We are now 10 days post surgery - and today marks our first milestone and that is completion of all medication. With her middday meal today, we finished the last of the antibiotics. She was taking 750 mg of Cephalexin three times a day to prevent infection in her incision, as well as an anti-inflammatory (which was finished with breakfast this morning) and pain meds, which finished Tuesday this week. The anitbiotics required food, so she was fed three times a day through today. Tomorrow, we will return to her normal feeding schedule of twice a day.
The last 2 weeks have been physically and emotionally exhausting - thank god my parents are here to help, esp for the first two weeks. Our next milestone will be Tuesday, when the staples come out. All our work (and when I say "our", I am talking my mom and I) to keep her incision from getting infected and get the swelling out of her ankle has really paid off. I am also glad I started her post surgery crating routine immediately upon diagnosis - she has adjusted to the the crate quite well.
What this really means is an upheaval to our normal routine. Crates, gentle leaders, stuck on leash all the time - all this is a great change in her normal daily routine, and while she is a dog that is happy to go with the flow, she also thrives on routine. She has done very well at accepting the new routine of all the above.
Me, on the other hand, is still trying to figure this out. Really, the only thing I have going right now is one night of soccer - down from 3 teams, no softball, no agility (class or trials) and no volunteering. Suffice to say, this is an adjustment for me! But maybe it will be good for me - I know it has already definitely made me appreciate what I have and all the friends I have...I do miss my agility friends, and I miss running with my partner. We are bonding in a different way now...especially when I am doing her exercises and icing her knee. She lays right out and lets me do those things, and then usually stays asleep until I get up and move. She flips on her back for lots of belly rubs now, not something she has done in the past. So I guess I can say that we are bonding in a different way.
The next three weekends will be very quiet...some big football games coming up to enjoy, but other than than, nothing much. The weekend of the OSU/Michigan game, I will make my way to Pa for the first time, as I told Scott we could watch the game on neutral turf - so that he would not be surrounded by Ohio State fans. I will leave on Thursday and on Friday, Scott is taking me to NYC for the day - that should give you an idea of how far in eastern Pa he lives! We will also be going to see the TransSiberian Orchestra in Philly on Saturday night after the game (he lives about an hour from Phildelphia)so that will be a lot of fun. And the first weekend in December will be the birthday blowout in Las Vegas. :)
So a few fun things are coming up, but everyday life as I know it has changed dramatically. Something tells me that I will find something(s) to keep occupied.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend. The Buckeyes won, Michigan is losing...both good things on a Satruday afternoon. Chels did run errands with me, and is resting in her crate now. I got her some apple/peanut butter filled bones, so I will break out one of those for her later.
Stay warm everyone!!!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A letter from Chelsie Belle
Dear Eggo, Cricket, Cabana, Oreo and all freinds (canine and humans alike),
Well, I am almost a week post surgery. Last Tuesday, mom had the nerve to take me to a new vet and leave me there...when I woke up, I was in pain, half shaved and in some run that was clearly NOT my mom's bed - having not eaten in 24 hrs, as my surgery was delayed due to incoming emergencies. Since then, I have endured the crate (with and without my inflatbale ecollar) am attached to someone with a leash when I am not in my crate, have been forced to potty with a leash attached to me and have been relegated to my gentle leader. SERIOUSLY?
All things being equal, what I can say is that my leg seems to work now. It is a little stiff when I get up, but my mom says that is to be expected, because I have plates and screws holding it together. I am very happy to get fresh air on my walks...yesterday, gramma and grampa did yard work for mom and I went outside and laid in my crate so I could be with them. I tolerate my gentle leader and am usually rewarded with a few Charlee Bears....I also tolderate my range of motion exercises and the ice. I much prefer the heat, but the swelling in my ankle is gone so I don't know how much more heat I will be getting.
I am very greatful for gramma and grampa...they come and spend time with me so I don't have to wear my ecollar, even though gramma walked in on me when I was asleep with it on in the crate...so I guess I really can't fool anyone any more. I do love having them here with me...either I sleep at their feet or sleep in my house, sans the ecollar. Then mom comes home and bonds with me all night!
