11-19-99
 

I woke up in the morning and peeked in on my gliders, I noticed Sage had a shriveled up looking foot. I picked him up real quick and looked closer at it, his toe was shrunken and had dried blood all around the base of his toe(Thumb on back right foot). Before I panicked I checked all of my other gliders feet just to make sure it was only him. It was, I called my parents on their cell phone to come home. Unfortunately my vet was busy and couldn't take him then. We had to wait till night, when she was available. She first wanted to try and save the toe because it didn't look that bad. He did get a shot for pain and some antibiotics, he screamed and bit me. I went home that night with some antibiotics and told to do hot compress a few times that night and tomorrow before he came in. I had to wait till 12:30 to bring him in the next day, but it wasn't so bad. Right away my vet saw Sage and took him in. She checked his toe and the bone was sticking out, the skin had fallen off. It was dead though so Sage wasn't in pain. She said she would just cut off the toe and it would be done in 5 minutes. She didn't know Sage was so strong willed. She asked me if I was ready and I gave her this questioning look. Little did I know I was about to help with the surgery. Anyways, she told me to hold Sage while she put some gel in his eyes to keep them moist while he was under anesthesia. He crabbed at that, but was quieted quickly. She turned up the gas and told me to put him in this little tube to knock him out. She gradually increased the gas so not to hurt him. We decided to leave him in the tube and pull one foot through the rubber bottom to work on it, that way he wouldn't wake up (They wake up really fast from the gas she used). My job was to hold his foot for her and cover the hole in the rubber bottom with my hand while she cut the bone and cleaned/sutured(dissolvable sutures) him up. Of course, I kept watch on his breathing. Then as she was suturing he started to move, she turned up the gas and he was back asleep after fidgeting around. She got 1 suture in and was going to put 1 more in when he STOPPED BREATHING!!!! She shut the gas right away and he started again, I almost passed out by now but I was holding up ok. Just a little scare. She decided to use the glue instead of a second suture. Then I put his foot back in the hole and she switched to oxygen. My boy started to wake up and was thrashing around for 5-10 minutes while waking up. She held him, then I held him, and back into the room we went. Sage was awake by now and was already trying to chew his foot open. He got a nice chunk of it open before either of us could stop him. We tried to wrap it and splint- no deal! Sage crabbed and Cher got upset, ran right up the vets arm and onto her hand to see Sage. We all had a good laugh and then Sage unwrapped his toe.  We tried several (painful) methods but nothing worked, he just bit and screamed. This wasn't working so we took him back to anesthesia again. I held him in that tube again, just before he fell asleep he managed to chew that wrap and splint off his foot and bite it.....then sleepy Sage. I took him out of that tube and just held the hose right up to his nose while she added another suture to his foot(regular). Then we both worked on putting his special "Under age 2 months OOP" made joey collars. Finally we got it on, but she had to sew it on to get it to stay! Once again we watched Sage squirm and squiggle while he woke up. He hates his collar, but has finally stopped chewing his foot. Home now, Sage will be on antibiotics for 10 days at least, and I have to watch for any discoloration or anything strange Sage may be doing. He will go back tomorrow and we'll see what happens. As of now he only wants to sleep on me, nothing more.
 

UPDATE-  11-21-99

Today Sage slept quite a bit, mostly around noon. He didn't want to settle down in the morning though. He still refuses to sleep anywhere but on me and that's becoming a problem. I am not allowed to bring him to the table when I eat so I skip eating when he's sleeping on me. Dinner- well I just let him sit tight in his little travel cage until I get back. What a face too, you'd think he hates me but he's the best! He snuggles right up to me and goes to sleep. I'm awaiting another long night up with him and a few feedings during the night also. He did get to the vet tonight for a checkup on his toes and e-collar. He has to wear it a little longer still, but he's adjusting to it. His scabs are looking good tho(medically anyway). Sage is very lonely, so I must stay with him. He can't be put in with the other gliders because he isn't supposed to be walking on the cage wire, and also the other gliders go after his foot. I feel evil for keeping a social animal solitary (well from his own kind) but it's for his best. He just may not lose his foot, his double's are looking better and there's blood there which is a good sign. I think the vet got all the dead tissue out.

On a better note tomorrow night Sage has to go back to the vets again, but it will be fun. Sage will get his e-collar off and while I'm there we'll keep an eye on him and see if it can stay off. Probably not, but we're gonna give him the chance.

I'm off to feed Sage now and give him his meds, tomorrow I'm going to see if I can take Sage with me to work so he isn't lonely while I am gone.
 

