Yesterday I had the pleasure of reporting about Aeryn's benign tumour (big WHEW's here still!). After sending that e-mail I had a good inspection of the biopsy site -- it looked excellent! Aeryn had never once even seemed to notice the 2 skin staples I'd used to close the wound, there hadn't been so much as a lick at it. As a result, everything was happy, pink, and the incision well healed. In fact the staples were just starting to look a little tighter, so it was time they came out. Ms. 'Ryn happily stretched out in the "bang" position on my bed (this is such a useful command to teach a dog! I use it for everything from drying paws, clipping nails, taking x-rays, to belly rubs!). I popped out the staples and gave the girl a biscuit. Where the one staple came out, there was the tiniest speck of blood & a wee hole left by the staple -- I dabbed the blood away & all looked good. About 2 minutes later I hear a tell-tale lick, lick. Apparantly Aeryn doesn't think I've suitably cleaned up the area -- problem is, she was WAY too good at it and has totally opened what had looked like a healed incision just scant minutes ago. ARG! It looks just like it did post excision, except now the skin's all red & inflamed to boot. Silly girl.
I debated replacing the staples, but was afeared of infection thanks to the licking & inflammation. So I settled for a light bandage to keep the tongue away (Aeryn is surprisingly very good at leaving bandages alone -- especially considering her past history of eating and/or ripping apart just about everything). Well, you would have thought I'd broken her leg for her! The look on her face and the totally pathetic holding up of the paw -- it was near on to making me laugh (but I was good and reframed from actually laughing in front of her, didn't want to hurt her already injured feelings). It was several minutes before she decided she could once again bear weight on her leg, then it was back to play time. The bandage stayed on until this eve. The wound has scabbed over well, but there's still some lingering inflammation present. Aeryn doesn't appear to be interested in licking at it at least. She immediately slinks into pathetic face mode everytime I inspect her handiwork. Her revenge this evening was to steal the margarine tub (which was at least 1/2 full) and slurp it all down -- she'll be well greased again! (and appendages crossed that once again she escapes without more serious complications like pancreatitis -- so far, so good). sue(Aeryn with Devn & Rowyn)
