Riley Update

The Thursday after Riley's bloating episode, she went in for gastropexy surrgery. Gastropexy is a surgical operation in which the stomach is sutured to the adbominal wall. It is very likely that she will bloat again - the gastropexy will help prevent the stomach from flipping during future incidents. It's not guarenteed to prevent her stomach from flipping, but it does greatly increase the likelihood of living. :)

Dr. Jassen, our vet, said the surgery went well. Dr. Jassen worked at the ER vet previously and thus has  performed MANY MANY MANY gastropexy surgeries. It is a major abdominal surgery that left Riley with a 3" scar. Riley went through the surgery fine and came out of the anesthesia easily.  However, upon waking up she discovered she was in a hospital kennel and freaked out. To prevent her from hurting herself, she was moved into one of the exam rooms where she was much happier and spent the day recovering on a blanket. That evening we picked her up and brought her (and a bunch of medicine) home. 

Riley was very happy to be home - and very drugged. Surgery had taken a lot out of her so she would stand in one spot with a stoned expression and sway. Her spacey demeanor didn't stop her from jumping onto the deck or the couch - it's hard to keep a weim down. By the next day Riley was feeling much better and the stoned expression was gone. She has been content to nap more frequently but still wants to follow us from room to room. The doctor was surprised by her lack of reaction to the meds - he had even prescribed us an extra sedative because of her spunkiness while recovering at the vet. She is calmer than normal but she no where near resembles the drugged dog that came home on Thursday. Riley has had a fairly good recovery but I can tell she is anxious to get off her meds and get back to running circles around us!