My Poor dick had a busy month!

Over the last few weeks we have heard or told every dick joke going, why? because Dick has been poorly and we've had to keep it comical at the same time ..... he is, completely back to normal but here's what he has been up to.

Dick had a lump, it looked egg sized , I called the vets they were rammed ( good vets often are I suppose) so we agreed he could wait until tomorrow , id sleep with him incase he had breathing issues as it was on his neck area and previously seen Deedee's face do the same until she couldn't breathe from an abscess. Dicks face grew....

we took him to his appointment, poked him with a couple of needles and took away antibiotics and anti inflammatory meds. They didn't help . So the next step was to pop a drain in , this was to be done under sedation however dick was still able to move , so under general anaesthetic the drain was popped in......

tah dah!!!!

the drain stayed in for a few days, we had some blood and mess come out but honestly not a lot, it was very awkward keeping him clean and even worse the cone collected slobber and he would "dip" it in water drinking then mud..... we spent hours cleaning the cone and him down, thank god for the dog shower room!

We took dick back to have the drain pulled out, I gently held him and it was out, what a hole!!!! we had a chat and with such a hole in such a place and still so much swelling decided the whole area would need to be removed as even if it went down he would be left with a huge amount of loose skin which would cause its own issues

so off he went a few days later to have the area removed ( I asked for photos as I love bloody and mess)

the lump was removed, you can see it was still solid and wouldn't have gone down alone, you can also see the drain hole

Now then, while his face was sorted and looking well there had been an accident while dick was being operated on, the earthing plate under dicks side had failed , burning dick rather badly. The vet operating felt as it was such a bad burn and it would take a very long time to heal and likely risk infections that it would be best to cut the burn out

so now dick was home with a sore face, sore side and I was a little bit upset to say the least! whenever there's an issue you always look for someone to blame I did want to blame the vets and I did feel very angry and upset, I asked to meet with the vets and we were reassured that the machine was removed from use, replaced and a written log of use for the new one was in place also , the faulty machine was only a year old, and it really wasn't anyone's fault this is what an accident is. However the vets have kindly agreed if dick needed further treatment for his side they would do that for free ( it may just need a top bit of skin removed if it doesn't heal flat) I do not blame the vets at all. the situation was utterly rubbish but it is what it is, and there's always a risk with operations .

Over the next week dick lost a fair bit of weight, several kilos and looked awful, the stress was getting to him , he was still eating well but the cone the meds the change of life style while he healed all added to the issues, then after a further week the cone could come off whooooo whooooo the stitches were left in for a few days incase he decided to rub or touch the areas but he didn't

finally after nearly 4 weeks ( during which time dick became a dad for the first time, and indeed tried his luck to get to Detta who is in season so he must have been feeling better) the stitches come out and dick was officially discharged from the vets care ..... its been a hard few weeks ,I was quick to anger a lot of the time, dick learnt to scoop the younger children up in his cone, he could never judge the size of him and the cone and got wedged, he sang, he cried , he ran into me, he ran away from me , he liked to bark all of a sudden, and he was generally an utter dick..... we went through every dick joke, pun and rude comment and friends, family and the vets joined in, we tried to stay light hearted .

No one was to blame, procedures have been put in place at the vets, the vet we saw was a new vet , though he didn't operate - dick clearly liked him. I'm glad if it had to happen it happened to a giant dog and not a toy breed

now.....

my dick is back to normal , no discharge leaks or drips not swollen and beautiful ;)