Surgery and Such,........

Pip had her surgery yesterday to remove the cyst on her wrist.  During the visit and subsequent conversation with the ortho I found out that her knee/cruciate is fully torn but she is doing okay on it.  I did not realize that, perhaps he said it and I did not hear the words.  I thought it was arthritis and a partial tear that had healed.  He did also say it was just a matter of time before she "blew" the back leg. 

Guess I don't really understand much of this.  Will continue discussions with Wendy/trusty vet as we move forward and with Deb/trust PT lady.  Pip must go for bandage changes once a week for 3 to 4 weeks so I'll start those conversations next week.  In the meantime very restricted activity, splint and bandage up to her elbow and cone on head at times to keep her from picking at the wrist.  Today she is still pretty mellow but I see the spark in her eyes coming back, most likely some long weeks. 

the cyst, I don't remember the name of it, but it was "communicating" with the joint and partially calcified.  And I believe more involved then originally thought. 

She was a good girl thru out though,....

PT for Pip

Pip's Physical Therapy for her arthritic knee is now on a schedule, at least the stuff at home is.  I'm somewhat confused by all of this and will have to ask folks who I know have experienced this questions. 

She is having some chiropractic work done every 4 to 6 weeks.  Our visit last week was positive.  The vet said the knee felt better, less inflammed and her overall alignment of her pelvis was better.  The first time I went to her she was very off because of compensating for the knee.  The physical therapist also said that the knee felt better the week before.  I am sure this is because of her being on Metacam the antinflammatory and dasequin and hyaflex.  

Our exercise routine consists of daily work on the disk to strengthen the muscles around both of her back knees so that the injured one stays strong and that the good one stays strong as well and doesn't also break down.  Probably not quite the right words but you get the picture.  We also work on "tail pulling" that the chiro suggested.  Basically using traction by pulling her tail down gently in line with her spine to keep her pelvis even.  She seems to like that a lot.  Getting usesd to the disc work, it was a little challenging at first.  A video of it for your enjoyment. 

I'm somewhat confused as to what needs to occur going forward.  I've been told that swimming will help keep her tone and strengthened.  However a call into Riverview Rehab or whatever it is called in Windsor was not successful so I am going to try another place in East Longmeadow.  The folks were in Windsor were a little snotty frankly and kind of condenscending.  I'm told that the place in EL actually has a basic swimming program so I am going to look into that. 

What I am trying to prevent is surgery down the road if possible.  I don't think that agility is an option anymore.  The orthopedic surgeon said that jumping/projecting off of that knee could lead to further injury.  I realize that it is a maybe but it bothers her enough know that she swings it out when she sits and lays down.  At 8 1/2 I am not looking to cause her further injury.  But I do want to continue to keep her active.  Hiking is an option but tends to be stressful with her as she really takes off and is kind of darty after things.  And not always great with other dogs but much better then she used to be.  I actually think she is way better then I give her credit for so maybe I should just give that thought up. 

Walking, like leash walking would also be good, however I have not resolved the issue on her right front wrist yet.  It is some type of cyst or something sitting on her wrist joint and when I have walked her she ends up lame on that leg.  AHHHHHHHHHH, I need to get that resolved first I think.  My vet wants to consult with the ortho guy first before opening her wrist up,.

Sidney, Zenny and Lucy are doing well.  Took Sidney swimmming at a new boat launch area that a friend told me about.  I think she had fun, hard to tell with Sidney sometimes.  No pictures though, I screwed up there.  Zenny loving his therapy work at the library and this Friday we are entered at Fitchburg for her first Advanced Leg in Rally, gulp, off leash,......  And Lucy Lu and I are working on heeling, tricks.  I am also going to hopefully get her certified to be a therapy dog, classes start in September. 

and we move forward

Our house is not the same without Sarah but we are moving forward.  Yesterday was the first day I started to feel human.  It is has been 2 weeks.  Al is away in Alaska this week and it was probably for the best.  I needed to work thru this on my own somewhat I think.  It seems to go in waves my feelings,.....

I got a new tattoo in honor of Sarah and what she ment to me.  I did it yesterday on the 2 week anniversary.  I purposefully went back to the place where I had my ankle paw prints done because I knew the woman there liked dogs and had one, we talked about it a lot the last time I was there and yesterday. 

I had been talking about doing this for a while anyway so hopefully it won't be to much of a surprise to Al when he returns home on Sunday.  I felt better when it was done, sort of complete.  Its not like I don't have already have a few,..

                                         Some pictures, of us, the 3 girls and 1 boy,.....

