Aleve and Narcotics

I picked Deucey up on Friday and we have made it through almost two days of PT for her. I know that plenty of other people have to do PT and it is way more than we have to do but the thought of 14 weeks of this is a little overwhelming - especially when it is only day two. So we are taking it one day at a time and hoping the light at the end of the tunnel comes soon.

One thing that I thought was pretty cool/interesting is the patch that is on Deucey's leg. The doctor told me to take it off on Monday, and that it has to be returned to them. She said that if we just threw it out and someone found it in our trash we could get in big trouble. I didn't ask but I think I should - what kind of drugs are those?! I know it is a narcotic but what kind? I wonder what would happen if I ripped it off her leg and put it on my arm like one of those patches that help you stop smoking - that is essentially what it looks like.

Here is the PT for the first week:

Ice - 4 times a day for 10-20 minutes - of course a dog doesn't just sit there while you put a bag of peas on their leg so you get to sit there with them and give them support

Leash walks for 5-10 minutes, 3 times a day.

Passive range of motion (flex and extend) for 10 repetitions, 3 times a day

Massage thigh muscles for 5 minutes before and after range of motion exercises

No stairs - so we have to carry her up and down the stairs when she has to go to the bathroom

Contain her to one room - not hard so far but she has already started to whine when we are in the other room. Not sure how well this is going to work.

Anti-inflammatories 2 times a day

Pain meds 2-3 times a day

Now this doesn't seem that bad but combining this into a schedule that is already a mess and overbooked is presenting some problems. April can't come soon enough!

Post-OP

Deucey is doing well. I spoke with the surgeon around 7 PM last night and he was really happy with the surgery. Her knee is very stable now. Her miniscus was torn so they had to take the back half out and leave the front which basically means that she is going to have arthritus but I was expecting that. She was on IV pain meds all night and they are going to start weining her off and switch to oral pain meds today. Assuming she looks okay I am going to pick her up later today. I am washing all of her bedding and everything else just to try to avoid any infection in the wound and she has a brand new bed so she will hopefully be more comfortable. It is going to be a long road of PT that we have to do at home but hopefully is goes by relatively quickly and we have our old Deucey back by late Spring.

TTA or TPLO?

About a month and a half ago Deucey came back from the dog park on three legs - she had hurt her back right leg. We waited a few days to see how things looked - maybe she just twisted her email - though we really didn't think so. We took her to the vet and she thought she had blown her knee out but we would need to go to a specialist. They gave us some pain pills and anti-inflammatories and said to wait a few days to see if that did anything. It didn't and then we were off to an orthopedic surgeon for animals. They confirmed within a matter of minutes that she did indeed blown her knee out and that she needed surgery. At this point they gave us three options. One that wasn't very invasive and then that were. We decided against the one that wasn't very invasive because she is so young and so active. If she was a 12 year old dog that slept most of the day we would have gone down that route. So then we were left to TTA or TPLO. We spoke with the two doctors, one does TTA, one does TPLO. They had no recommendations so we did a little research, got the expert opinion from Craig & Ellen and we decided to go with TTA.

So now we pick a date for surgery, March 11th. You aren't supposed to feed your dog past 8 PM the night before. So what do I do? Feed the dog the morning of - surgery scheduled for March 18th. March 18th rolls around, Andy's car battery is dead. Reschedule for March 25th.

So my first baby, yes I said baby for all of you people out there that don't think dogs are part of a family, is in surgery today. I dropped her off at 6:30 AM unable to tell her anything about what was going to happen. I guess in a way it is better not to know about pain because she slept well last night but the inability to explain what we are doing and how in the end it should help her brings tears to my eyes. I just hope she is okay when we pick her up tomorrow.

No stairs for 6 weeks - that is going to kill me! She weighs just over 60 pounds and let me tell you that I feel everyone of them when I pick her up, especially when she doesn't want to be picked up. So that is going to be a long road - I am going to want to shoot her even after a few days but as the weather gets warmer and the days get longer my baby will heal and we will be out on our family walks again. So I am trying to stay positive and look forward to that time. I am sure I will complain at some point about it though. That can't be helped!

Things that made me smile this week

Murdoch got out of the bath last night and told me that his nipples were tired. I guess that means that it is time to go to bed!

Thayer kicks her left foot/leg over and over again when you change her diaper.

Thayer was face/belly down in her crib with both legs sticking out of the crib at a 90 degree angle when I went in to get her. You would think that she was either very uncomfortable or dead. When I turned the lights on low she just turned/lifted her head and smiled.

We got snow this week - I love that Murdoch calls it 'BIG SNOW!' with such enthusiam.

Murdoch is slowly potty training and he says bye-bye to his poo when we flush it down the toilet.

Murdoch was almost gabbing his toy dust buster on Thayer's leg and she was just laughing the whole time.

Murdoch and I were shoveling together. He enjoys shoveling with a golf club - I am sure you can imagine how effective that is.

Murdoch calls dog poop, poop dog. It always takes me a second to figure that out.

We finally downloaded some pictures

It has been a tough month or so around our house. Lots of travel by Andy and lots of sickness for everyone. Andy is away for part of this week and Deucey's surgery is scheduled for Thursday so the week will still be a little crazy but I am hoping things settle down a little.

Thayer got a tutu from my Mom and Murdoch and I went to the Museum of Science for a play date this weekend. Today we are just hanging out and starting to get ready for the week. I hope you enjoy all of the the pictures.