Day 12 - progress continues

The kids wanted to sleep over since I'm working from home this week.  They were very good about treating Charlie with care.  The cone, however, was an open target.  Nicky took to it right away.  She's says I put it on her, I say she put it on herself.  The jury's out.  Either way, I got the picture!  She's gonna love this when I send it back to her when she's, oh, 16, 18, 21 ...


Otherwise all remains good at Casa de Charlie.  He's out and about, riding in the car to the vet for MORE staples this morning, walking freely around the house now, and having no signs of problems, other than the little depression he goes into when the cone goes back on his head.  Bribery attempts with treats did not sway his opinion of the vet either.  However he has just three more days of antibiotics and one week of staples and cone remaining.  We gave up on the painkillers days ago, and he's not complaining of pain, so six less pills a day works for me.

Day 11 - the onset of real boredom

The days are getting longer for the puppy dogs.  It's hard to believe TTA surgery is already 11 days ago, for as scary as it is.  It's great that we're so far along.  However it's getting harder to keep their energy at bay to maintain the proper post-op Charlie needs for his knee.  He's dying to get up on the bed or the couch, run around the yard, tear up the house playing with Lucy, or hop into the car and head out to Fiesta Island or Riley, Reece and Remy's house.  Today they got a treat though.  Foofie came over to play this afternoon, since the kids and I went out for lunch. Well, shakes and sandwiches at Chick Fil-A, but still.   They asked if Foofie could stay with Charlie and Lucy until they came over tonight, so I took her home.  


HOWEVER ... while we were out I realized that I forgot to put the cone back on Charlie.  I finally got the pill dispenser for him at Petco, but while I was fixing one problem I was causing another.  Because sure enough, I got home, checked his incision, and nearly all the staples were gone.  Luckily his incision is healing nicely, and the skin is not separating.  But the hospital wants him back first thing tomorrow when the doctor arrives.  And I was told sternly: "cone stays on!"  Yes, doctor.  


So tomorrow Charlie and I are going back in for more staples.  Which probably means more antibiotic.  Today I counted out the pills and we were already down to just four more days of meds.  More pills tomorrow means more bad days for Charlie.  He's not happy at all about the forceful dispenser method of taking his medicine. 





But the kids came over tonight for dinner and a sleepover, so the dogs aren't doing too bad tonight with boredom.  Plus I pulled out a few new toys for them to rip apart.  For some reason it seems fine for them to shred new toys lately.  Usually it drives me crazy and I don't let them have stuffed toys.  It's such a waste of money.  But I know they have a lot of aggression to get out, being cooped up with not much exercise this year. There are bigger problems to have, that's for sure.

Days 9 and 10 - It's week two!

Life is good.  We're on week two, Charlie is cruising around the yard, and everyone is getting good sleep.  Despite my best efforts at providing a world class breakfast, Charlie bit into and chewed up most of the pills this morning, spreading powered medicine around the entire pen.  His beds look like they have fake snow sprinkled about.


The house is showing some semblance of progress and potential.   Joel is coming back in a week or so to install the base boards in the kitchen, entry, dining room and living room.  Then it's time to paint!


All-stars are in full swing so it was time to leave the puppy dogs home for awhile.  To practice I went on a shopping trip Saturday with Jamie to Home Goods and Home Depot.  It sounds easy enough.  However it turned into a marathon spree that kept me away for more than half a day.  The dogs did great, and there were no problems when I got home, other than Charlie trying to jump over the kitchen half-wall in an attempt to greet me.


Sunday started easy enough.  The game was to start at 10:00 AM in La Jolla, so I needed to be at the field by 9:40 AM [ish].  It turns out that if we lose the next game is at 4:00 PM.  With a win last Wednesday we already advance to the next round - regionals.  So the morning game went well, but we lost by a few runs.  A quick run home to eat and let the puppy dogs out, and it's back to the fields.  With a win we play again Monday.  If we lose we're done for this round.  Despite some great hitting the game ended in a loss, so - woohoo! - no more baseball this week.  