Miss Sarah

She's gone.  We helped her go yesterday with the help of our vet and good friend Wendy.  I have some wonderful pictures to share but they are all from the days before digital so I must do something with them first. 

miss you so much already

Update to all things

So things are better with some, same or not so good with other.  Sidney's ear has healed and the stitches came out this week.  That was fun because as usual she is very terrified of being at the vets and always always always poops.  Its a wonder where that all comes from in such a small dog. (small for a lab that is)

Pip's fur is growing back.  Still shedding but not as much.  I have put everyone on Sea Kelp after much research to see if that might help overall with justs skin and fur health.  The back of her legs is the last to really fill in, but its not showing skin now so I know its just a matter of time.  I also found a natural thyroid supplement that I've decided to give her even though both my vets said that the thyroid was good, the #'s were in the middle, not on low end.  But I'm going to try it anyway. 

Pip's knee thing is still there.  The dasequin is given daily and she goes to see the PT next week and we'll see if there is anything exercise wise that I can realistically take on with all that is going on with Sarah.  I have tried just taking morning walks with her.  She loves them but comes up lame a couple of hours later in her front end (arthritis is in backleg) so not sure what that is about.  Perhaps just to much to soon but will put that on hold also until we go next week.  We enjoyed it though and no weird loose dogs or anything to cause us anexity. I may also get her tested again for lyme, etc. 

Sarah whole different story.  It is a daily management thing and you never quite know how she is going to be.  I am sure she is not enjoying this much either.  Her breathing is awful but she still eats, drinks and walks around but not for long.  We had a very bad weekend a couple of weeks ago when she got over medicated on some new stuff I was trying to help her be less anxious.  So sedated that she could not get up, hold herself up and would not eat.  Lasted about 4 days and then there has been a gradual improvement.  She is on an antibiotic which she just finished and predizone which is tapering down.  We will see after that how she does.  Her back end is definitely worse and when not pacing around the yard is usually lying down.  I noticed this week a couple of sore spots on her back paws probably because of how she is lying all of the time, but she likes to lay on the tile floor and will not lay on the blankets or towels for the most part.  Recently 2 friends  ethuanized there labs who are about the same age and when I was in the vet this week with Sidney a dog was in their with owners for the same thing.  Jeepers I start sobbing in the vet and I don't even know the people or the dog but he looked so sad and confused.  I am on the edge constantly,..... ridiculous.

But I have some cute pictures which may make you smile,....in order going down, Sidney, Zenny, Sarah,  Pip and Lucy who is loving the flowers on the deck.

whew,......... its been an interesting couple of weeks!

Wow, blog has been quiet but its not been quiet in this house. I seem to have a series of dog issues going on, partly the result of having 3 dogs close to the same age and partly just because things happened I guess.

Sarah continues to battle the aging process, with her breathing issues (lar par) and arthritis/spinal issues she struggles to breath, stresses from that, no muscle tone in hind end so she has difficulty standing for any length of time its sometimes a struggle to watch her. And then, on days when she is feeling good, she does a little play bow for breakfast, tries to run in the backyard and falls down, but gets herself back up and sort of wags her tail and says "huh, what up with that" and walks off. More painful for me to watch I think then anything. We are trying some new stuff that a vet who also does chiro on dogs has suggested. In addition to doing some monthly chiro work on her to make her feel more comfortable, we are trying a diuretic to get rid of the fluids to see if that helps with the breathing and a seizure type drug which will act a little as a sedative when she has gotten so worked up that she can't rest. Both are human drugs. Slight subtle differences we are seeing which is better then not trying anything at all at this point. Just trying to make her more comfy. She still looks pretty damn good for 14 1/2 yrs and I think is still happy although hard to tell on the days when she struggles so.

Pip has had some odd hair loss.  I thought at first it was just excessive shedding but it started resulting in bald spots.  Took her to get blood work done because now thinking its thyroid but all bloodwork came back normal.  Fur seems to be filling back in but its the weirdest thing I have ever seen.  The other possibility was seasonal alopecia which sort of seems just a name for something that cannot be diagnosed.  if the fur grows back and it doesn't happen again then I won't worry about it.  In the meantime, the amt of fur in my house is unbelieveable and she's pretty tired of my poking at her and looking at it.  Take a look!  and this is after some of the hair has grown back,....

and last but not least, not to be outdone, Sidney ended up with a wart in her ear the size of a grape or a little bigger.  Similar to the warts that she has developed all over her body, kinda look like cauliflower.  But this was blocking her ear canal when the ear flap was done and resulted in a nasty nasty ear infection and the wart itself was painful.  So, surgery was called for and that happened yesterday.  She has stitches that will need to come out in about 2 weeks.  She came thru the surgery fine and seems somewhat subdued but thats it.  She's on some pain meds for a bit and I'll probably continue that only because I know it will keep her from getting spun up which she does easily.  this picture is not for the weak,....at least I think its pretty gross

before                                                                                                                           after

Go Sister Lucy!

Lucy was entered in Novice Rally Obedience this week and received her Novice title.  It wasn't a great run, although she did receive a score of 96.  How that happened I don't know since her nose never came off the ground.  Brother Zenny was entered also, check out his blog for those results!