I see Dr. Kennedy on Tuesday, which means longer walks and more fresh air on Wedensday. No more ice after that either, so that is good. I see the rehab team on 11/17 for my assessment to see how I am using my leg.
This afternoon, mom took pity on me and brought me some timbits. She said I better enjoy them, because I can't have these so much any more...not until my leg heals and I can exercise. She let granmda be the hero and give them to me. I am finishing up my last ice pack of the day, will get my dinner and then enjoy the World Series from my house while resting.
Thank you again to Adam, Keisa and Oreo for my get well card. I hope mom goes and gets me a new toy soon.
Very Sincerely,
Chelsie Belle
Well, I am almost a week post surgery. Last Tuesday, mom had the nerve to take me to a new vet and leave me there...when I woke up, I was in pain, half shaved and in some run that was clearly NOT my mom's bed - having not eaten in 24 hrs, as my surgery was delayed due to incoming emergencies. Since then, I have endured the crate (with and without my inflatbale ecollar) am attached to someone with a leash when I am not in my crate, have been forced to potty with a leash attached to me and have been relegated to my gentle leader. SERIOUSLY?
All things being equal, what I can say is that my leg seems to work now. It is a little stiff when I get up, but my mom says that is to be expected, because I have plates and screws holding it together. I am very happy to get fresh air on my walks...yesterday, gramma and grampa did yard work for mom and I went outside and laid in my crate so I could be with them. I tolerate my gentle leader and am usually rewarded with a few Charlee Bears....I also tolderate my range of motion exercises and the ice. I much prefer the heat, but the swelling in my ankle is gone so I don't know how much more heat I will be getting.
I am very greatful for gramma and grampa...they come and spend time with me so I don't have to wear my ecollar, even though gramma walked in on me when I was asleep with it on in the crate...so I guess I really can't fool anyone any more. I do love having them here with me...either I sleep at their feet or sleep in my house, sans the ecollar. Then mom comes home and bonds with me all night!
I see Dr. Kennedy on Tuesday, which means longer walks and more fresh air on Wedensday. No more ice after that either, so that is good. I see the rehab team on 11/17 for my assessment to see how I am using my leg.
This afternoon, mom took pity on me and brought me some timbits. She said I better enjoy them, because I can't have these so much any more...not until my leg heals and I can exercise. She let granmda be the hero and give them to me. I am finishing up my last ice pack of the day, will get my dinner and then enjoy the World Series from my house while resting.
Thank you again to Adam, Keisa and Oreo for my get well card. I hope mom goes and gets me a new toy soon.
Very Sincerely,
Chelsie Belle
Monday, October 26, 2009
Princess on Board
Ok, so Chelsie and I have earned that little pink paw on the back of my car that says "Princess on Board"....
The last 2 months have been incredibly busy - trialing, traveling, guests in town, football games, and last but certainly not least, Chelsie's injury. I knew when I went into the September/October time frame that my life would be CRAZY until this weekend...and that was before Chel hurt herself. The stress of that over the last 2 weeks, along with burning the candle at both ends for the last 2 months (maybe like incinerating it) have left me totally wiped out tonight.
This afternoon, my mom and dad came over and rescued Chelsie from the ecollar...said she looked sad, but no stress induced panting or drooling. They dealt with all the laundry (sheets/towels from guests) moved the mattresses back up from the basement, made the beds and ran the vacuum cleaner, made dinner and had it ready pretty quickly after I got home. All I had to do was one more rehab session with Chel tonight, and then plop myself on the chair with my fleece blanket. Folks, you better sit down..because I have been for the last 2.5 hrs. Doesn't happen very often, but it happened tonight. About as far as I will go is to take Chel out one more time tonight and back in the house to bed.
So thank you again, ma and pa...Chelsie's rehab has been a family event. I think my mom and I have watched the TPLO rehab video 50 times between the 2 of us...they hate Chelsie being in the crate with her ecollar on, they prefer that she lay at their feet out of the crate. They were here practically all weekend so I could spend time with my friends, and were absolute life savers tonight when I walked in the door. And they will be here to start the process again all over tomorrow...minus the laundry...all of that is done.
