Because I had been planning to be out of town, I already had the next few days off of work, which was good since Morey definitely needed some time off to recover! By Thursday night he was less wobbly but still very tired and spending lots of time sleeping. Since we didn't know Morey's prognosis, my mom flew down to stay with us. It was wonderful to have her support as we both recovered from our ordeal!
We went to the airport to pick her up, partly because I had to pick up the luggage I'd left there the day before and partly because I wanted to see Morey's reaction to the airport. I don't know if he even remembers any of what happened but since we fly a lot I don't want him to have a negative association with the airport. I figure going to pick up Grandma would be a positive association! He seemed more stressed than he usually would but I hoped that was just because he wasn't fully recovered yet.
The next three days we pretty much spent at home watching Morey sleep. He would wake up and act normal- going out or eating- but then he would lay down and sleep for hours. I know seizures are exhausting but I wanted him to be back to his normal self. We did go to church on Sunday and of course everyone was glad to see him but even there he was much more subdued and less interactive than usual. Normally when my mom comes we have a full agenda of activities and most of them involve some kind of fun with Morey so it felt strange to sit around all day not doing anything.
Unfortunately all this time sitting around gave me plenty of time to wonder (and worry) about what this might mean for Morey's working life. With a working dog there are different considerations than with a pet and it can become much more complicated when a service dog has any health problems. While I will do my best to work around any needs Morey has, there are certain requirements and activities he must be able to do in order to keep working with me. Jumping in cars, adjusting to new environments, long days, all these are normal parts of my life. If Morey can't do his job, then it becomes time to consider retirement- something I know is inevitable for all service dogs but not something I was ready to think about for Morey yet. My first service dog, Jessie, eased into retirement by going to live with my mom but that would be a bit more difficult since she lives in Indiana and I live in Texas!
Thankfully Morey has made a seemingly full recovery and has been back at work for a few days. My anxiety about him having another seizure is lessening, although I think it will be present at least a little bit for quite a while. While a human who had a seizure would always be able to get medical help or transport to medical treatment I am realizing it is much more difficult if the patient is a dog! I am trying to put my emergency plan in place and certainly hope I never have to put it to use!
No comments:
Post a Comment