o'cockaigne

Sunday, December 23rd, Calhoun’s scrotum starts to swell, and really very much! This is of course very painful and with a cold cloth I try to cool it. It does help something but it didn’t decrease a lot. Monday I go back for control, Rens gives a spray for it but this only makes things worse! Partly because he lays constantly on his good side, his skin soon starts to blemishes. First Christmas Day my sisters are coming to eat and I quickly call Astrid if she does have some baby powder or talcum powder. She got it and will bring it with her. Also I have some small strips of Terry and in combination with the powder I get Calhoun’s skin dry again. But it remains to be careful because the skin is well broken. I’m busy with it day and night because the last few nights he’s quite restless. Over time there are formed large crusts and on Friday morning it all looks much better, not so swollen and red.

I had been given antibiotics for 5 days, so on Wednesday evening he got his last tablet. Thursday the wound looks still beautiful, not thick, not red. But in the course of the Friday afternoon, red spots began to form and the operation wound looked a bit swollen. All this time Calhoun has had no increased temperature, 37.8 was the highest! But now it was 38.8 and I made myself great worries. Of course I immediately got new antibiotics, but that night Calhoun was very restless and his temperature had risen to 39 degrees. For a Deerhound really not good. It also seemed as if he was afraid in the dark and he slept again with us on bed.  On Saturday we went to the vet again and he gave Calhoun an analgesic injection and said that I could increase the Tramadol (painkiller) something. Once home, Calhoun calmed down over time. Very calm, he seemed drugged! He didn’t feel like eating that night, despite the can of tuna I had stirred through it. Fortunately he ate the most, with the medicines. I was hopeful that Calhoun would sleep well, but after an hour and a half I heard him get up and jump off his bed, he insisted on sleeping with us. By the morning he started squeaking, he didn’t need to urinate. He continued to beep, even after he had been out and had eaten with long teeth. I was at the end of the board and sent an email to Cecilia van der Drift, the animal interpreter who helped me so well with Amy. Although it is Sunday, I received a mail a few hours later that she had some time for us tonight. In the meantime, Calhoun was happily quieter and sleeping.

At the end of the afternoon, Cecilia called and after half an hour I was not only reassured and a lot wiser but also Calhoun made a much quieter impression. The fear of Calhoun arises from the fact that he does not know what is going on with his body, everything feels different than normal. He has muscle pain (I thought so) due to the other load of his muscles and joints. He doesn’t have much pain but it feels irritated. However, he is relieved to get rid of his sore leg and he also understands why that happened. Cecilia also told him that when the chemo cure starts he gets all sorts of other feelings, but that eventually all comes well… and we’ll just stop there.

It is now half past nine in the evening, Calhoun is quiet, he has eaten well and is sleeping well, how long, we will notice that.

Will you keep your fingers crossed for us ??