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!