Chapter Twenty-Four, part three

to read part one, go here

To read part two, go here



the first night didn't go very well. boscoe was used to sleeping at the foot of our bed, but that was now impossible. even if we lifted him up there (and he hates to be lifted, no matter what) he might jump down. jumping down could re-break his leg, and then the healing time would be significantly longer and he might have to have another surgery.

so the first night we tried the rolled-up-towel thing, trying hard not to mash his manly bits, and helped him upstairs. i slept in the computer room on the fold-out futon, which is pretty low to the ground. but it's not low enough, and all night i lay awake, afraid that he would try to jump down and re-break his leg. bosoce was restless--he found it hard to find a position where that tightly wrapped back leg was comfortable.

so the next night, i hauled the futon mattress downstairs and slept on the hall floor. we put up all the barricades, and boscoe slept with me.

we did this every night for the next three weeks. my back started hurting, my neck got stiff, and sometimes i'd wake up with a headache. but every night we'd bed down together in the front hallway.

there was just no way i could leave him downstairs alone. doug and the heartless riley slept upstairs, probably the best sleep of their life considering there wasn't another person and another dog in the bed.

the purple cast came off after about four days. his leg was shaved to the skin, and he had a long scar up his shin. we put a conehead on him to keep him from licking it, but it made him agitated, so we took it off.

we put hot compresses on his stitches to keep it from itching, and did mild physical therapy -- just stretching the leg and keeping it limber.

i reported his progress in a series of emails to Lo:

monday, sept. 19:

well, the trip to the vet to get his bandage off went fine, except he didn't want to go back in the back and he didn't want to be carried and after they got his cast off he started licking his leg like mad and then he was terrified when we got home and i
tried to take him for a very short walk and he tried to run and the leash was choking him and the whole thing was VERY agitating.

then we got him in the house and i put hot compresses on his stitches to take away the itching and i did a little p.t. on his ankle and knee and massaged his thigh and he just stared at me with the whites of his eyes showing and panting really hard and i tried to give him some rescue remedy and he thrashed around and he kept clawing at the conehead and running into the wall trying to get it off and he refused to lie down and it's just AWFUL.

tuesday sept. 20:

he looks a little better this morning. the bruising
isn't quite as purple. his stitches look good. i
walked him very slowly around the block. he didn't
want to come in the house, though, and i had to carry
him. he HATES being carried. thrashes.
he wanted to be in the basement, so that's where he is
now. doug says he went down the basement last night,
too, and cowered way in the back, in the laundry room.
today he cowered in the basement bathroom.
i assume that's the normal reaction of a wounded
animal, to den up somewhere quiet and far away. poor
guy. he doesn't seem to be in pain, but how can he not
be, with six screws in his bone?

tuesday afternoon sept. 20:

called como park hosp. jennrich gone for the day but will call me tomorrow.
i described boscoe's behavior to the vet tech--restless, not sleeping well,
hiding in the laundry room, not eating very well--and she said all those are
indications that he's in pain. she said she'd have a vet look at his chart and
call me later today with a prescription.

tuesday evening sept. 20:

they took him off rimadyl because of
his increased enzyme. so instead he's on metacam
instead.

i got home and he had done no major licking. that was
good. he wanted to go out, so i carried him
(thrashing, kicking) up the basement stairs and then
we went out the front and he peed and poooped
prodigiously. then i went and got his meds. the cost
of the conehead (which i returned, and ordered a no-bite
collar instead) was almost exactly the same as the
meds, so i didn't have to pay anything and actually
have a $3 credit now.

i gave him his first squirt at about 7 p.m. and then
walked riley. now it's 8, and boscoe is pretty calm.

i put the nobite back on him and got it to stay (but
it's still too big) but he looks like a cormorant when
he wears it. right now he's hatless and not licking,
on the back porch.

TO BE CONCLUDED LATER IN THE WEEK