Almost There

June 15 is the unofficial "all healed" date, if there is such a thing, so we're closing in on that. Theoretically, Ginger isn't supposed to be off the leash until then though I have certainly let her in the yard (which is small) unsupervised. She also did escape once before school, but with the kids loaded in the car and me pulling out, she came back in a hurry.
Her left leg juts out at a funny angle, and she is woefully out of shape compared to before the accident but overall appears to be healing well. I miss her energy and it makes me nervous when she does things differently--like today, when she didn't even bother getting up from her spot on the rug when I came in the door. I took so many of those things for granted, and while I'm thrilled that she doesn't make a humongous effort to get outside every single time the screen door is touched, I worry she's losing her doggy mojo. I hope she has a long and happy adulthood; I could definitely get used to her just curled up at my feet on the ride to the mountains, as she did this weekend, instead of her hyper attempts to jump around the car, and I love seeing her settled on the porch, watching the birds at the feeders with me. So I'm hoping today's lethargy is post-mountains sadness and exhaustion and not anything more serious.
I also wish we had done more of the physical therapy suggestions with her. The leg still seems stiff but after the pins and plates perhaps it was naive to hope for anything else. And in probably unrelated news, her hair is just falling out in tufts. Very strange.

Two Months Out

This week, I'm finally starting to feel like we have Ginger back. While she is still technically supposed to be restricted, we have been letting her out back (especially on these nice sunny days) though still walking her for the most part. But I really felt like when I looked at her, her eyes were droopier and she was still lacking some of the sparkle that we loved and that drove us crazy. She just seemed sadder, or older, or something.

But, enough time passed, or enough healing happened, or something, that this week, she started reviving herself a bit. She completely chewed apart her little soccer ball. She has wanted to do the wild running back and forth and rolling on the carpet games with the kids again. Before she eviscerated the soccer ball, she made it clear she really wanted to play the old game where we would stand at the top of the steps and I'd throw it down for her to retrieve. Even though we live in a split level, that seemed a bridge too far for a dog who is supposed to be on restricted stair climbing. She rolls over to expose her belly more, and is desperate to play tug-o-war, which she showed no interest in even two weeks ago (but alas is still on the "no" list).

She still favors the leg, and lies down in a new way, and tries to avoid sitting if she can possibly help it. She also still collapses in to "down" positions that were not her "old" normal and are a little pathetic, really--but if you didn't know her before, maybe you wouldn't think so. But she will let us pet the affected leg now, and when we took her on a jog around the track with the kids, she was deliriously happy for hours, giving us her happy dog grin and panting away like the old girl we knew.

I had been really afraid that the operation had rushed our dog prematurely in to old age, but now I am hopeful that she will recover to pretty close to where she was. Fingers crossed!

After the Checkup

Last week was Ginger's checkup for the TPLO surgery. They took her back for some xrays, which I saw on the computer. She has at least four large screws in her leg...ow. The doctor said she had a particularly steep angle and so was a little harder than most to do. We were pleased that despite her non-compliance (and ours) she was healing well. Her fur is growing back (we can't even see her freckles anymore) and she is getting back to her athletic self. It will be another two months before she can do anything dramatic though. For now, she can have 15 minute walks and can go up and down steps again. It's a mitzvah!

The Steps to Recovery or Relapse

Argh. We were trying to get the family ready and out of the house, and the dog tried to take the steps, and re-injured her leg. So we did the only thing we could do; got her more Deramaxx in cheese, crated her up, and hoped it's not too bad. She's still limping way more than she was but at least she's putting some weight on the paw now. SO so frustrating.

Unrelated?

Last night, the dog opened the gate, went upstairs to the bathroom where my husband was finishing bathing the kids, and let fly all over the floor. She has gone far longer than that without wetting in the house so it was a huge surprise. We have noticed since then that she is drinking a lot more water than usual. I'm a little concerned as she is off all meds at this point and has been for a few days (she didn't seem to miss the Deramaxx so we're only giving it sporadically). But she is gulping down the water every chance she has and her bowl is dry several times a day. We're still not supposed to be walking her more than 3 times/day, and if she's drinking so much that she can't hold it, that's a problem.

Marching Along

The dog has learned to open the baby gates. I am working on this mentally and am having a hard time working with it. She is eager to scramble up and down the steps and to be a part of the family again. I am eager for her not to need a repeat of her surgery, but also to have her not hate me. This is a continuing struggle. The plan is to move the crate downstairs this weekend (after, ahem, we take down the Christmas tree) so that there won't be quite as much up-and-down for her. When she's in our bedroom, she's usually pretty calm.

When she doesn't get her Deramaxx (which I sometimes forget as she is doing so well), you can tell. She is stiffer and less happy.

The fur is starting to grow in, too, but you can tell it will be a while. And the leg looks like it is atrophying to me, though really, it's hard to tell what would look normal under all that fur.

Meanwhile, she's caught on to the idea that the "long" walks are around the block, and while she will gaze wistfully at the extra street or the playing field, she really doesn't give much hassle to the block-only walk anymore.

Update 4

Ginger's stitches came out today. That did not go well. She had no interest in entering the vet's, kept trying to run from the room, and needed two techs and me to hold her while the stitches were removed.
Her excitement level at being rid of the e-collar, though, is immeasurable.
She is hard to keep still at this point. She would really like to resume all normal activity. This is starting to be a problem.