Week 1, Day 4: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

"The top part closest to her knee is nearly healed. A staple has already popped out on its own."

That's what I wrote yesterday.

Maeby, why are you making me eat my words???

I woke up this morning to see the top of the incision all nasty and red and inflamed. She had her ecollar on all night, and I swear she didn't do any licking yesterday. So what's going on?

Is she getting an infection on the inside? Is this an early warning sign? Is it just possible that she DID lick yesterday when I wasn't looking? Am I going to be a paranoid freak like this for the next 14.5 weeks? GAHHHHHHHH!

She ended her antibiotics on Friday -- so is it possible that she got an infection now that she's not on them?

I gave her some Arnica this morning. I hope that helps.

***

Saw it at lunch. Looks the same. Maaaaaybe a little less red?

We're going to go see the surgeon tomorrow morning for a looksie. I HOPE TO GOD ITS NOTHING SERIOUS.

By the end of all this, I hope Maeby has a wonderfully healed leg. And I hope I don't have a headful of grey hair.

Post-op Day 7: I'm too soft

I thought I'd give Maeby a break from the lampshade last night while we were sleeping. She wears the darn thing all day when I'm at work! How cruel to leave it on another 8 hours through the night, right?

WRONG.

I did put her leg through a piece of fishnet stocking. Silly me thought it would stay on all night. We woke up this morning to stocking off and 2 places on her incision looking pretty inflamed. Her leg is definitely bothering her more today. She's holding it up a little more and there's less toe touching going on.

(5 minutes later)

I just checked it again. It looks pretty bad right now. There's actually a little bit of bleeding going on. I can't even take a picture of it. She won't let me. I dabbed it with a warm paper towel, dabbed on a teeny bit of antibiotic cream, and gave her 4 arnica balls.

How did we end up HERE, TODAY, after yesterday's beautiful photo?

BECAUSE I TOOK THE E-COLLAR OFF.

So let that be a lesson to you, dear TPLO friend: DON'T BE A SOFTIE. LEAVE THE E-COLLAR ON. ITS ONLY FOR 10 DAYS!!

***

Went home for lunch. The incision looks SO MUCH BETTER. Thank heavens for homeopathic remedies.

Post-op Day 3

It's only been 3 days and she's already sick of me playing paparazzi


I've only had Maeby for about 2 and 1/2 months now, but in that time I've heard her bark maaaaaaybe.... 4 times? 5? She's just a really quiet gal. She really doesn't whine either. We think she may be part Whippet, and that breed is generally a very quiet, un-vocal dog.

Well, I think that's going to start changing pretty soon. We started Day 3 with her whining this morning because she wanted me to wake up. Which I'm actually happy about, because now she can at least tell me she needs something!

She's putting weight on The Pink Stump now, and is actually walking on it. It's a little akward, because with all the stuffing and bandaging, it's longer than her leg should be. But she still tries walking on it nonetheless. And weight bearing is good, right?

I found out the bandage is called a Robert Jones bandage, and is used to reduce swelling. I'm so curious to see what her leg is like underneath. All that Arnica she's getting is supposed to reduce pain, inflammation, bruising, and swelling. Will her leg look like a mess when they take the bandage off? I HOPE the Arnica is doing something!!!

She is definitely feeling really great today. She wants to spend more time on her feet, exploring the living room and following me and the BF around. She also wants to spend more time outside. I'm not sure what I should be doing with her right now on her walks. She has a really short attention span and gets distracted by EVERYTHING. She will be on the verge of pooping, and if something catches her attention, she'll focus on that and forget she has to poop! This naturally results in more time spent outdoors than I feel she should be. She's not running or even walking fast, just spending a lot of time sniffing around. Is this bad?? Because Maeby ALWAYS has needed time to sniff around before she does her business.

I felt a little guilty pre-surgery because some ladies on the orthodogs list seem to take weeks off to be with their furry babies after surgery. Maeby's surgery was on Thursday, and I only took off Friday and Monday. But at the rate she's going... I wonder if I could go into work on Monday. I probably won't, just so I can stay home and be with her. But I don't think it would be the end of the world if I went in.

****

So I posted on orthodogs regarding how much walking on carpet Maeby is allowed to do and I got a wonderful response: (thank you deej_612!)

Grace, I'm thrilled that Maeby is doing so well! My dog Blue had a
TPLO, and I don't remember how heavy Maeby is, but for the next 8
weeks it's standard that she is on best rest and is not to walk even
in the x-pen. If she is pacing in the xpen then it is too big for
her and she might fair better in a crate. When Blue refused to lay
down in his xpen, I threw a sheet over the top so that it covered the
sides except for the bottom 6-8 inches and so he had to lay down to
see out, and that really helped. In two days he learned to lay and I
didn't need the sheet anymore.

Maeby really needs to be laying down to let her bones knit back
together, and up and around the implant to support it, especially if
she is over 63 pounds and I'm sorry I don't recall her weight. But
too much walking will slow down the healing and risk shattering the
leg, esp. if she combines that walking with bouncing, climbing,
running or steps.

