Molly’s home. And it’s like I have the world’s most disobedient two year old hopping around my house.
Nothing prepared me for the shock of the missing leg though. I thought I was ready but when I went into the room to see her I almost fell apart. The staff was great … reassuring me that it’s normal to be shocked. My son had to leave the room. I just said, “oh gawd!” and turned away to compose myself. It’s not the huge incision, or the shunt, or the large shaved area that’s so shocking. It’s the enormity of it … the void where a leg once was … it’s so “not there” anymore. I hugged her and made a huge fuss and the tail was wagging like crazy but I felt like I had been hit by a truck.
They showed me how to pick her up and told me she was adapting so well that they had no concerns about her recovery. And they told me to let her do whatever she wants, within reason, and to keep her away from the stairs, and she will adapt just fine without the molly-coddling. She will forge her own path, I believe. The funny part about this is that when we went to pick her up from the breeder, I said to my sons and my husband, “We will not molly-coddle this dog” and then we all thought that Molly would actually be a cute name for her. Little did I know that today the “no molly-coddling” rule would be what will help her get through this.
I warned my husband and my oldest son of what to expect when they get home. As I said to the vet though, while the horror of it all was overwhelming me in the office, “and I’m the strong one,” … lol.
I still plan to spoil her though. Tonight we are having spagetti … her absolute all time favorite food.
And, while I was setting up an area of the couch for her, so she can sleep beside me when I’m watching TV, I turned my head for a second and turned back to find her right beside me, getting ready to have a nap. Thank heavens I didn’t see her jump up. My heart would have stopped. This is what we are going to really have to watch. She is such an active dog that I don’t think she realizes she is just not ready yet to fly through the house and all over the furniture. The last thing she needs is to break her other front leg from misjudging a leaping and flying moment of Molly-frolick.
Yup … major disobedient two year old in a world not safe enough yet. It’s going to be a long few weeks. The odd part is that it’s Molly and her amazing powers of adaptation, along with her incredible positive attitude, that is going to help us all get through it. I’m not sorry one bit that we chose this route, and I know it’s going to be rough. And I don’t envy her, for the discomfort and pain we will have to help her manage.
We’re going to get through this. We really are. And we have a small border terrier courageously leading the way.
And we have the people here, offering the most incredible support … thank you so much.
So glad to hear that Molly is finally home!! 🙂 I totally understand about the shock upon initially seeing her with her leg gone. My hubby and I went through it too with Jake… But that quickly passed and we were just consumed every minute afterwards with making sure that Jake was happy, not in pain,eating, pooping, playing, not jumping up on the bed or couch, not licking or chewing at his incision… etc… You really don’t get a whole lot of sleep the first 2 weeks…
But you and Molly will all get through this… If you are sad and feel the need to cry, do it in another room or go sit in the car… Just don’t let Molly know that you’re sad or upset, as it might make her wonder what she did to make her mommy sad…
Sending you and Molly a big fat loving hug!!! 🙂
Angel Jake and Wolfie’s Mom
Glad to hear Molly is home and doing well. I remember the shock of seeing where Annie’s leg was too. Now, over two years later, I sometimes see pics of her with 4 legs and it looks weird for a second 🙂 I had been warned that it would be harder for me than her and that proved very true. Sending you all healing hugs!! Casey and Annie
Yay Molly’s home! Totally can relate to the initial shock of seeing her. All the mental prep just isn’t enough when you see your beloved one come through the door, newly transformed to a tripawds. Catie’s incision was covered with tape and we did keep a t-shirt on her for the first while: 1) to keep the incision site as clean as possible and keep her from licking; and 2) for purely aesthetic purposes because I tend to be squeamish.
It’s an emotional roller coaster for us guardians. Take the advice of Jake’s mom and cry when alone or away from Molly (the shower worked well for me).
Someone wise suggested this to me in Catie’s early post-operative period: Be strong for Molly.
Sending you many hugs and healing wishes.
Carmen, Catie and Riley
Welcome home, Molly:
I think that if you play this right, you’ll have spaghetti whenever you want. You do sound like you are adapting quite well and all these nice people are sending you their experiences to support both you and your mom, so maybe you could invite them over for spaghetti too, when you are up to having company. Actually, I have already learned a lot about our animal friends losing limbs by reading the blog and the comments, so I would like to thank everyone, although our leaning is to saving cats and helping cats. Still the comments do apply. That’s it for now.
Jam
So glad to hear the news on Molly doing so well–fantastic..
Our Dogs are so amazing–they teach us the right way to live our lives in the moment…Molly is blessed to have such a loving family to be with. Love ya
Molly, you’re supposed to be milking this. You’re gonna blow our cover if you go telling the two leggers how mobile you already are so knock it off! You get way more spoiled when the pawrents think you’re feeling crumby. Trust me!
Major
wonderful that molly is home with her family!! she doesn’t know to ‘not be happy’, she just knows she’s back home! spagetti will fix alot of things…and i’ll bet you eat alot of spagetti in the next two weeks. paws crossed for speedy recovery!
gayle & charon