Regionals start July 2, so it'll be interesting to see how a full day's work followed by a night game South of downtown will be for the dogs.  But it was a fun day regardless.  Casey had a bunch of nice plays at shortstop, and a few singles and doubles.  Always a great day to watch him play.  The girls got back today too, and already planned a sleepover for tomorrow.  They figured their dad wouldn't want them to have a sleepover the same night they returned from a week out of town, so tomorrow it is.


Now back to reality.  Time to get meds down in Charlie.  I'm running out of options.  Hot dogs and all other foods have failed me.  Time to pull out the old family secret - apothecary.  Well, not really, but the Catalans in my family have long whipped up a mighty aioli with mortar and pestle.  So it's my new attempt to get the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs down his throat in my own little pharmacy.

Still no luck - I give up.  In the morning it'll be time to run to the store for more ideas.   Until then, with a big sleepover tomorrow, it's time to get some sleep!

Day 8 - Time for new staples

Another good day waking up in Charlie's house.  First thing in the morning we're off to survey the neighbors, the passersby, the general state of the cul-de-sac.  Everything's looking good.  Next up, time for the daily head dive into the flowers.  Check.

And, now it's time for breakfast.  This morning was a treat.  The leftover eggs and peppers were turned into a breakfast extravangaza.  There was leftover steamed milk from yesterday's latte, so I took a stale ciabatta roll and soaked it in the milk.  Add that to the sauteed eggs and peppers, throw in about 40 chopped garlic cloves, and voila.  Toss with kibble and breakfast is served.  

The medicine cabinet is growing though.  Since the painkiller is apparently bitter, as the vet now tells me, we've pretty much wiped that out of the daily ritual.  If he's not complaining, I'm not going to worry about feeding him more meds.  So as of today we're at 3 antibiotics, 3 fish oils, 2 glucosamine, and 1 anti-inflammatory.  Twice a day.  There may not be enough hot dogs in the local stores to keep up this regimen.  However, he is taking the medicine now, without dispute, so if it takes another 10 packs of hot dogs to get through this that's fine by me.

Today we were back in the car heading over to the vet.  They scheduled him for a 4:00 PM appointment to add in more staples, since they were not staying in at the top of the incision.  As is now standard protocol with Charlie and Dr. Romero, the vet visit went by Charlie's terms.  He made the vet lie on the floor, using Charlie's stomach as his pillow, stapling Charlie's leg upside-down.  The vet keeps thanking me for going above and beyond, but seriously, he is really getting a workout with Charlie.  The tech had a hard time keeping Charlie's leg up so Dr. Romero could reach it.  I can't remember how many times I've now heard, "wow, Charlie is STRONG."  But we're all set with the staples now, and Charlie is good with getting in and out of the car.  He even got by me today and jumped up on the couch.  He is clearly heading full-speed into recovery.  The vet was gracious enough to add another antibiotic to the regimen, so I'll be heading back to the store for more hot dogs soon.  It's the only thing I should run out of this month after that monster trip to Costco yesterday.


But all in all it was a good day.  Jamie and Michele missed us for the regular poolside wine and Rummikub adventures, so they ditched the boys and came over for lunch, mimosas and Rummikub.  Casey snuck in and surprised them at how much he's changing.  At over 6' tall now he's not the same little kid that I took over to Jamie and Bob's last Summer with his sisters for a pool day.  He's loving coming over to hang out so he hopes to be over next week as well.  Although it's not a bad deal.  He walks in, I give him a hug, hand him a plate of garlic rosemary tri-tip, salad, fruit, Manchego cheese, potato chips, and Dr. Pepper until he's ready for round two.  No wonder he says coming over "is so relaxing."   

Day 7 - Holy cow it's been a week!

