In which The Little Patient gets her staples removed

Today, a little more than two weeks after the surgery, Dot went and got her staples removed at the specialist vet's office that performed the surgery.

Upon entering the place, she immediately started trembling in fear. She clearly doesn't have the greatest opinion about the place; but then again, she lacks the awareness that they literally saved her life. In this picture, you can somewhat, but not fully, see the look of abject terror on her face as she awaited whatever was coming.





Speck wasn't happy to be there either. Even though he got nothing but attention each time we went, he definitely knew that this wasn't the funnest place to be.



As we left, he laid down a big poop (big for him, anyway... still not bigger than a tootsie roll) right in front of the office, as if to say "take THAT, chumps!"

After a few minutes in the office, one of the doctors who had assisted with Dot brought her out, minus the ten or so staples that had held her little belly together for a couple of weeks. Here's Dot with an expression on her face that is clearly surprised that there wasn't more poking and prodding involved, and waiting for the other shoe to drop.




Dot also got to see Marianne, one of the nurses there who looked after her and who just happens to live down the block from me. How we figured this out was pretty funny-- Marianne was walking down the street, and recognized Dot right as she was first starting to feel better and was giving hell to a dog four or five times her size.

The staple points are still a bit red and tender, so I'm leaving The Little Patient's collar on for another day or two. We'll have a mini party at her favorite place, the Lost Weekend Lounge in Alameda, when her collar finally comes off in a day or two.