Thank you everyone for your emails of concern for Gracie. I thought I would post an update on her condition so you would know exactly what is going on. Will post pictures of her leg tomorrow...Blogger is being a pain.
She had surgery 3 days ago and today seems to be the worst of it. Anyone that has ever had surgery knows that day #3 is always the ugliest and most painful. It isn't any different for my viscous pit-bull. She does not want to eat or walk today. She doesn't want to put weight on the good leg today. I guess that is because the muscles are so tired from carrying the extra load. The surgery required the removal of the torn cruciate ligament and then drilling of a hole in the bone so that a nylon replacement could be looped through to hold the joint in place. The leg requires 15 minutes of icing 3 times a day as well as range of motion exercises for 1 week. She must stay on a leash and be monitored and kept quiet (though today that is not an issue) for some time. In two weeks she will have her stitches removed and be allowed to walk to the neighbors house and back 5 times a day. Each week there are more rehabilitation exercises added to her day. She will not be allowed to go back to school for at least 6 weeks. I will need to start drinking more within about a week of this and should develop my alcoholism within a month. Did I mention in all of this I also have been visiting the doctor for bicipital tendonitis and possilbe tears in my left rotator cuff (the pain of it prevents me from sleeping)? The EMG test was really fun yesterday. Not. I have not slept more than 4 hours a night in 3 weeks. I was supposed to fly out to New Mexico this Friday for a trip to ignite my artistic mind. Instead I will probably go to shul to keep myself from downing a bottle of tequila by myself that night. Wouldn't want to be hung over whilst performing Gracie's exercises! LOL!
Seriously, that tight shot of Gracie's mug just breaks my heart. She looks like she is suffering. Oh my poor furry baby. If I get some sleep I think all this will be funny in the morning. If not there is always tequila. Don't worry, I won't eat the worm...you know how I feel about animal products!
3 comments:
Dear Girl! (That goes for both of you.) You didn't mention pain managemnt for the surgical patient. I've found many vets have an attitude that animals don't suffer so much since they don't complain. If you don't have some sort of pain meds for her, I'd recommend calling the office to get some. Also, my own experience nursing 4-legged family members is that is is easier when sober and hang-over free. Save up the binge for when Gracie is back to 100%
Poor, poor Gracie. She looks so vulnerable. I hope she recovers quickly. I agree - if she seems too uncomfortable, definitely call the vet for different meds.
Oh dear! I am just catching up on my blog reading (back from a week's vacation) and see what happened to poor Gracie... poor, poor thing... my prayers are with her for a speedy recovery. :o(
Jen
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