We woke to much anticipation and excitement in our house this morning. After eight weeks, today Murph was set to get his cast off.
I woke up early so I could get him to the surgeon’s office a little after 7:30 a.m. But before we left, I lay on the floor with him and petted his belly.
“I need you to be a brave boy for me one more time, okay? Today I have to drop you off at the vet’s because they have to give you the sleepy medicine again to get your cast off. I know you don’t like when I have to leave you like that, but I think once you understand you’re getting your Clunker Dunker [what I call his cast] off and we can start walking again, you’re going to be so psyched.”
Murph’s been a super trooper through all of this. He was excited to go for a ride and even more excited when we got stuck in some traffic next to a field of grazing cows for him to watch. But he was not so happy when we got to the vet’s office and one of the tech’s came to get him from me.
“It’s okay, Buppy [just one of dozens of his nicknames]. You go be brave and I’ll be back in a bit to get you.”
I returned home and tried to work, again not much liking life without Murphy but consoling myself with the knowledge he’d be home again that afternoon. The vet finally called and said I could come get him at 3:15 p.m. I showed up just after 3:00 p.m., eager to see my boy.
He knew I was there, too. I heard him whining and one of the girls say, “Oh, check him out. Murphy knows his mom is here.”
But when the vet finally brought him in, I was dismayed to see his paw still wrapped up.
“I’m putting a soft cast on him for two weeks. When he starts putting pressure on that paw and trying to use it more, we’ll take it off.”
I also found out our days of getting back to walking soon was still a month and a half away.
“For now, continue only taking him out on leash walks to urinate and defecate as you’ve been doing. Once we get the soft cast off, he’ll have another month of yard confinement while he learns to reuse his paw.”
Bummer. Worse, I don’t know who was more bummed, me or Murph.
I got him home, fed him (he hadn’t had breakfast because due to the anesthesia he was restricted to a no-food-after-midnight diet), and next thing I knew he’d hopped up on the couch and appeared to be sulking for the first time in this whole ordeal. (See above pic.) No matter what I said or how many kisses I gave him, I couldn’t get him to smile.
My heart broke.
“I am so sorry, Buppers. I thought we’d get that cast off and move right into the rehabilitation stage. I hadn’t realized we’d have a couple more steps to do before we got to that point. I sort of figured you’d be ahead of the curve and could skip them. My bad. I didn’t mean to give you false hope.”
Poor Murph. Cast Off Day wasn’t quite the cause for celebration we’d all hoped it’d be.
Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.