Garnet’s Surgery: Days Two through Four

If you haven’t read about why Garnet is having surgery, you can read about it here.

Day Two, Friday 9/24:

We are very pleased to report that Garnet’s surgery went very well. The surgeon called us when Garnet had come out of anesthesia and was standing. He said that the surgery took a little longer than expected because the infected area that they removed was very hard and there wasn’t extra skin to suture; thankfully he does not think that this will affect her healing time or overall recovery at all. In addition to cutting away the infected tissue, Garnet was given a tracheotomy about six inches below on her neck so she is able to breathe freely while the area surrounding the larynx is healing. The surgeon said that they would plan on removing the tracheotomy either Monday or Tuesday.

Day Three, Saturday 9/25:

We called the hospital and Garnet continues to do well. She is eating and drinking like normal. She is still sedated so we decided not to go down and bother her. Overall, however, she seems to be doing well and the vets are continuing to clean her wound area- this will take several days to heal.

Day Four, Sunday 9/26:

We drove down to the hospital to see Garnet. What we noticed first was that for once since we’ve known her that we cannot hear her gasping for air! She’s able to take huge breaths without any issue at all!

Garnet seemed very happy to see us, and kept following us around the stall. We gave her lots of love and scritches, which she seemed to appreciate. She was a little annoyed that we hadn’t brought any treats, but we promised to give her some when we took her home. The area around the tracheotomy has a metal plate to keep that area open, and while air was coming in and out through that area, we could see that she was breathing through her nose as well. So far, everything seems to be doing great for our little girl.

The plan right now is to bring her home sometime later this week- most likely by Thursday, but it really depends upon how things go after they close up the tracheotomy. We will make sure to keep everyone posted with updates! We are very excited to finally bring her home and let her run in the arena!

Read about Garnet’s next few days of recovery here.