You Make Me Smile. The funny, sweet, loving things my dogs do on a daily basis, that brings a smile to my face or laughter to my lips.
Delilah, the intensity in which you approach anything….
you make me smile.
I took this photo last weekend in the back yard. I’m not actually sure what she was staring at, but I love the dark brown of her fur against the white of the snow..
Your turn, what do your babies do that make you smile?
Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally just wrap up my week.
You Make Me Smile – March 9, 2014
Donna said, “Really??? That works??? She doesn’t just climb over him???? LOL!”
Good point Donna! It worked this time. No future guarantees.
So some of you have emergency bags packed. That’s a good thing! Some of you have far more things packed then I do, but thanks to all of your comments, I have a pretty good idea of what I need to pack.
Reilly and Denny said, “We have small signs by the front door and garage to let emergency know there are 2 dogs inside and we have spare leads and harnesses for them in the car etc.”
Excellent point Reilly and Denny!! I have one of those stickers at my front door and one on my bedroom window as well. This is so important if something happens when you aren’t home or if you are unconscious when they arrive. It lets emergency responders know to get to your pets.
Genevieve said, “I have a backpack with copies of important household papers and dog records in it. There’s also a first aid kit and a few days worth of: my medicines, power bars, dog food, and underwear! I’m not going commando in an emergency…
I commend you my dear, but in an emergency going commando is the least of my worries. Besides, it’s kind of freeing if you know what I mean. 😉
I found this post with easy camping tips and thought numbers 13 and 21 would be perfect for emergency kits. I think the post title says it all. Some of these tips are really borderline genius, especially if you are really roughing it.
Well most of you know, this went out the window Tuesday night, but some good questions here.
Jackie Bouchard asked, “So, does a full tear mean the conservative approach is out?”
Basically yes. Jana at Dawg Business had a post explaining it and she can do it better than me. 🙂 You can read her version here. This is how I understand it, of course after today I may have a far better idea. The ACL is a ligament that holds the knee in place, if it partially tears, you have the opportunity to isolate the ligament and give it time to repair itself. I had a torn ligament from a car accident many years ago and I wore a brace for months, until the ligament healed itself. BUT when the ligament fully tears the knee is unstable and cannot support the leg and is incredibly painful and to my understanding it is unable to heal.
Sue asked, “Is there any possibility of water therapy near you?”
There is Sue, and we were scheduled to start that tomorrow. I also discovered the vet we are seeing today has physical therapy in their office and I’ll be checking into that as well.
That’s a sad dog right there. If looks could kill, I’d have been dead last night because of the daggers he was shooting at me.
As many of you pointed out, I couldn’t actually jinx him, and truthfully I really feel like we gave it our very best. Sadly it happened in spite of that and I can’t change that. All I can do is move forward.
Emma said, “He will have to go eventually, but bring one of those 40 gallon Hefty trash bags out with you for when it finally happens!”
He actually did go!! He went yesterday morning and he went again last night, twice!
Jan K said, “I have a lot of regrets when it comes to my pets, but we just can’t know.”
Me too Jan. But you are right, we just can’t know.
Again I want to thank all of you. For the phone calls, the e-mails, the, texts, private messages and comments. It helps. It makes me feel like I’m not alone and for that I am so grateful. This is an amazing community and I couldn’t ask for better friends.
I will update my personal Facebook page as well as the blog page after I get back from the vet.
Have a great weekend my friends!
Tuesday I wrote about the Conservative Management program we had in place to keep Sampson from totally tearing his ACL.
For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you know that went out the window Tuesday night. Less than 24 hours after I posted it, Sampson completely tore his ACL.
What happened?Sampson and Delilah were playing, they were running in the house with a squeaky ball. I went and started a load of laundry and when I got back, Sampson wouldn’t put any weight on his bad leg. Less than two minutes. I was gone less than two minutes and when I walked in and saw him with his leg lifted, I knew he blew it out.
I called the vet and thankfully got the last appointment of the night and brought him in.
The DiagnosisAfter checking him out thoroughly the vet looked at me and said, “You’re going to kill me.”
“Why?”
“I think he completely tore his ACL, but I’d like one of my colleagues to check him out as well”
She brought her colleague in and she examined him and agreed he’d fully torn it.
What is it they say about mom’s always knowing?
The TreatmentWe added an additional pain pill of Gabapentin to his existing Carprofen and upped his Tramadol (anti-inflammatory) back up to two per day. I was advised to ice it if possible. As you can imagine, that didn’t go over really well.
He kept shifting to try and dislodge it.
After speaking with my vet yesterday afternoon, she is definitely recommending surgery. I can’t tell you how much this terrifies me, but she really thinks this is his best option to get him mobile once again. I’ve scheduled a consultation for tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. Oh and I cancelled his physical therapy appointment.
What we did wrong.As far as I can tell, nothing. We knew going in that despite conservative measures there was still a possibility of the ACL tearing. Dogs will be dogs and there is only so much you can do to keep them quiet.
We kept him from tearing for over two months. Any dog can tear their ACL, we could have had it heal completely and he could have been running in the field and blew it out. It happens.
While I was sick to my stomach and a bit shaky and weepy on Tuesday night, I’m better today. Not much, but talking about it helps me, so thanks to all of you who have engaged me in one way or another.
I really appreciate it.
Regrets, I’ve had a few.People that say things say that hindsight is better than foresight. This is probably my one and only regret. Had I known he would have blown his ACL anyway, I would have gone ahead with the surgery right away. If we had, we’d be half-way through his recovery period by now.
How we’re managing.Right now it’s hard. He’s still trying to figure out how to function with three legs. Since he refuses to use the stairs to get on and off the bed and I can’t guarantee that Delilah won’t jitterbug all over him, I’m making him sleep on the floor.
If looks could kill, I’d have been dead last night because of the daggers he was shooting at me.
And of course he can’t go outside without being on leash. Which really pisses him off. I’m worried about his pooping. He hasn’t pooped since Tuesday morning. Any ideas on how to help a dog without use of one of his back legs to poop? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Oh and please forgive me for not reading blogs yesterday, I just couldn’t concentrate.
And yes, today is Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop, hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog, feel free to grab the badge and join the fun!
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