Meet Quanah
Hi, I’m a German Shepherd and my name is Quanah Parker. I’m named after the last great Comanche Indian chief. My mom reads a lot about Native Americans and chose that mouthful, but you can call me Quanah. I’ll be 7 years old on January 11th. Guess I’m reaching middle age. I’ve had my share of physical problems, but I don’t want to complain so I’ll spare you and share only the latest one for now.
About a month ago my left knee started hurting me. It was so painful, I started to limp. It scared my mom as she thinks the worst right away because I lost my best friend Timo a few months ago to osteosarcoma. Well, mom gave me pain killers and called my vet Dr. Doni to come have a look. He couldn’t see much so mom and Rena, mom’s daughter, took me to Dr. Doni’s office for x-rays. I didn’t like that because I got a shot and when I woke up I was woozy. And guess what, I have pretty bad arthritis. But Dr. Doni is pretty thorough and sent the x-rays to his friend, the surgeon at the animal hospital, Dr. Josh. And Dr. Josh said he could help me by doing TTA surgery, whatever that is.
So another car ride to the hospital where Dr. Josh examined me. I had a blood test and Dr. Josh squeezed my belly and found my spleen enlarged. My blood test wasn’t too great either – low platelet count. I don’t understand what this all means but I know it’s not good. Mom explained that it was because of the tick bites and gave it a funny name – Ehrlichiosis. So I couldn’t have surgery until I got better. I have to take 4 1/2 pills a day for a month – yuk. Mom puts them in cottage cheese which I love.
I had another blood test 3 days later and since it was normal it was okay to have the surgery. Mom and Rena took me back to the hospital Tuesday and left me there. I was scared, but I put up a brave front. How would it look if a dog my size was a wuss. I had surgery on Wednesday, but don’t remember much. Mom and Rena picked me up on Thursday. After all the meds they pumped into me, I wasn’t feeling too bad, just happy to go home. And now I have to take more pills and I’m getting sick of cottage cheese. It’s only been a little over a week, so I still have some pain. I have to take it easy for a while, but Murphy the Monster, a friend mom got for me to play with, is such a pest. She’s so dumb and doesn’t understand I can’t play yet.
Dr. Doni is coming today to take the stitches out. But I’ll tell you a secret – I’ve been licking the stitches and took a few out myself. I’ll let you know how it goes. Never a dull moment around here.
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