Sam is home today and doing very well. The vet's very pleased with him. Thank you so much to all who sent good wishes and thoughts and prayers, I know it all helped and the TDK magic has done it again! You are awesome, guys.
The vet kept him in an extra night after the op, as she wanted to make sure he stayed on a pain meds drip. My parents picked him up today with a positive encyclopedia of instructions for the next month -- I can just picture my mum putting a little ice pack on his leg for 10 mins three times a day and exercising his little shorn leg -- not! Sam is a very rambunctious cat and I can't imagine she'll get to do any of that without him deciding to return the favour by biting her ankles after about a minute and then taking off in a chasing game. But I know she will do her very best and perhaps he will let her cosset him for the first few days, anyway. He is already trying to take off his pain meds patch -- they are going to pick up an Elizabethan collar for him tomorrow.
Because he is now confined inside for a month, my parents went all over town to find him a nice new bed for him to sleep in (he usually sleeps on the carpet, the bed, my dad's chair) -- they picked a sheepskin one and put it in his favourite sleeping spot in front of the fire. My mum said Sam was outraged -- he seemed to think they were trying to keep him out of his rightful place by plonking down some furry dead thing. Anyway, he has yet to do more than glance contemptuously at his beautiful new bed.
The vet said that he has a pretty bad scar from the original break in his leg -- she said that the bone would have been sticking out through the skin. (This happened before Sam came to us, we knew nothing of it. He was between two and four when we got him.) We all feel very upset when we think how he must have suffered back then, and my Mum gets particularly upset. It's amazing that he is still a lovely, friendly, loving pussycat -- if a bit of a terror as an anklebiter! My mum said he was very brave again today, in the car coming home, usually he cries in the car but not today.
Anyway, as you can probably tell, we are very happy to have the patient home with my parents (but not overconfident he will follow doctor's instructions). Perhaps WWM could have a stern word with him for us...
Thanks again, everyone!