Thank you again, ma and pa.....
The last 2 months have been incredibly busy - trialing, traveling, guests in town, football games, and last but certainly not least, Chelsie's injury. I knew when I went into the September/October time frame that my life would be CRAZY until this weekend...and that was before Chel hurt herself. The stress of that over the last 2 weeks, along with burning the candle at both ends for the last 2 months (maybe like incinerating it) have left me totally wiped out tonight.
This afternoon, my mom and dad came over and rescued Chelsie from the ecollar...said she looked sad, but no stress induced panting or drooling. They dealt with all the laundry (sheets/towels from guests) moved the mattresses back up from the basement, made the beds and ran the vacuum cleaner, made dinner and had it ready pretty quickly after I got home. All I had to do was one more rehab session with Chel tonight, and then plop myself on the chair with my fleece blanket. Folks, you better sit down..because I have been for the last 2.5 hrs. Doesn't happen very often, but it happened tonight. About as far as I will go is to take Chel out one more time tonight and back in the house to bed.
So thank you again, ma and pa...Chelsie's rehab has been a family event. I think my mom and I have watched the TPLO rehab video 50 times between the 2 of us...they hate Chelsie being in the crate with her ecollar on, they prefer that she lay at their feet out of the crate. They were here practically all weekend so I could spend time with my friends, and were absolute life savers tonight when I walked in the door. And they will be here to start the process again all over tomorrow...minus the laundry...all of that is done.
Thank you again, ma and pa.....
Oh, Happy Day...
Chelsie's staples will come out next Tuesday at 12:30. Thank god...as I left her in her ecolar in her crate....
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Still Doing Well
We are still doing well...still sticking to our walk, range of motion, ice and heat routine, despite our busy weekend of the Tuckers, tailgating and football game.
Huge thanks to grandma and grandpa, who came to babysit during all of our activities so Chel would not have to wear her ecollar. She still really hates the ecollar, even the inflatable one I bought. And unfortunately for her, I have caught her going after her incision twice. This afternoon, grandma suggested that perhaps Chelsie might like to rest on the bed...so I dragged the ramp into the house and she walked up her ramp to the bed. She is still on leash on the bed, in case she loses her little labbie brains and tries to jump off. I don't think she will, but no way I am taking that chance. I do think she is very much enjoying her time on the bed.
Here are some photos...overall, doing very, very well. Swelling in ankle down, incision looks great considering and she is walking amazingly well considering she just had her knee rebuilt!!!
Huge thanks to grandma and grandpa, who came to babysit during all of our activities so Chel would not have to wear her ecollar. She still really hates the ecollar, even the inflatable one I bought. And unfortunately for her, I have caught her going after her incision twice. This afternoon, grandma suggested that perhaps Chelsie might like to rest on the bed...so I dragged the ramp into the house and she walked up her ramp to the bed. She is still on leash on the bed, in case she loses her little labbie brains and tries to jump off. I don't think she will, but no way I am taking that chance. I do think she is very much enjoying her time on the bed.
Here are some photos...overall, doing very, very well. Swelling in ankle down, incision looks great considering and she is walking amazingly well considering she just had her knee rebuilt!!!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Doing Well
Despite some visitos (The Tuckers, Schwartz's and McCunes) we have managed to settle into somewhat of a routine. Overall, things are going very well, considering the circumstances!
We are only 4 days post surgery, and she walks better and better every day. This is wonderful, but also very dangerous as she continues to feel better as too much activity too soon can be very harmful. She continues to accept the crate and does very well with not coming out until we release her and have a leash on her. For walking purposes, we have gone back to the gentle leader, which she absolutely HATES. With a passion...did I mention she HATES her gentle leader? It certainly makes mom feel better about controlling her movement, that is for sure!!!