Wow, what a day.  The kitchen is back in order.  The dogs stayed home BY THEMSELVES and were fine.  Costco took $400 of mine, as I passed through every aisle and grabbed every product they sold.  Never ever go on an empty stomach, with a kitchen that needs to be completely stocked, and with a hungry teenager coming your way.  Oh, the meals we are going to eat!  The dogs made out as well - two brand new puffy soft beds and two big bags of rawhide bones.  Yum yum!  I don't think I missed a meat either.  Salmon?  Check. Bison?  Check.  Beef?  Check. Chicken?  Check. Pork?  Check.  I also bought the big bag of pre-peeled garlic.  The dogs are about to start a new diet of daily garlic with fish oil and glucosamine supplements.  The magic of garlic will be good in general for them, but the vet has been talking regularly about getting them both fish oil supplements, and the glucosamine for Charlie's joints.  So far no problems.  I have one happy puppy dog, even with TTA surgery just seven short days ago.  You'd never know that a surgeon just took a saw to his leg and cut it in half last Friday.

So now the bigger issue.  Apparently staples don't agree with Charlie.  When he came home from getting the bandages off yesterday I noticed that a few seemed to be missing at the top of his incision.  Then when he laid down on his bed I noticed a staple had popped off his incision.  When I explained it to the vet they said to keep an eye on it.  Today I took another look and noticed the incision was opening pretty wide, so I e-mailed the hospital.  Before the second e-mail even went through they called to schedule him for new sutures tomorrow.  So ... off we go back to the hospital.  I asked the hospital manager if he was going to be sedated.  I think she understood me to ask because of the possible cost.  On the other end of the phone, however, I heard Dr. Romero mimicking my own thoughts, saying that sedation might be best for Charlie.  It seems the doctor is still on a quest to get Charlie to be very happy around him.  There may still be hope for those two to be friends, but it ain't looking good for the near future.  The good news is that his incision should be fixed by tomorrow evening.  The bad news is that he will now have even more meds beginning tomorrow, according to the hospital manager, and instead of getting the staples out next Friday he will now most likely be looking at a new 10 - 14 day schedule from tomorrow.  Which means that lovely cone he's so fond of will be in his future for a little bit longer.  


But he's doing very well, he's very happy [mostly when he is sans cone], and the future looks good for his new leg.  And one of these days we might even get some time in for his wonderful sister Lucy.

Day 6 - Off With the Bandages!!

Today is the first day of Summer and things are getting easier every morning.  Charlie tucked in at 8:30 PM last night so we could watch a movie, and we were asleep by 11:00 PM.  


It's nice to think that one of these days shortly we'll be back to life as normal again.    This afternoon we're heading in to the hospital to get the bandages off, so this morning I will be engineering a structure in the garage that will let him walk right off the kitchen floor into the back of the car.  There is a drop of over 18", then he'd need to jump or I'd need to lift him into the car. So ... off to the garage I'll go.  Once he's in the car and we're on the road it will be a whole new circus.

Luckily the house-to-car plan was pretty easy, in large part due to the contraptions Dad has built for me over the Summer he spent here in 2008 helping me remodel.  I've been so worried this whole time about how he'd bend his knee, whether or not it would cause an "implant failure" that is so widely written about in TTA post-op cautions, and if I could keep him limited in his activity as not to injure himself after surgery.  Yet here he sits, bent in half, good leg in at least a 80 degree angle, and the surgical leg at a very odd angle tucked next to him.  The leash is actually hanging off him so he's just lying there of his own volition.  He was SO excited to get back in the car again.  "At last!"  


After a couple practice runs it was time to tear it down and get him back in the pen.  Nap-time.  This is the hardest part for him - just lying around doing absolutely nothing for a few hours until I decide to do something or he decides to stand up to alert me that it's time for another walk.  If only he understood how envious the working crowd would be to have a few days of his life - minus the surgical part ... 

The kitchen is back in - yea!!  I was able to do some dishes that got dusty during the tile remodel.  For lunch I even got to make some salad IN THE KITCHEN.  How wonderful.  I can see what my plans will be for the next few days: 1) go to store, buy food; 2) do all the dishes used in the past three days that have been collecting on the counters and other furniture; 3) clean the house from top to bottom; 4) laundry, laundry, laundry.















