The Aftermath

My surgery went well - I was home within 3-1/2 hours. I was under for about an hour, from what they tell me. The surgeon said that there wasn't any tendon damage (he was prepared to move my tendons around, but he didn't have to), but that the cyst had started growing out the side as well as up. It was wrapped around a tendon, and it was starting to push on a nerve.

My hand now looks like this:and Vicodin is my new best friend...

I get the dressing changed on Monday, and I can (hopefully) go back to work on Tuesday. The surgeon hopes to put me back into my smaller plastic splint on Monday, which I'll have to wear for 2-3 weeks. He says that I should be able to start knitting again by the end of the week!

I had to take Tick to the vet today - his back legs have started to buckle under him, and we have to carry him outside because he can't go up and down stairs. He stopped eating, too. The X-Ray showed that there is something wrong with a disc in his back. :-( The vet gave him a cortisone shot, drew blood for testing, and sent him home. Everything now depends on the test results, and whether the cortisone works. Surgery won't be an option - he's at least 12 (he's a rescue, so we're not sure of his age - we've had him for 11 years), and at his age, it's a quality of life issue as well as a financial one. We're hopeful that the cortisone works.

We bought him some canned food, and he ate. I normally won't buy soft food for my dogs, but at his age, I'm more worried about him eating than I am about his teeth.

Repo has suddenly decided to become his new best friend, and she's been staying pretty close to him since he started having problems
Keep your fingers crossed that the cortisone works! Tick is the mellowest, sweetest, friendliest dachsund that I've ever owned - especially considering how badly he was abused before he came to live with us.