She is still VERY stressed about the ecollar - she pants and drools and generally pouts in it. I bought an inflatable one yesterday that does not seem as obnoxious, but she was still panting up a storm last night. As she does not seem to be going after the incision, I leave it off at night - but I am right next to her if she starts. Hopefully I won't have to cross the "ecollar at night" bridge.
She also has a bit of fluid build up in her ankle, similiar to what humans would have after such a surgery. We are treating that with warm compresses, something else to add to our routine. We have to wait an hour in between ice and cold, so that will be somewhat of a challenge.
But overall, we are doing it. I am sitting on the floor with her in between my legs - I bought one of those armchair pillows for the next 6 weeks, just to support my back as I spend more time on the floor with her. I have gotten her to lay down so that I have easy access to her leg, and she can stay that way for ice. My left leg is actually supporting her leg, so it has something to rest on and the ice pack (green beans) can be directly on the incision. I try to avoid touching her incision during range of motion exercises - even though the guy in the video looks like he would be holding right where the incision was...ugh, not me. Plus, I think it would hurt. So I avoid it. It looks pretty good, all things considering - little fluid oozing, but to be expected. After re-watching the video this morning, I saw that part - now how did I miss this part after watching the video no less than 10 times in the last 4 days????
Anyway..all in all, going well. Mom is going to the FB game (OMG, they better win) and gramma and grampa are coming over so she will NOT have to wear ecollar....thank god. I don't know what I would do without my parents...
We will keep you posted! Thanks again for the good thoughts!
We are only 4 days post surgery, and she walks better and better every day. This is wonderful, but also very dangerous as she continues to feel better as too much activity too soon can be very harmful. She continues to accept the crate and does very well with not coming out until we release her and have a leash on her. For walking purposes, we have gone back to the gentle leader, which she absolutely HATES. With a passion...did I mention she HATES her gentle leader? It certainly makes mom feel better about controlling her movement, that is for sure!!!
She is still VERY stressed about the ecollar - she pants and drools and generally pouts in it. I bought an inflatable one yesterday that does not seem as obnoxious, but she was still panting up a storm last night. As she does not seem to be going after the incision, I leave it off at night - but I am right next to her if she starts. Hopefully I won't have to cross the "ecollar at night" bridge.
She also has a bit of fluid build up in her ankle, similiar to what humans would have after such a surgery. We are treating that with warm compresses, something else to add to our routine. We have to wait an hour in between ice and cold, so that will be somewhat of a challenge.
But overall, we are doing it. I am sitting on the floor with her in between my legs - I bought one of those armchair pillows for the next 6 weeks, just to support my back as I spend more time on the floor with her. I have gotten her to lay down so that I have easy access to her leg, and she can stay that way for ice. My left leg is actually supporting her leg, so it has something to rest on and the ice pack (green beans) can be directly on the incision. I try to avoid touching her incision during range of motion exercises - even though the guy in the video looks like he would be holding right where the incision was...ugh, not me. Plus, I think it would hurt. So I avoid it. It looks pretty good, all things considering - little fluid oozing, but to be expected. After re-watching the video this morning, I saw that part - now how did I miss this part after watching the video no less than 10 times in the last 4 days????
Anyway..all in all, going well. Mom is going to the FB game (OMG, they better win) and gramma and grampa are coming over so she will NOT have to wear ecollar....thank god. I don't know what I would do without my parents...
We will keep you posted! Thanks again for the good thoughts!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Home and Our New Routine
I am very happy to report that according to Dr. Kennedy, Chelsie's surgery went quite well. She was a very good patient - ate when they asked her to (go figure), pottied when they asked her to and was very quiet during her stay. When I spoke to the tech caring for her yesterday morning, she said she thought Chelsie might be annoyed with the "barkers" around her, that some of her kennel mates were not nearly as quiet as she was. I asked if she was sighing and groaning...and the girl said yes. I laughed and told her she was telling them to "SHUT UP" in her own way, as she does this to me all the time.