Something that would be great over the next few days is to get Charlie to stop laying atop his surgical leg.  It should be easier on me following his appointment this afternoon when the bandage comes off.  But seriously, this does not look right.  How can he sit ON TOP of his leg and not get hurt.  He's on less painkillers too, so how this does not hurt is beyond me.


Well, enough of that.  In half an hour we leave to get the bandage off!!!

There's nothing like the first day of Summer - getting in the car, sticking your head out the window, heading down the road with your family, and getting that stinkin' bandage off!  He still doesn't like his doctor.  One of these days hopefully Charlie and Dr. Romero will be friends again.  Today, despite the vet's every attempt to bribe him with treats, he wasn't buying it.  There are way too many bad memories at the vet.  On the day of surgery Dr. Romero asked me to promise that we'd drive by regularly and stop in just for a treat so Charlie started to like him again.  Today he may have made a LITTLE bit of progress.  The treats and removal of the bandage was a step in the right direction if I read Charlie right.  Getting to the vet, however, was a completely different level of enthusiasm than that at the vet.  We had to stop twice within a block of the house so he would lie down and STAY down.  Finally I got him to stay down for most of the ride - until we were only two blocks away.  Then I figured he could stand up until we arrived.  Getting there was only part of the battle though.  Once I pulled up there were dogs everywhere, and I couldn't figure out how to get him out without jumping or hurting his leg.  I didn't plan on him starting to shake the moment I opened the door.  He absolutely refused to get out of the car and was pushing down on the floor with both legs.  The doctor was only making it worse, since he figured stinky Dr. Romero was going to do something horrible again.  But he only had a handful of treats and some scissors to get the bandage off, so Charlie started to relax ... a LITTLE.  Oh, did I mention that Dr. Romero had to conduct the appointment from the car?  Yep, Charlie refused to get out.  He really hates the vet right now.  He made his doctor crawl into the back and cut off the bandage in the car.  He is quite a powerful one, that Charlie.






When I was told to use the Elizabeth collar immediately full-time and not let him lick the wound at all, I was given a little demonstration courtesy of Lucy.  We quickly found out she does NOT like the collar.  He doesn't either, but I need to get him when he's not looking.  With such a full week and big day today he is not ready for it just quite yet.  

Right now it's time to get a good nap in.  There is a lot of bruising from his tail down to his toes, and lots of swelling from his knee to his heel, so a little rest and sleep may just be the recipe he needs right now.  



But wait, he's starting to get up and antsy, so it may just be time to try out the new leg for a little walk around the house - to survey his territory once again!

... OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN ...

He is HATING his life right now.

Bedtime came a little earlier today.  Charlie is wiped.  He finally passed out with cone, much to his chagrin.  However he seems to be getting used to it.  It immediately threw him off because he is so big, and thus needs a big cone.  But it impairs his line of sight, smell and touch, so he was kinda off balance for awhile.  Walking was an issue - he'd stop and freeze until I came around and petted him or lifted the cone to let him see me.  It bumps into everything so that was an issue too - between the knee and the cone, getting around had a new learning curve.  Then there's the barking of other dogs.  With the injured leg exposed now and the cone, he suddenly was on edge outside, as if his protection was at risk.  No down-time at Casa de Charlie.

His leg is really swollen though.  Staples seemed to be missing from the top of the incision too, and one fell out when we came home after he laid down on his bed.  The vet says it should be fine, unless it starts to seems like it needs attention, as long as he has the cone on and doesn't bother it at all.   But hopefully the swelling will start to go down soon.  His leg is very very tender, and feels like it's filled with fluid.

Well that wraps up an eventful day.  Tomorrow Casey comes back over after football practice.  There was no practice today but we missed the all-star baseball game today going to the vet - they won!  But when he comes over tomorrow I will be driving him to baseball practice after football.  It'll be the first time I leave the house and leave the dogs alone since surgery.  Yikes!  But that's for tomorrow to worry about.  For now, bed-time!

Day 5 - One Day Until Bandage Removal!

