Have you ever heard of "erythema multiforme?" We hadn't either until Otto was diagnosed with it. In my last post, I told you about how he "licked himself" raw. Turns out that he was actually trying to "mop up" the damage from the allergic reaction to the meds that caused his skin to blister and die. It's been a long, arduous road back to normalcy. Let me get you caught up.
Here's where we were about a month and a half ago:
I know--scary, right? Nope, that's not moleskin on his belly. Or an alien clawing its way out. It's his body's attempt to scab over the skin-killing allergic reaction that probably came pretty close to costing Otto his life a few times. If the vet hadn't noticed that the scab was never going to heal correctly, and that it had started to attach itself to the layer of fat underneath and had grown infected, we might not be loving on Otto today. Thankfully, she did.
Our vet's recommendation was surgery to remove the rather disturbing scab, which meant that a lot of his skin would be excised as well. Yes, Otto was about to have a tummy tuck. I had tremendous reservations about it. He couldn't have pain meds OR antibiotics, and yet we were going to cut into an already infected area and send him home after surgery like that with stitches and about eight inches worth of staples in his belly? I didn't like it. Not one little bit. Turns out it was absolutely the best course of action. When the vet showed us the remains of the scab after the surgery, I couldn't help noticing how much the thing looked like a veal cutlet that had been cut in half. Yes, it was that substantial. Wrapped in a piece of waxy paper, it looked like something a meat-eater would buy at the butcher shop.
* * *
I started this blog post a few weeks ago, ten days after the surgery, and it began, "Today's the day! The day Otto gets his E-Collar off!" Sean had him at the vet's office, and I started writing it, then thought (in my typical Irish fashion) that perhaps I shouldn't jump the gun just yet. He was supposed to get it off that day. All signs pointed to yes. And yet, when he came home, he was still wearing it.
He still had a few spots on his belly that the vet wasn't sure about. They were superficial infections, but infections nonetheless, and would still need to be medicated. So Otto kept wearing his big blue satellite dish. (We've been calling him Otto-Flower for two months now.)
After a week or so, Sean took a digital photo of Otto's belly and emailed it to the vet. With all the staples out and stitches dissolved, it looked like this:
It didn't happen in a single day, but little by little, Otto was able to stop wearing his E-Collar. Now we can even pet his tummy without fear of hurting him. He seems happy, too--really, really happy. I guess sometimes it takes going through the valley of the shadow to realize what a good life you actually have. Not that he didn't realize that before, but he's extra excited about it now. He's eating more, and even putting on a little weight.
It's good to have the "deflowered" Otto back.
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