Getting her back yesterday was a bit overwhelming...we had to watch a video and then had someone come out and give us all the instructions again. For the next 6-8 weeks, she will be confined to a crate and her slip lead that is about 2 feet away from us. Her movements must be very tightly managed at all times. I was very worried about this part, but they said as long as we keep her on the leash and in the crate, we should be fine as we can't stop all movement - which made me feel better. The $$ I spent on the ramp to get her in the car was worth every dollar yesterday. We waited outside by the car when the brought her up - she tends to pull when she sees me, and that was just not a good idea yesterday. We managed to get her in the car and then loved on her...where she had limited space to move around and be excited. I flipped up a thrid row seat and sat next to her on the way home.
She came home with 10 days of antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory and pain medicine. For the next 2 weeks, she will get walked 5-10 minutes per day, have range of motion exercises and then ice. After 14 days, she will have her staples removed. 2-4 weeks see us being able to lose the ice and move our walks to 10-20 minutes 3x a day. And 4-6 weeks see us 20-30 minutes three times a day. At some point, we will start rehab, and her movement will still be limited after 6 weeks, but I do not know the extent of that quite yet. We are really focused on the next 2 weeks, primarily because of the staples - if she is not IMMEDIATELY supervised, she will have to wear her ecollar. Lucky for her, her gramma and grampa love her dearly and will be spending a lot of time with her because they do NOT want her to have to wear that thing.
Undoubtedly, the best thing I did for her was start the crate routine prior to surgery. She goes right in it when I ask her to, and I am thankful that I don't have to worry about her fighting her crate at this point.
For now, she is resting next to me on the floor. We have already been on our first walk of the day, done our first range of motion exercises and had our first ice pack. Not too crazy about the ice, but never has been - and I repeatedly consulted the video of the range of motion exercises while I was doing them. I have this irrational fear that I am going to like break the screws and plates in her knee..I know I am not, but I can't help it.
Thanks for everyone's thoughts...she is already doing better, and I am glad I was able to get this done so quickly...she had surgery one week to the day after her injury. I will keep you posted as we go along!
Getting her back yesterday was a bit overwhelming...we had to watch a video and then had someone come out and give us all the instructions again. For the next 6-8 weeks, she will be confined to a crate and her slip lead that is about 2 feet away from us. Her movements must be very tightly managed at all times. I was very worried about this part, but they said as long as we keep her on the leash and in the crate, we should be fine as we can't stop all movement - which made me feel better. The $$ I spent on the ramp to get her in the car was worth every dollar yesterday. We waited outside by the car when the brought her up - she tends to pull when she sees me, and that was just not a good idea yesterday. We managed to get her in the car and then loved on her...where she had limited space to move around and be excited. I flipped up a thrid row seat and sat next to her on the way home.
She came home with 10 days of antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory and pain medicine. For the next 2 weeks, she will get walked 5-10 minutes per day, have range of motion exercises and then ice. After 14 days, she will have her staples removed. 2-4 weeks see us being able to lose the ice and move our walks to 10-20 minutes 3x a day. And 4-6 weeks see us 20-30 minutes three times a day. At some point, we will start rehab, and her movement will still be limited after 6 weeks, but I do not know the extent of that quite yet. We are really focused on the next 2 weeks, primarily because of the staples - if she is not IMMEDIATELY supervised, she will have to wear her ecollar. Lucky for her, her gramma and grampa love her dearly and will be spending a lot of time with her because they do NOT want her to have to wear that thing.
Undoubtedly, the best thing I did for her was start the crate routine prior to surgery. She goes right in it when I ask her to, and I am thankful that I don't have to worry about her fighting her crate at this point.
For now, she is resting next to me on the floor. We have already been on our first walk of the day, done our first range of motion exercises and had our first ice pack. Not too crazy about the ice, but never has been - and I repeatedly consulted the video of the range of motion exercises while I was doing them. I have this irrational fear that I am going to like break the screws and plates in her knee..I know I am not, but I can't help it.
Thanks for everyone's thoughts...she is already doing better, and I am glad I was able to get this done so quickly...she had surgery one week to the day after her injury. I will keep you posted as we go along!
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