Harper has prodded me to provide an update on our dog's recent surgery. To briefly recap, several weeks ago one of our mutts tore the doggie equivalent of her ACL chasing a deer. It required surgery -- four figure surgery -- to repair. The procedure went well. Two weeks ago the 24 staples holding her leg together were removed. However, she's still on restricted activity.
That means she has to be on a leash every time she goes outside so she doesn't take off running and re-injure her leg. Since her bladder is approximately the same size as her brain (think "peanut") we have to walk her about every two hours (which begs the question, how does she make it through the night?).
That's not too bad, but the worst part is getting up every morning at 6:00 a.m. and going outside with her. When she was healthy one of us would just stagger out of bed and open the door, but this routine requires the donning of clothes and shoes.
My wife does it during the week when I'm down in Laredo. She insists, somewhat unreasonably in my opinion, that I have the duty when I'm home. My eminently reasonable argument that she should continue to let the dogs out because she's used to the routine falls on deaf ears. So to keep the peace I make the sacrifice.
What's that you say? What about the kids? You know, the ones who begged and pleaded to get the dogs, who swore undying oaths that they would take care of them forever and ever.
Yeah, right...
Anyway, the good news is that as of this coming Monday, just two short days from now, she can go back to normal activity. That means we open the door and shoo her outside, where she and her sister can chase squirrels, deer, raccoons, and armadillos to their hearts content.
Unfortunately, the only thing they have ever caught is a skunk. I still have nightmares about that...
Nuts.
19 hours ago
4 comments:
Careful! The same day my son got a cast off for a broken wrist he got back on his bike, fell, and broke it again. Hope your dog is a might smarter;-)
Glad the pooch has recovered well. You win on sacrifice, I remember how hard it was to keep the dog calm for two weeks after surgery, but at least he could walk outside on his own from day one.
Good to hear the puppy patrol is about over, and yeah, first day back IS a worry... :-)
Thanks to all of you for your concern. We've been taking her on progressively longer walks over the last couple of weeks to build back up her leg muscles. She seems to be doing well, judging by how hard she tugs on the leash when she smells some especially enticing scent. The true test will be when she starts running again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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