UPDATE  11-22-99
 

Right after work I went straight to the vets again. Sage loves the vet. Things were fun for the gliders tonight, Pennie spent some time with Sage while supervised by the 3 of us. We dont want him getting depressed because he can't be with other gliders until his foot is healed. His e-collar still couldnt come off tonight because his first toe in the doubles is starting to look bad. We're afraid he may lose that one too but right now all we can do is wait. He's still on antibiotics, on my person almost 24/7. He came to work with me today even. No one seemed to care because they saw that pitiful face and it broke thier hearts so he can come to work with me anytime he wants so he doesn't get depressed. Thursday is when he is supposed to go back again to see the foot. Sage is sleeping in bra as I type, I'm glad for that so maybe I can get an hour or 2 of sleep after I feed him and give him his antibiotic. More updates on what's happening with his foot when I find out.
 

UPDATE  11-24-99

Yesterday Sage decided to slip off his e-collar and chew his foot. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be tho, and I just put his collar back on no big deal. Sage's foot is looking much better today even after he chewed it, mostly just the glue came off and the scabs are ok. I did trick him into eating chicken by grinding it up really small and mixing in with his baby cereal. I also did this with banana and he ate that too, which is wierd because none of my gliders eat banana. I think it might have to do with the weaning thing, I am weaning Sage so he goes by his tastes not by what his mom shows him is yucky and what's good. He took his collar off once again and wont wear it. I just decided to let him leave it off since he's not picking at his foot too much plus he's much happier without it. He's putting on some weight now, but no matter what I do he just wont eat meat of any kind. I've never weaned a joey like this before so I'm doing as best I can with him. This is a major learning experience for me and I dont want to feed him just baby food from a jar. I am thinking about mixing up maybe some chicken babyfood with the cereal(sounds nasty) and some fruit juice(haven't tried this yet)and see if that might help him start eating some meat. I'm a little worried because he doesnt have his mothers milk to back him up either. All he wants is fruit and fruit juice- nothing else. No veggies, no meat, he doesn't much care for the baby food meat mixes in the jar either(I can't blame him). I tried it with no success, no matter what I do or mix it with he fights me. I tried the Leadbeaters mix- no way no how is he gonna eat that(but thankfully the other gliders will), he hates eggs too. I haven't come up with any other ways to try and get him into eating meat.
Just before I left for work earlier I picked Sage up from his pouch where he was sleeping so I could get ready, and he was FREEZING COLD even cuddled in all his blankets and his little stuffed baby rabbit. I think I must have had heart failure for 3 seconds then he moved when I picked him up. He was fine, just cold. His head, legs, underside, everything. I fed him, gave him his antibiotic and held him. He warmed up then I popped him in bra and we left for work. He has been warm all night. I wish I knew what that was all about, just glad he's still alive.
Tomorrow he will be staying with my vet all day so I can relax and get some much needed sleep for work. I wish I could have him with me all day but I really need some help here, no one in my family can watch him for me so I have to do everything. Hopefully she will make some progress with him and when I get him back tomorrow night I will be rested and somewhat refreshed/ready for him again. We've also been discussing the idea of her taking him home very soon(she's a vet she can care for him as good as I can). With him being here it stresses out Cher and Jer because they can 'talk' to each other, but no contact because they both go straight after his foot.  Cher has terrible diarreah and I am trying to fix her little prob too, she is so stressed that her baby is not there with her. My vet and I were thinking why keep him here when his momma isn't weaning him, he can't have unsupervised time with his family, he upsets his momma by 'crying' for his family when he cant be with them, and is basically just with me 24/7? Ya know? Why torture him with that here when he can have them outta contact and be with her(where he's gonna be anyways)? I feel bad for him and his family because if you could hear him cry at night for them it would break your heart. Not that I want to get rid of him or can't handle him, cuz I can and love him, just he isn't doing anything here that he can't with her. I really do love him and don't want to let him go this soon, but we were thinking maybe it was best for all of the gliders. We're still thinking about it tho, we're unsure of how good it will be. She can take him to the clinic with her and spend all day with him. I will see him often too.

I guess that's all on this update, Sagerie(nickname) is sleeping in bra now and I'm gonna wake him so I can spend some time playing with him. He's not nocturnal anymore and I dont want him staying like that. More later.
 

UPDATE  11-25-99

Sage went with the vet this morning and she was thrilled to have him. I enjoyed my day off but still miss Sage, I'll be getting him back in a few hours. I've been resting up today in between the cleaning before and after dinner. I was thinking about maybe letting her take him next week, he's healing up nicely and putting on weight. She really loves him too. Maybe take him in Monday night so I can stop and see Pennie.

UPDATE  11-26-99

Sage is looking much better now, he's getting heavy and actually eating the Turkey baby food when mixed with the cereal and apple juice. I hope this will help him start eating meat now. He's been eating quite a bit so I'm not as worried about it now. He's been sleeping most of the night and still cries when he sees his family out playing and he can't join in. He's off antibiotics early because his foot is healing so well. I think that made him happier because he hated it! I think he misses Pennie since she was the only one he could play with that didn't go after his foot. When he goes home Monday night he will be seeing her more often, and getting more attention and love too so he's gonna be one happy boy. He's sleeping, as always, right now happily in bra.