Another great night sleep, although we went to bed at midnight again.  Charlie woke up raring to go again.  He's been on a walk outside around the house about 15 times already today.  Most times he acts like he really has to go to the bathroom, then he just walks around and surveys his territory ... 

He now mocks me regularly by stopping mid-stride to lift his good leg, prop himself on his surgical leg, and scratch his right shoulder with the good leg.  He even stops during the scratching, looks around as if he has just smelled or sensed something lurking nearby, stays propped up on his surgical leg, and finally finishes up the scratching.  It's like his way of showing off to me that he's actually fine and should be allowed to roam freely, run amok, and go do the things he wants to do.

It's been a quiet day, thankfully, all around.  With the floors now sealed, I was able to move most of the kitchen cabinets back into the entry way, new "pantry" and the kitchen.  Joel and an assistant are coming tonight to move and hook up the range and the refrigerator.  Once that's done the kitchen is back in business.  What a nice turn of events tomorrow will bring.  Charlie will be in the car again, and very happy, going to get his bandage removed, I'll get out of the house for the first time since Friday, and the kitchen will be working at 100% again.  Seriously, things have changed a lot since January.  These are all things I would not have thought I would be eagerly anticipating a few months ago.

Casey came over again after football, and is completely worn out.  Just picking up some food he was amazed at how tired his arms were.  He works out with the varsity as well as the JV and undergrads.  Today was pull-up day, as well as multiple other calisthenics.   We hung out and relaxed all afternoon, watching TV the entire time.  It's such a great afternoon when he comes over.

The dogs are fairly bored still, so Charlie made sure to keep me active with regular security checks in the yards.  Our now daily routine of tromping down the front three stairs is now shifting to the dining room exit.  The door is once again accessible with the furniture back in the kitchen, so now we walk out the slider in the dining room, walk to the garage, turn around, go down the limestone to flagstone patio, around the bedrooms, over to the front yard, and back again.  We still mix it up by sometimes taking a stroll on the middle terrace.

Lucy is still my little trooper.  She just hangs out, gets in a few petting opportunities as they pop up, and she hangs out under Casey's feet as he eats.  Apparently she caught wind of his arms being tired, so she's hoping to score some select crumbs that might result from his afternoon meal.  She's a pro.  Both of them know that when the kids come over they are likely to find food on the chairs, the couch, under the table, you name it.  The first time was like Christmas for them.  They were fast learners.  Both of them stick around the dining room table now whenever there are kids here for a sleepover.  Once we went over for dinner when both the kids and the dogs were young, and both Charlie and Lucy discovered the massive treasure chest under the table as dinner went on.  Another Christmas comes early.

So other than reminiscing, all in all it's been a nice quiet day.  

EXCEPT ...  my boy took a poop this evening.   =)

Yea!  For anyone who accused Charlie of being half horse, trust me, with five days of constipation you'd think I do have a horse.  Enough said.  It's a been a long but good day today!

Day 1 Surgery and Post-Op

Waiting at the vet pre-op

Day three post-op from TTA surgery and Charlie is doing well.  He is used to his leg and has been walking on it since day one.    Everything you read about this is designed to scare you and for good reason.  They cut his bone in half and attached it with plates and rods to rebuild his knee.  You better listen to what they tell you to do.  Plus, as one person told me, "you paid $3,000 for that knee."  Here's the story so far.


Day 1, Friday: Surgery.  He came out and woke up well, but got a sedative just in case.  Once he could stand he was cleared to go.  I took him home and realized he was still too sedated to feel anything so I worried he'd try to walk too soon and get hurt.  The biggest problem was moving him because of the sedative.  He was too groggy to move well and I was scared to death of hurting him.  But he was home.  

Five minutes after getting home, three hours post-op.

However the bigger problem started quickly after.  He had so many fluids during surgery that the vet told me to take him outside soon for a pee.  But he has three steps to get down to the grass to get out.  And his stomach had some shaving burns that really hurt him if I tried to towel support him.  We were off to a bad start.  Finally after four hours of non-stop whining [and I mean NON STOP] I called the emergency room at 9:30 PM.  


