Doing His Job Well

Today found us heading to the hospital for a very lengthy procedure for Jeremy. They had to do so many blood draws we opted to let them put a temporary port in Jeremy's hand to help keep the pain down. Banyan never ceases to amaze me at how in-tune he is to Jeremy even when I think he is distracted. We arrived & took Banyan for a quick walk around outside so he could stretch since it was going to be a long morning. We headed inside where they quickly had Jeremy head back to a room & lay down. As soon as Jeremy laid down Banyan paced back & forth in front of the bed. I asked the doctor since it was a small procedure room if Banyan could please lay with Jeremy. He was more then happy for us to allow Banyan up with Jeremy . As soon as I pointed to the bed & told Banyan "up" he jumped up with his front paws & waited for me to assist getting the rest of him up. He immediately snuggled beside Jeremy and seemed to calm right down.

As the doctor & nurse got everything ready Jeremy began to whimper because he knew he had to get at least one poke for them to place the port. At this time I noticed Banyan simply lay one paw & his head over Jeremy's lap. Jeremy started rubbing his head and it seemed to calm Jeremy for the moment. As soon as the nurse started prepping Jeremy,  Banyan became very alert. When the doctor stuck the needle in & Jeremy cried out Banyan snuggled some more with his eyes never leaving the doctor's hands. The doctor started drawing the first 8 tubes of blood we needed & Banyan still watched. Once the doctor was using his soft fun voice talking to Banyan as he drew the blood and tried to get his attention. Never once did Banyan lift his head from Jeremy's lap or acknowledge the doctor. The nurse was so impressed she asked if she could take a picture while they worked. She commented on how she had never seen a Golden who is only 1 year old stay so calm for so long. We where going on about an hour at this point.

Here they had just finished drawing the first 8 tubes of blood and where going to let Jeremy sit up soon. Banyan finally closed his eyes for a moment but would open them right back up as they began to wrap tape over the port. Soon Jeremy was sitting up a lot more relaxed which in turn seemed to relax Banyan.

At this point we had to wait another hour for more blood draws so I had Banyan hop down to nap on the floor while Jeremy played. Banyan laid down and was sleeping for about thirty minutes before the doctor came back in & he sat right up. I kept him down on the floor at this time because it was so quick to get the next two viles of blood from Jeremy. But what surprised me was when the doctor laid the viles on the bed next to Jeremy, Banyan went over sniffed them then laid his head back on Jeremy's lap. We have had no seizure activity since we brought Banyan home. The blood draw today I think was a great chance for Banyan to really smell Jeremy's scent from the blood in a normal state. Everything we've read said it's a good way to train medic alert dogs because Jeremy's scent will dramatically change should he seize or have a low blood sugar.


Banyan did his job today & he did it well. Jeremy stayed calm as did Banyan. We are so blessed to have God open the doors so wide for us when we where praying about getting a service dog back in October. Today was just more evidence to me that we made the right choice. The two walked together today better the I have ever seen. When the doctor had Jeremy follow him w/out Banyan, I thought Banyan was going to pull me behind the desk to get to Jeremy. Luckily I had a lot of treats & placed him where he could see Jeremy clearly. This whole three hour process was truly made easier by having Banyan by Jeremy's side.

The Good & the Bad

 

The good thing about going to Madigan since Jeremy was four months old is we know most of the surgical services staff. Therefore when we arrived at 7:15 AM they got Jeremy right back & into a bed. He crashed right away since he woke up when I did around 5:45AM. As we waited I went over all the paperwork one more time. Had them place the RED ALLERGY alert bracelet on Jeremy so they remembered to take off his EKG Leds ASAP when he woke up. Then we waited about an hour before they wheeled him back fo his eye surgery.

 

They placed the purple X over the right eye so they didn't mess with the wrong eye- good thing they did.

 

He was all smiles & high fives as they wheeled him away. The other people in the waiting area could hardly believe how at ease he & I where. One mom was in tears while waiting & asked how I could be so calm? I gave a brief little history of all the surgeries Jeremy has had & the fact that if I get upset it does him no good or the doctors. Staying calm is much better for everyone.

Well off he went & I headed to the closest coffee stand for a much needed caramel sauce latte with a bagel- I was starving by then.  Headed to the waiting area in time to catch a lady yelling at a man who was talking on his cell phone. Apparently she didn't want to hear his whole conversation & he told her she could move-WOW! It took around an hour forty-five minutes before the doctor came out to talk with me & take me to recovery. They where able to adjust the tube that Jeremy had placed behind his right eye at four months of age. It helps drain the fluid behind his eye to keep his pressure low. It immediately dropped his eye pressure down to 24/25 which was still a little higher then they had wanted but better then 40 that it was last week. The doctor let me know that for now it's as good as it is going to get ever. That we will continue to use 3 different drops two times a day forever. That his vision is still considered legally blind in that eye- but he can see.That over the years it may get even worse where he has no vision at all but they have no idea when that will happen. That was that & at least for now his pressure is lowered & he can keep a little vision in that eye.

When I got to him I went to rub his back & noticed right away his EKG Leds where still on, GRRRRR!!! I start yanking them off only to have some nurse who doesn't know us flip out. I calmy tell her to call the doctor now! She does then comes back over to see what the fuss was all about as Jeremy lays clawing at his chest & crying very loudly. Let me show you what the problem is -  I say in my nice but stern mommy voice.

My little guy had a severe allergic reaction to the sticky stuff on the back of the EKG Leds just like his chart said he would & the BRIGHT RED bracelet he was wearing warned about. But NOOOO, they still left the dang leds on too long. That led to Jeremy needing a benedryl dose in his IV & a very strong sedative to keep him from scratching at the sites.Poor little guy looks like someone burned him on purpose with some round blunt object. Finally a nurse who knows us comes over & has the other new lady leave- thank goodness. She get's Jeremy's IV out, let's me get him dressed. Then she wakes him up so we can leave.When she got some questions about me carrying Jeremy out instead of a wheel chair- well Jeremy yelled at the other nurse so loud- yep they let us walk right out of recovery!

I am so grateful for Jeremy's medical team, but sometimes I want to scream when they mess up the small things. Especially when I go over it & over it before he leaves my site. Thankfully he was fine & wanting to eat. I went & picked up some Pizza Hut and we headed home.He is laying on the couch watching Batman now with Banyan. He is really groggy from all the extra medication he would not have needed had they simply paid attention. But I am very glad his eye pressure is down for now & we where promised no more surgery for at least 6 months!! That may be a new record for us!  I can't say we will miss the early mornings at the hospital. We plan on enjoying this brief vacation time as much as possible.

So there you have it folks the good, the bad, & the ugly......ugggg