1 Dane, 1 Sock, 3 Surgeries & a Sleeping Pill

All my friends and family, FB acquaintances and colleagues are asking me, texting me, emailing me and calling me to find out how Daisy is and I thought it would be wise for my sanity to share the trajectory of her issues and care here, while I drink my morning coffee.

Daisy, an emerging sock bandit

Daisy is a sock bandit. She has loved to carry socks (always mine) around in her mouth, chew socks, sleep with socks, etc, since she was a puppy. Sometime last week she ate a heavy duty, extra thick tennis sock that didn't disintegrate during the chewing process, nor in the powerful digestive enzymes in her tummy.

tired but in good spirits after her first surgery

Most of the sock lodged at the base of her tummy, more or less covering the pylorus canal where digested matter exits the stomach before passing through the duodenum and into the small intestine.

A smaller portion of the sock entered the duodenum. As it worked its way through the small/upper intestine, one thread in particular became troublesome. It got caught up here and there in the gentle tissue and tore holes, rips and tears for several inches before it stopped.


Daisy stopped eating after her Friday night dinner on the 3rd of April. Sometimes dogs get gassy, or upset tummy or weirdly finicky for no apparent reason, so we waited her out over the weekend but to no avail. Monday morning we took her to our favorite vet Dr. Speas, in La Crescenta and waited while he did a barrage of tests, xrays and so on. Finding nothing significant except maybe some foreign matter in her tummy, he referred us to Pasadena Pet Hospital. The wonderful Dr. Yao works there, and she happened to give Daisy her scope last year when she was initially diagnosed with IBD. Dr. Yao felt there was an obstruction both in the stomach and in the intestine, so back to La Crescenta we went for exploratory and removal surgery.

trying to take a pic of her stitches

Dr. Speas at La Crescenta gave her the first operation on Friday, April 10th. He found the damage and proceed to sew up her small intestines. Unfortunately, there were many rips and tears, but he did the best he could. We waited. She seemed on the mend and he began to give her water and some soft food. There was immediately leakage. Monday, April 13th he went in again to explore. Indeed, her small intestines were still in bad shape so he decided to resection her small intestines, cutting out completely the area where the damage had occurred and reconnecting the upper part of the small intestines with intestine further down the line. Even though his office is not an emergency or 24 hour service, our good doctor brought in an air mattress and stayed the night with Daisy to monitor her blood pressure, fluids and temperature.

her IV line, which she chews out with regularity so she wears an E-collar

Tuesday morning, April 14th Daisy was bleeding far more than we would have expected or could stand for and he went in again to figure out what was causing the problem. He found a small vein/vessel uncauterized and he closed it off. However, he was unsure if that small passage could have caused all that blood.

love

After the third surgery, we all decided Daisy needed 24 hour care. D and I picked her up and took her back to TLC in Pasadena. She had a good night, and she is now under the care of both Dr. Yao and their surgery specialist Dr. Davidson. This morning I am going in to help her pee (she does NOT like to relieve herself on a leash), and we are going to continue to hope for the best from this final surgery. Her blood level is good, her heart rate is good, her coagulation times are normal, she had a restful night and seems in good spirits. Now, we wait.

this guy misses his companion.

The sleeping pill was for me.