Getting fur back, but definitely not done yet

Here's how Jack's leg looks today, 4 weeks of fur growth into it. It's hard to tell, but Jack has some serious curls going on. His leg fur is like Farrah Fawcett's early 70's wave 'doo.

In the 5th week, catching up on the blog

Wow, we had a few things pile up here and I got tardy on the blog. Jack's in his 5th week post op, and he's still fairly cool about being in jail - I think he's acclimating to spending time alone in the office, even when we're here. We're trying to not completely stop our day to day lives during this process, and so far so good. Jack's leg has grown back a LOT of fur, I'm guessing it won't be completely grown in by his next surgery because his fur is kinda long, but there's no hint of the surgical scar at all anymore. He does have this habit of occasionally chewing on his hock on his surgery leg (maybe this is the attach point for the jig healing - they drill an anchor point in his lower tibia to keep the saw head aligned, and this is left to heal on it's own), but it's not swollen or red or in any way appears problematic.

Jack's definitely got his lively step back in his surgery leg at this point, no limping, no apparent pain at all... in that leg. What we have noticed is more pronounced limping on his other "strong" leg. It's interesting how he's starting putting more load on the surgery leg as it's gotten stronger, and started to show more on his other leg now. This isn't a surprise, we already know his other leg is probably in worse shape than his surgery leg, it's just a matter of getting through the next 4 weeks and then starting this all over (confirmed with the vet that we have a surgical slot scheduled the last Friday of July).

Here's Jack entertaining himself by destroying a toy snake his grandparents sent him as a get well gift. Overall the past two weeks have been easier. Jack does fine all day by himself while we're at work, he's really a great dog, I can't wait to get him back out at the lake running through fields, jumping over logs, and in general being a 4y old puppy again. Soon buddy, very very soon.

Staples out, all seems to be going okay

Well yesterday's visit to the vet to get Jack's staples out was somewhat uneventful, unless you count that point where the technician, after sitting with us for a few minutes to capture some notes, tried to take Jack into the back... without me. The look on his face, as this tiny 100 lb dog was NOT going anywhere with him and was about to pull his arms off to get to me, was really priceless. After walking Jack to the back, the whole thing took only 5 minutes, out he came, straight to the car with the technician, and home we went. Two nights now without the bucket, Jack is MUCH happier. I'll post a picture of his leg later today when he decides to lay with it up. Two weeks down, 6 more to go for radiographs.

Random thoughts - ongoing forward progress

Well it's now 12 days post op, and Jack's continuing to do better. I've noticed a detectable improvement in his weight bearing on his TPLO leg, and a detectable improvement in his energy level (that may actually be more of a challenge to deal with). Given all the pet food contamination problems going around (luckily Science Diet wasn't one of the affected foods) we've taken the opportunity to switch him to a healthier raw diet (he actually started out on a raw diet as a puppy). It's a fascinating change; Jack has never been a food motivated dog, but now he's licking his chops for breakfast and dinner and he doesn't hesitate for a second. I'm hoping the healthier food leads to better healing. Staples come out Friday - can't come quick enough. More to come Friday after the staples come out.

This is pretty much how I spend my day...

all day, every day, this is it. and it's even nice outside. C'mon Dad, lemme go bark at something. This sucks - Jack

Was e-collar hell weekend

Well Jack got to know the e-collar REAL well this weekend. He's definitely still not a fan. We're going in Friday afternoon to have his staples checked and removed. As you can tell from this picture the surgical site is healing nicely (at least from what I can tell). Of course every few minutes he swings around to try and lick it. Can't wait til Friday to get the staples out and not have to keep his collar on all the time. He still limps around, but it's about the same. In fact I think his walking has been about constant since he came home, never getting worse, but not really getting better yet either. All the other stories seem to indicate that at the end of week three some "normal" walking starts to happen on the pee/poop breaks, so i'll contain my hopes til then.

1st week down

The last two days have been somewhat uneventful. As you can see here, the swelling and redness have almost all gone away, and his fur is already growing back. The leg is definitely healing (and itching more to boot); the next several days will be ongoing e-collar hell. Now I'm waiting for the complicated part - the unforseen or unexpected gotcha.