)

Keep good thoughts for us please as we keep stepping through this long (and tedious) process of healthcare puzzles.  We definitely need lots of patience!
Jessica and Ranger
Lunar K9 Training SD Team