He had really started to worry me.  The ER told me that this is normal and he was just feeling uncomfortable, but he'd be fine to walk on his own and go outside.  I knew that would be the end of his knee but I decided to listen to the doctors.  




Around midnight I got him outside when I decided to let him lead me.  He was able to walk and let me tenderly help him down the three steps.  He peed on a plant for about 3 minutes without stopping.  Twenty minutes later he had to go again.  So outside we went again.  This time he stood on his surgical leg and peed with his good leg in the air.  I almost died!  It is almost nauseating watching him do what he knows he can do.  I slept with him on the floor, as I was told to expect.  After going to sleep around 12:45 AM he woke up every hour and had something to adjust.  Since I slept on the floor with him, I got maybe four hours of sleep over eight hours time.  But the ER nurse was right.  Day 1 and day 2 are night and day different. 

Day 2, Saturday: he was dragging me out of the house in the morning and mentally 100% back to normal.  He was walking down the steps on his own, he was trying to bark at every noise and dog he thought he might have heard outside.  God forbid he let someone pass without barking at their dog.  "This is MY house."  The mail lady came at her normal 9:00 AM and we were outside "sunning" him.  As he heard her down the street he was adamant to go run and bark at her.  He was 18 hours post-op.  This dog is going to be the death of me.

Day two, 22 hours post-op.  He can sit up and stand on his own.

Most of the day he just needed to be entertained, but was totally better.  I tried everything not to let him lie down on top of his surgical leg.  I just knew he'd twist his knee or bend it the wrong way if he tried to lie on that side.  Luckily he did it during the second night, despite my efforts to prevent it, when I was finally asleep.  However he couldn't stand or prop himself back up later, so he woke me up around 3:30 AM to help him get to his other side.  Not an easy task with a 125 pound dog in the early morning hours with no sleep.  But he was fine.  


Day three, Sunday:  He has since laid down on his surgical leg several times during day three, and it's still nauseating to watch.  I keep waiting for something to happen.  But he knows what he's doing.  I would never believe a week ago that he'd be fine two days after surgery.  But he is.  [Now if only I was.]  I know he is not healed so I have him restricted in a pen and on full rest.  I don't plan to leave him for a few more days, but I'm already planning a short getaway to the store.  I even got a shower in today.  Everyone that comes over with something for me or Charlie is given strict orders to leave it in the driveway.  They are not allowed to come in.  So far so good.  It's been great too.  I got coffee, milk, flowers, and dinner delivered.  He stays put when I tell him "stay" and walk outside.  Today I got a load of laundry done.  But tomorrow is a big test.  Casey is coming over after football for a few hours, and Joel is coming back to seal the tile in the kitchen.  



He gets his bandages off on Friday, exactly one week post-op.  They were ready for him by Wednesday, but I feel it's too early.  So I bought two more days.  He's only on day three, so I know he'll be fine as long as I am.  His bandage is starting to slide down his leg though, so it may need to come off sooner.  I was terrified about getting him in the car.  But some engineering paid off.  I figured out a way to build a platform between the house and the garage.  I know he'd jump in no problem.  Today I could tell he was definitely back to normal mentally.  He walked up to the bed and started wagging his tail.  He was ready to jump up but I caught him.  He is such a stinker.  









In order to keep him down in the pen I also engineered a way to put boards in the pen across him so he can't stand up.  I'm going to try that this week if I get away for a run to the store.  Casey has an all-star game on Thursday so I may try to sneak out for that.  It still seems too early, but if he's going to the doctor on Friday maybe I'm being too cautious about leaving him.  I'm calling the vet in the morning to check in on what's he been doing so far, so we'll see what they say.







Poor Lucy is taking this whole thing in stride.  She makes no noise, doesn't bother him, makes no complaints about getting zero attention.  Lucy is an angel this week.  I can forgive her completely for eating the couch.  And a few other things.  When things calm down I know she'll get a lot more attention, since Charlie won't need as much caring all the time.  I'm so glad she either gets it or is okay with it.  Whatever her thinking, she's my perfect little helper.