Daily update

Rocky is ok. I finally had a call from the vet student in charge of his care this evening, close to 9:00 p.m. It was after 7:30 when they finished surgery. They thought it was a good surgical outcome. The vet called early this afternoon after they did the CT scan. The calcification of the ear canal was worse than expected, increasing the risk of damage to the facial nerve during surgery. Also, they were afraid that they would not be able to remove all of the damaged tissue because it came very close to some major blood vessels. But, it sounds like the surgery went very well. Paul (the vet student) told me that Rocky would feel like a whole new dog when this was all over.

He's on IV pain meds now of course, which he will need. They have the second surgery scheduled for next Tuesday. The hospital is staffed 24 hours a day with vet techs, students, and at least one vet with others on call. So I can't ask for more than that and it's certainly more than I could do for him here.

I'm relieved for now, but of course there is another surgery to get through and a long road of recovery, but his pain should soon be a thing of the past.

There's enough people concerned about Rocky who are checking here daily for updates that I feel compelled to do a daily posting, at least for a while. I'm grateful for everyone's concern, and I also welcome the push to do a daily posting, at least for a while. Self-discipline is not my strong suit, so anything that can help me develop a bit more of it is welcome, at least for a while. (Are you sensing a lack of full committment on my part?) The downside is that I may become boring and repetitive, but that's a risk already.

I'm down to 5 foster dogs currently, but there are still the 7 puppies, and the 6 of our own, so I'm probably not going to run short of possible material. And the need to post something daily may give me the incentive to do something new and different occasionally. It could happen.