Also as she has a pressure bandage, be sure to check the paw to make
sure it is as warm as the paw on her good leg, as the swelling can
cut off circulation and that is dire if left unchecked. Standing too
much affords gravity to worsen the swelling. Ideally Maeby should be
laying on her side and when she does with the surgical leg on top,
then slip a folded towel or pillow or something under it to elevate
it so that it is parallel to the floor, to lessen swelling and so
ease pain.

JMHO; best wishes!!! Oh, almost forgot your specific question: Blue
was prescribed 3 walks a day for 2 minutes each for the first 8
weeks. Because Blue is in the habit of going out to pee at will
several times a day, and because Blue seemed anxious with the
schedule, I got the ortho's okay to raise that to 5 potty breaks a
day, 2-5 min each depending just on if he had to pooh.

The ortho was very strict about 8 weeks bed rest (crate rest), the
crate could not be large enough for him to walk around (no bigger
than 4x4 for a 96 pound dog with an ecollar), etc. The xpen ended up
being 4x4 and Blue couldn't fit in the crate with the ecollar, so I
had to go with the xpen, but with the 6 inch thick ortho bed, it was
too squishy for him to pace as all he could do was curl up in the
central dent of the nest of his bed anyway, or stand (which was not
allowed, and he got to where he only stood when he had to pee so that
became his signal to go outside), but not walk around.

Take care.

So I tried draping a sheet over her ex-pen, and she's already laying down more. WHEW!

***

Okay, so I talked to a surgeon at the hospital, and she said it's okay if Maeby walks around the house on carpet, as long as she's not running/jumping/playing, and not in a situation where she can slip. I'm sure with heavier dogs, they would need more bed rest, but Maeby is only 40 pounds. So the instructions above are probably more applicable to bigger, heavier dogs.

She's baaaaaack.

Maeby hiiiiiiigh as a kite!


My wonderful boyfriend drove to LA from San Diego this morning to pick Maeby up with me.

We went around 10:30am to get her and wow, was she was a sorry sight to see! Bright pink bandage wrapped all around her leg, a huge e-collar, and gauze criss-crossing all around her upper body to keep the e-collar in place. People kept looking at her and clucking their tongues. I reassured them that it really looked a lot worse than it was. And it was SO GOOD TO SEE HER!!!

Despite it all, she's still her happy old self. The tail has ceased to stop wagging, and she's been giving us kisses. She panted like crazy in the car ride home, and I got really worried that she was starting to feel a lot of pain. But she peed a river once we let her out of the car so all is well (so far!) Now I know she pants when she needs to pee.

I immediately gave her some Arnica and RR when we got home. She ate some ground tukey, brown rice, and yogurt. Is gnawing on a carrot stick now. And is generally just being really good in her x-pen. The Pink Stump, as I'll refer to her stifle from now on, is making it difficult for her to change positions. She's started to groan a little bit when she does so. She's also started to nibble a little on the Pink Stump. We bought her a pro-collar, those inflatable things you put around the dog's neck to keep from biting. IT DOES NOT DO A THING. Maybe it's because she has such a long snout, I don't know? But she can still reach the Pink Stump and now I'll have to think of something else to use before I go to work on Tuesday.

Just gave her some flower remedies dropped onto small pieces of dog biscuit, and she gobbled those babies up. Little does she know that they're helping to make her feel better.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

one of my most favorite pictures of Maeby!


I dropped Maeby off this morning at 8AM.

I gave her a dose of RR and Arnica dissolved in water before we left. Also gave her a few drops of RR again before the Vet Tech came to take her away. I keep imagining her in a kennel, feeling very alone and terrified. I hope to God that RR is keeping her less anxious. They also let me leave her with my T-shirt and her favorite toy. I hope that's calming her a little too.

Maeby is such a happy-go-lucky gal. She doesn't act any different when we go to the vet -- still has a bounce in her walk, still wags her tail like it's a metronome. She got a little freaked out when the Vet Tech came to put on a name collar and hospital leash, but got happy again when she saw that I was following them. It wasn't until she realized that I wasn't walking behind her as the VT lead Maeby to the kennel area. Poor girl kept looking at me with a very confused, bewildered look on her face.

And that's when the waterworks started.

I guess when you're crying and sniffling back snot, Maeby sounds like Baby. Because that's the chart the receptionist kept looking for when I went to pay my down payment.

God bless Starbucks and Cinnamon Dolce Latte. I nursed on a venti all morning.

I'm just waiting now for that phone call -- the call that says everything went great, that nothing weird was going on inside her joint. I must keep thinking positive thoughts.

Tonight will be my first night in 2 months without that goober. Dear God, please keep my little Maeby safe and healthy.


***

4:30PM

I just got a call from Dr. Owen. She said Maeby's surgery went great. Gosh, I feel like 1,000 pounds have been lifted from my shoulders. I don't know why I was worried about so many things. Like, the anesthesia. Or that maybe her injury was worse than we originally thought. Thankfully, Maeby is doing well!!! I can go pick her up tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see her.

I asked about the potential of her other knee rupturing. Dr. Owen said her guess is that this first injury was linked more to her other injuries, and not due to the way her leg bones are. THANK GOD. How the heck would I raise enough money to get a second TPLO?

And now, our journey is just beginning.....