Maya
As those of you who read Steph's journal (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
stephanieburgis) know, we took Maya into see an orthopaedic specialist yesterday to have her shoulder properly looked at. We had to leave her there for the day so she could be put under, have her X-rays done, some sample fluids taken from her shoulder and her joint 'manipulated'. Needless to say, we found the whole thing enormously stressful and worrying.
Luckily, she came through the general anaesthetic just fine, although she's got an enormous shaved patch on her shoulder and smaller patches on her leg and neck. She's also, I think, a bit uncomfortable following the whole procedure.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to the see the vet when we picked Maya up, because he had to go home sick, and so we collected Maya from a nurse who didn't know much about the whole thing. The vet has prescribed Maya some very strong painkillers for the joint, and I've got to say, I'm not really happy with this. Maya is only about 4 years old. If she's to be on painkillers for the rest of her life, I think this would be a really bad thing. All drugs have side-effects, and I certainly wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life popping that kind of pills. I'm also not convinced that Maya was actually in pain from her shoulder. Certainly she had some moments of discomfort, particularly after she'd run around a lot, but nothing that seemed to impact her quality of life or her liveliness. It just doesn't seem that she was in need of really strong painkillers for it.
We're booked in to see the vet again in a couple of weeks, and we've decided, reluctantly, to put her on the painkillers until then. But unless they has some miraculous results before then, I just can't see us agreeing to keep her on them. It might be that we have to put her on painkillers later in life, but not now.
