8 Week Checkup Blues

Today was our 8 week checkup in Columbia. The standard operating procedure for TPLO recovery is at 8 weeks there should be enough bone regrowth to begin controlled exercise. Last time, we started 5 minute walks three times a day and increased the frequency every couple of weeks. Well, our x-rays today showed much less bone growth than the doctor was expecting. There is still the real possibility of her breaking the front of the tibia off and causing extreme problems. The doctor wants us to start her 5 minute walks, but he doesn't want us to increase the frequency for 6 weeks. 6 WEEKS! This pushes our estimated FREE date back 3 weeks. I'm very disappointed. I thought today would be a milestone that we could feel good about, but it seems we're still stuck in 'Nervous Nellie' land worrying about every little move she makes. I'm already edgy about the holiday activities we have to deal with. We were at my father's house this weekend, and Tia was in her crate. I can't leave her at home, because she's a little escape artist. Last week, I put her in the crate and ran to the grocery store. 15 minutes. Tops. When I got home, she was laying on her bed in front of the crate with the door bolts still locked. She pushed the door so hard it bowed enough to let the bolts slip out of the hooks. Lovely. So, where I go this season, she goes. That means my uncle's house on Christmas eve. Lots of people, lots of excitement, and Tia in her crate. Then Mom's on Christmas day. Lots of people, 2 dogs, 4 million cats, TONS of excitement, and Tia in her crate. Can't wait!

Day 35 Post-Op

I made it through a long holiday weekend without my Tatertot. She stayed home with Jim while I went to Mom's to cook for Thanksgiving. It was terrible leaving them here. Tia got a lot of rest, though, as Jim is much more resistant to her whining than I am. That's what he claims, however, but I think it's his old man ears. He just doesn't hear her. So, Tia slept a lot, and Jim played a lot of XBox, and I cooked for 14 people at Mom's house. Mom was incapacitated from surgery that day, so she didn't get to participate in the festivities. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over. I really think there should be more time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It feels like once Halloween is gone it's a slippery slope to the end of the year. I've got a lot of knitting to do and Tia hates that. She thinks that if I have time to sit on the couch and knit, then I have time to entertain her. Too bad she's not allowed to do anything entertaining. We have been playing pseudo-fetch. It entertains her for about 5 minutes. We lay on the floor facing each other and I bounce a racquetball right under her nose. She snatches it out of the air, squeaks it for a second and then lays it down and pushes it to me with her tongue. She's so cute. We play that for a few minutes until she realizes that she has to chew on her antler now. It's bizarre, but it works. 

Two Steps Back...

So, yesterday, Tia decided to bolt up the ramp to the porch and then slip when her back legs hit the porch floor. She didn't fall, but her recently repaired leg did slip underneath her. Lovely. I can't tell if she's favoring it or not. It seems sometimes that she isn't putting as much weight on it as she was, but it's hard to tell. I can't watch her walk from behind until Jim gets here so he can walk her around on the leash while I watch. Ugh. I'm sure if she is favoring it, it's just a muscle strain, but how do you know for sure without going to the vet and having x-rays taken?! I'm just not letting my brain go there right now. I just had an unnecessary urinalysis done for her yesterday. She was begging to go out to potty 7 and 8 times a day, but she would never do anything when she got out there. She would wait until 11pm to pee or poop and that was it until the next night around 11pm. Eliminating once every 24 hours just didn't seem right to me. Since she's prone to urinary infections, I assumed she had one. If I had spoken to the vet before I had them send her urine off, she would have nixed the test. If the vet assistants at the animal hospital had asked the vet before they sent it off, I wouldn't have been out $65. Oh well. My fault. At least I know her kidneys are functioning perfectly. The vet thinks she's a)bored to death and just wants to be outside and b)possible in need of  having her anal glands dealt with. Yum. I'll be that's why she went to Vet school! Yuck. Anyway, Tia's fine, and I'm over reacting. Per usual.

