Hope update #2

After talking to the Dr. about the green puss and the swelling, he was rather concerned and was able to get us into the plastic surgeon's office the same day. I knew the same day appointment thing we would have to wait a little, but I did not expect to wait an hour & 45 minutes! Thank goodness James & each took 2 kids, otherwise I might have been declared legally insane by the time we were done! James took Grady (he had to drive to OC) in hopes that he'd sleep and then Zach and Gracie played rock, paper, scissors to figure out who would go with whom. Zach won and chose to come with me. Our appointment was at 2 and we didn't leave until quarter after 4! The office was fine, but there were already 4 patients waiting and only a couch and a couple of chairs, so we walked around outside for a bit and it really helped that Zach brought along his leapster to keep him occupied.

The Dr. looked at Hoper's face and she was really brave. At first she just flinched & pulled away a bit telling him he was pushing too hard, but then came the real tears! He had to swab (with the large q-tip thing) the area to get a culture. Before swabbing it, he basically pushed on her face to get as much puss out as possible, then he put the whole swab into the deepest puncture. I thought I was going to cry with her! The Dr. apologized to her and then she was done crying as soon as he was done messing with her face. He talked about what he expected to see from the culture results and about what we can expect as far as the healing process and what steps we'll need to take next.

We see the Dr. again on Thursday and should know the culture results. The antibiotics are helping because the swelling in her cheek has gone down quite a bit and the wounds do seem to be healing. It'll be awhile before we know how bad the scarring is and if she'll actually need surgery to repair the scarred areas. So, for now we are grateful she has been feeling well and in good spirits and will wait for healing to take place. We are in hopes that it continues to heal quickly, so she can swim again.

*On a side note, I had to take CoCo back to the vet and there were lots of dogs and Hoper showed no signs of fear, even from the larger ones. So that is a huge praise, as I thought she might be traumatized by the whole incident and really afraid of other dogs.