April 19, 2009

We were told that Sunday (today) would be the big day- to hear whether or not Sampson's bladder had shown improvement. We needed him to show us that he could go pp on his own, instead of allowing his bladder to get so full that it would leak out.
The doctors gave him meds to relax the stretched muscles around his bladder, and today they told us that he was able to stand up outside and release a stream of urine on his own. This sounded great. But, taking him outside with the help of a nurse and actually WATCHING him pee a full stream on his own was the icing on the cake! It appears that he is able to hold enough urine in his bladder, and since he is now able to stand on his hind legs (he's still pretty weak), he is comfortable enough to assume the pp position on his own terms and release! Great news. He even stood up on his own to greet us when we arrived!

The hospital was very understaffed today, so we were unable to talk with any of our doctors. But, they promised to call us tonight, and we may have him home this evening, or tomorrow morning. We'd like to hold off until Monday, as our surgeon will be back from vacation, and we would like to discuss with her how often we should be encouraging Sam to stand up.

Great news today- we finally feel a bit at ease, and Sampson looks wonderful. (see pp pic- Andy is looking at the nurse with excitement!)

(6:00) We received a call from our doctor, informing us that Sampson was doing so well that she didn't see the need to keep him in the hospital. We brought him home, and put him in his "new" digs, no longer in the kitchen where he couldn't see us, but rather, out in the middle of the living room. He's lovin his new pad.