She's Got ENERGY!!!!!!!!

Sadie is feeling good and ready to go! Unfortunately she can't yet :( It is getting harder and harder to keep her confined, she is getting so bored. The tranquilizers are helping but their is only so much they can do when she gets all excited because someone has entered the house. I have slowly been giving her a little more freedom, she is now allowed to wander my bedroom as long as I am with her! I can't tell if this helps at all because now all she does is stand by the door and cry rather then in her crate. She has been getting lots of time in front of the fire which she loves, but she is becoming increasingly more vocal when in her crate, she has now taken to barking in the morning!

And her poor naked leg! It is taking forever for the hair to grow back, and to make it worse she still has a square patch on her butt that is taking forever too, she must be so embarrassed! And she gets so cold, she hates being outside at night. When we go outside for our last outing of the evening she starts shivering and crying until I bring her in to the fire. Although I'm starting to wonder whether is is actually cold or if she has just learned how to get me to take her to the fire? She is sneaking like that!

Speaking of sneaky, she is also working on opening her crate on her own. She hasn't completely figured it out yet, but she has learned that if she licks at the top latch that she can make it move. Now if she could just figure out how to slide it over I think she could actually get out. Boy I hope she all healed by our next vet visit!!!!

Two weeks down........

Hopefully only four more weeks to go. Sadie had her two week check up on Monday, and she is healing beautifully! Dr. Patterson was very happy with her progress and thought that her knee looked great! He calmed a few of my fears, Sadie has had a pocket of fluid underneath the incision and I was starting to worry because it was pretty big and didn't show up until about one and a half weeks out, and the two tranquilizers that I was able to give her at a time didn't seem to be doing much anymore. Dr. Patterson said the pocket of fluid often doesn't appear right away and might hang around for about a week more or so, but then it should go away. And he also said that the tranquilizers that I am giving her, she will build up a tolerance to, so he gave me slightly stronger ones!! YEAH!!!!

So as far as the doctor is concerned Sadie is doing great, although I think she would beg to differ. Sadie says that she is feeling much better and does not think that she needs to be confined to her crate anymore. I'm sure that in her opinion she if feeling better than before and thinks that she is totally healed, she wants to run and play and catch tennis balls! But I keep telling her that I'm sorry but she still has at least four more weeks left until we can start going on short walks. I try to keep her occupied with peanut butter in kongs and letting her sit in front of the fire (or in my lap), so I think she will be able handle the next four weeks, even though she has no choice :)

Tranquilizers are my friends!!

We made it through the first week!!!!!!!!!! Sadie is 7 days post op and doing so well!!! Her leg is healing beautifully, the swelling is totally gone and the bruising is almost gone:) She has not been licking the incision at all, which is good because the e-collar totally freaks her out. She has been letting me sleep at night and doesn't seem to mind her crate. She loves me helping her get up and down stairs, she is a great patient! She is so cute with the stairs, she goes up and down normally with her front end but she makes these huge leaps down two or three stairs with her back end. She looks like a kangaroo:) I thought she would mind being dependent on me to get around but she seems to love it.

The biggest problem we have run into thus far is that she is feeling much much better now, and she is wanting to play!!!!! Which she of course still can't do for another 5 to 7 weeks :( This is where the tranquilizers come into play, they are a wonderful thing, in fact I wish they could give me some. She gets really excited and anxious when people get home during the day and of course around eating time, so the tranquilizers have been a wonderful way to just help her relax!!

I am so relieved with how everything is going!! All the worries that the vet mentioned seem not to be happening, I cannot tell you how happy this all makes me! We go in for our two week check up on Monday so I'll let you know how it goes :)

Recovery begins

Well, we are home and Sadie is asleep!! The vet actually had us pick her up early today because she was so scared about all the strange people and strange place :( So far getting around is very difficult and unsteady. We are having to use the towel around the tummy method to help her around. And I am surprised to say that she is already putting some pressure on her leg! It makes me a little nervous but the vet said that she will do what she is comfortable with and all I have to do is keep her on a short leash and from jumping. The leg also looks pretty bad with the bruising and swelling , which the vet says are very normal. I have iced the leg once today to help with the swelling.

The vet also sent us home with an e collar which I really don't want to use, and so far there has been no need, she has been leaving her leg pretty much alone! Her appetite is normal and so far she hasn't been whining too much although we shall see how the night goes.

Wish her luck.......

Well, she is at the surgeon's. I dropped her off at 8:30 this morning and I stayed with her until just after nine. I was very happy that the doctor had me stay with her while they gave her her first tranquilizer. It was really weird watching her get a little loopy, but it made it much easier to watch her go, this way she wasn't looking like I was abandoning her and clawing at the floor crying. I was the only one crying and she had no idea what was going on.

So after I cried my way out of the vet's office I was off to school, although I don't know how much good I will be in class but at least it will keep me occupied. I was very surprised at how I was reacting to leaving her there, I was almost numb (after the crying was over) :( Everyone keeps telling me that the hardest part will be when she comes home, but so far this is definitely the hardest part.

I just can't wait for her to be home and safe, actually I will feel better when the vet calls this afternoon after the surgery and tells me that everything went fine. I'll write more when she gets home and settled, and I will post some pictures!