A Good Walk

Bailey and I are making progress (although I'm afraid to say this out loud, for fear of jinxing it).

We've started taking two 5-minute walks around the yard a day, with many "Walk! No, I said WALK!" phrases interjected in them. She's putting weight on her surgery leg, although she often tries to adjust her stride to make it easier on her (she starts "pacing", where the two right legs go up together and then the two left legs)... when she does this, I attempt to slow her down so she is forced to walk correctly.

It's getting easier for her each day and I can usually tell when she's reached her limit when she starts holding her surgery leg up and hopping every few strides. I have high hopes for a normal and active summer ahead for her.

For those out there who also enjoy photography AND dogs (how can you go wrong with that combination?), here is a link to a photo journal/book someone put together while going for walks with his dog out in the country (and he did all this in 30 days!)... enjoy!

Musings On Photography: Done

A Good Walk by Paul Butzi (direct link to the PDF)

Incision Update and a Renegade Staple

Bailey's incision is looking really great - I'm actually amazed at how well it's healed (except of course, that one little spot... sigh). I also found one staple hidden at the bottom of her incision that the vet missed while removing them. Hopefully my sister (a Family Practice PA) will be able to swing by and help get that removed, since I really don't want to have to go through the ordeal of taking Bailey back to the vet (more on that later) for something that minor.

Here is the latest picture (with the staple highlighted):

Now that everything looks so good on the outside, my main concern is how things are healing inside her knee. It's so hard to know if she's progressing as expected there. I've been working on our range of motion exercises, but it's been difficult since she immediately tenses up her muscles (can't blame her). I've been looking for pointers online on how to deal with this, but haven't found anything very helpful yet.

When I took her to the vet a few days ago for her first checkup and staple removal, we did have an "oops" moment. I made the mistake of taking her right up to my car (where the door was open), thinking I'd lift her in from there. Well she had other ideas... she tried to jump in. I grabbed her collar and stopped her just in time, but it threw her off balance and she landed on her surgery leg. Much yelping and whining ensued, along with trembling - I knew that had to hurt. I was very worried she had done some damage to the vet's handiwork in her knee, but she seemed to check out ok there. I do think it set us back a little though, since she seemed to be more sore for a few days. Next time I think I will lift her AWAY from the car and carry her there, to avoid this issue in the future.

She's still restricted to a small section of my bedroom (carpeted, which is very important for good footing) and only goes out for bathroom breaks. I've been watching her closely outside for clues on her healing progress. She varies from 3-legged, to toe-touching, to actually putting some weight on that leg and walking (well, limping) on it. At this point, I can only hope she's on track and try to be patient over the next few months.

Patience, patience. Someday there might be another tennis ball in her future. Until then, they are hidden.

Passive Range of Motion Therapy Exercises

Bailey and I have made it past the next hurdle - her staples have been removed and we've been given the go-ahead to begin physical therapy. Hurray!

Small problem... here are my written instructions, word for word:

Weeks 2-4

1. Range of Motion exercises

• 15 repetitions three times daily
• Move leg in a fluid motion from an extended (standing) position to flexed position
  

And that was it for weeks 2-4. Ok, so how do I know if I'm doing this correctly?? How far is too far and how flexed is too flexed? Do I hold the leg a certain way to do this? No, the vet didn't demonstrate for me, which was unfortunate. It was busy when we were there though, so he may have been distracted.

Well, I didn't want to just jump in and try moving her leg around without some kind of idea on how to do this, so I started searching for examples online. Luckily, I found some great YouTube videos on how to do this:

Passive range of motion #1

Passive range of motion #2

I think we're ready to get started... my fingers are crossed that she cooperates.