I've made a pot of tea and am taking a break from getting all of my this's and that's together for my trek over to Mom's tonight. I'm leaving poor Tia and Jim here to fend for themselves for Thanksgiving. I hate it. We decided that it would not be in Tia's best interest to be at Mom's with her cousins Marcario and Marley this early in her recovery. Since she can't stay by herself all day, Jim is going to stay with her. I hate that. My two biggest 'Thankful Fors' aren't going to be with me tomorrow. Jim is loading his bisque kiln this morning, and once it gets hot enough to close the lid he's headed back here. I'm making him a big pot of his favorite ham and bean soup, I got him a big bag of Frito's Scoops, and there are two bombers of beer in the fridge for him to choose from. The batteries are in the charger, so he can play Incredible Hulk on the XBox for the next 36 hours straight if he wants to without fear of running out of controller batteries. I think he'll be ok. I hate that he won't get to hang out at Mom's and drink beer and pig out with the rest of us, though. It should be pretty interesting. Mom had surgery today on her foot, so she's not going to move from her recliner much. My sister and I are going to do the final prep tonight (I'm sure I'll end up making the pies when I get there tonight - she didn't sound like she was over eager to try rolling out pie crust). I'm sure my brother and sister-in-law will be over tomorrow to help cook. Ok, sister-in-law to help cook, brother to drink beer and watch.

I do hope that Tia doesn't spend the next two days whining and crying like she has been. I know she's bored, but I don't want Jim to call me tomorrow afternoon and tell me he's done babysitting! She's been quite the little pill.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families and/or friends. Remember, no turkey bones for dogs!

One step forward....

I was so excited today to see Tia sit squarely on her haunches for the first time. Since the surgery, she has persisted in the crooked sit with her leg stretched out. I guess she's improving. Definitely good news. I think I'm going to take a sample into the vet tomorrow to see if she has a UTI. She's been really strange with her potty breaks this week. I know, she's always strange with her potty break, but this week she's been crying all day (FUN!) and acting like she really needs to go out. Of course, we go out and circle the yard for an eternity, and nada zilch zero potty action. She's been doing all of her business once per day, usually around 11pm. Strange. Odd. Uncomfortable? We'll see tomorrow, hopefully. At least she's crashed out in her crate (and silent) for now.

It's the small things, really...

...that make a girl smile. This morning, Tia came up to me in her normal way - butt first, of course - for her morning butt scratch. For the longest time, it has been a scratch like that on a chalkboard. It made me shiver to see her leaning so hard on her 'good' leg during said scratch. I cringed for all the stress she was putting on that joint. Today, as I serviced her in her morning itch, I noticed that she was standing nearly square. Oh, that made me smile. She still lists to the right when the scratch gets so good she can't stand still, but hey...baby steps, right? We definitely have progress.

Day 24 - Really? Wow.

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted an update on TaterTot. Chalk it up to us falling into the recovery doldrums, I guess. I'm not sure when it happened, but Tia is suddenly much more stable on her leg. She doesn't seem to be doing the knuckle thing anymore, and she isn't leaning as hard on her other leg when she's standing around. She did try to kill me yesterday by launching off the side of her ramp. I nearly had heart failure. In retrospect, it wasn't much of a launch, she just tried to take a short cut and hopped off the side. But at the time, it felt like she fired up the rockets and tried to reach geosynchronous orbit. I was certain that she had completely ripped out her screws and caused her leg to implode. Didn't happen. She was thoroughly unfazed. I think I heard her snigger a bit after - like she enjoys causing me heart failure. She did the same thing last time, so I should have expected it. Of course, last time it was less planned. I'm pretty sure she was walking down the ramp and just suddenly fell off the side. It was pure grace. That time it was me sniggering. Definitely. I guess payback's a bitch.

Today, she suddenly overcame her "I'm not running around so I'm having trouble working up a poop more often than every other day" phase. She peed roughly four times and pooped twice! I'm not sure if it was the double batch of excitement she endured, Jim coming from the studio for his babysitting stint while I went to Knit Night and then me coming home from Knit Night, or if she was just making up for lost time. Whatever it was, she was Olympic quality today. I'm so proud!

I really enjoyed Knit Night tonight. I was desperate for a break from Miss Thang's incessant whining, and Madalene cracked me up tonight. Have a good trip, chica! I'm very lucky that the girls at KN are crazy and make me laugh.

Mmmm....Cozy

So Tia hasn't worn the sweater that her Aunt Jill made for her since she came home from her surgery. Mommy had this unbearable 'nails on a chalkboard' reaction every time she thought about the sweater snagging on the staples. oooblegggled. Just happened again. Anyway, as we got the staples removed this afternoon, I thought Tia would like to put her sweater on. Vpppt. Out like a light. For a couple of hours now. I'm serious when I say there's something odd about that yarn! I don't know who got the greater gift with that sweater. Tia because it relaxes her and makes her yummy snuggy, or me because it shuts her up for hours at a time. Thanks, Aunt Jill!!