I am going to have surgery on Thursday and sort of freaked out.

[JulieBays]

I am worried about Sasha. She turned 6 months old yesterday. So, I am going in for Arthritis Surgery Base of Thumb CMC Joint surgery on Thursday. Here is a Youtube link. It's graphic.

Thumb Arthroplasty (Arthritis Surgery Base of Thumb CMC Joint) - YouTube

Thumb Arthroplasty (Arthritis Surgery Base of Thumb CMC Joint) - YouTube

My sister is taking me and it's an outpatient procedure. She'll be around that evening for a while but she doesn't understand the exercise requirements of a GSD. My 17 year old son doesn't understand either. He will play Frisbee with Sasha for about 10 minutes and gets bored and quits. I have tried to explain to them both that Sasha and I do a 45 minute hike/walk in the morning with a 15 minute Frisbee session. Then, in the evening when I get home from work, we play ball/Frisbee and run around the back yard for at least and hour and most the time for 2 hours. Sheesh!! Poor Sasha! Neither of my family members understand this and Sasha might get upset because I'll be drugged up Thursday. I know I'm rambling but I worried about Sasha. She's not going to understand what's going on. I keep thinking about canceling the procedure for now but I'm in constant pain and my doctor insists I need this surgery. Plus, I want to continue the SAR training I'm doing and I really need to take care of my thumb problem.

Any suggestions to help Sasha through Thursday and possibly Friday are appreciated

[jocoyn]

She will survive. It is ok to crate the dog and take care of yourself. Consider it an excercise for, like, a real search where she may spend 8 hours in the back of a vehicle

[KZoppa]

Even as young as Sasha is, she'll instinctively understand mom needs rest. Its very likely she'll know something is up and tone down her energy and exercise need for a couple days for you. Dont be surprised if she doesnt want to leave your side. Zena was my wild child with energy and she mellowed out quiet a bit after i had my c-section for my daughter which was an emergency c-section. By the time I was back on my feet two weeks later, Zena was still pretty mellow like she knew i was still hurting. my 6 week check up, i got home and my wild child was back to her old tricks lol. Same thing happened again when I had my c-section for my son, though that one wasnt an emergency C. They tend to surprise you.

Do you have any friends in the area who would understand, maybe someone from your SAR group that might be willing to help exercise her?

[billsharp]

Sasha will do just fine, exercise or not. GSDs are hearty, smart dogs bred to handle adversity. My bet is she senses your discomfort and sits at your feet trying to lick your hand! Relax and focus on yourself and your recovery. Good luck!

[JulieBays]

Originally Posted by jocoyn

She will survive. It is ok to crate the dog and take care of yourself. Consider it an excercise for, like, a real search where she may spend 8 hours in the back of a vehicle

Ha! I keep telling Sasha (I know she doesn't understand) that she needs some patience because of this fact. Luckily, her crate is her quiet place. I'm so glad I crated her or otherwise, she wouldn't be a SAR prospect. When we drove out to a training site (1.5 hours) and she had to be in her crate most of the day while the big dogs trained, she did great. I think this is why the team seems to think she is a good prospect. She did well on her tests too until the recall issue.... oops, off subject. I think I'm obsessed.

[JulieBays]

Originally Posted by KZoppa

Even as young as Sasha is, she'll instinctively understand mom needs rest. Its very likely she'll know something is up and tone down her energy and exercise need for a couple days for you. Dont be surprised if she doesnt want to leave your side. Zena was my wild child with energy and she mellowed out quiet a bit after i had my c-section for my daughter which was an emergency c-section. By the time I was back on my feet two weeks later, Zena was still pretty mellow like she knew i was still hurting. my 6 week check up, i got home and my wild child was back to her old tricks lol. Same thing happened again when I had my c-section for my son, though that one wasnt an emergency C. They tend to surprise you.

Do you have any friends in the area who would understand, maybe someone from your SAR group that might be willing to help exercise her?

The SAR team is over loaded with their own stuff and we are all located all over Oklahoma. We meet in a central location. I have a very small family. My friends all think that I've lost my mind with Sasha. So, they are not an option.

[JulieBays]

Originally Posted by billsharp

Sasha will do just fine, exercise or not. GSDs are hearty, smart dogs bred to handle adversity. My bet is she senses your discomfort and sits at your feet trying to lick your hand! Relax and focus on yourself and your recovery. Good luck!

Thank you. She is a great dog and sleeps next to me at night. She's my big baby. You and KZoppa are probably right. She'll probably be fine.

[selzer]

I watched about half of that vid. That is enough to scare anybody. Ick! I had surgery done on my wrist a few years ago. They asked me if I wanted to be more asleep or more awake. I said more asleep. But then I don't do anesthetic well, and I was very awake. I also asked for something to calm my nerves which they gave me at 7AM. Surgery was four hours late, and by 11:30 that wore off and they would not give me more. Didn't they know I was in there for the valium??? Whatever.

I hope you can tell them to put you out completely, they do it, all goes well, and you do not have to worry about the nerves, tendons, weird sounding bones that they will be pulling out and putting on the white gauze. Hope it is very successful. Good idea NOT to look at the internet too much.

Good luck.

[JulieBays]

Originally Posted by selzer

I watched about half of that vid. That is enough to scare anybody. Ick! I had surgery done on my wrist a few years ago. They asked me if I wanted to be more asleep or more awake. I said more asleep. But then I don't do anesthetic well, and I was very awake. I also asked for something to calm my nerves which they gave me at 7AM. Surgery was four hours late, and by 11:30 that wore off and they would not give me more. Didn't they know I was in there for the valium??? Whatever.

I hope you can tell them to put you out completely, they do it, all goes well, and you do not have to worry about the nerves, tendons, weird sounding bones that they will be pulling out and putting on the white gauze. Hope it is very successful. Good idea NOT to look at the internet too much.

Good luck.

LMAO. My sister got really mad at me tonight when I told her I pulled up a Youtube video. I can't help it! I want to know and doctors are so bad at explaining procedures. My sis yelled at me "JULIE, DO NOT look at the internet anymore!!!" Haha. Yeah, well. I was on the internet before there was such a thing called internet so my geekness can't help it.

[jetscarbie]

haha...Right before my hysterectomy, I scared myself so bad by reading way to many horror stories on the Internet. Not good.

I was so worried about my 6 week recovery period with my dogs. You know what, they were prefect angels. They would not leave my side when I came home from the hospital.

Good luck on your surgery.