More than halfway!!

We've made it past the 6 week mark (actually by now we are at the 7 week mark)!!!

We had an appointment on Monday for a quick x-ray, and they look great! Her bone is healing nicely - according to the doc - and her range of motion is up to par. I was expecting to hear that she is a miracle dog and that she doesn't need anymore physical therapy and her leg is completely healed...but this will do.

We got the all clear for walking, we can go up to a mile! This is fabulous news because, if you know our dog, she has a little bit of energy that could really use an outlet.

As an added bonus: Rigby's leg hair is all grown in!!!!

Sorry for the long pause between posts! Rigby has begun her doggie physical therapy. We have a local vet who is also a certified pet rehabilitator come once a week to work with us to get Rigs back to tip top shape.

So far we have her doing a couple five minute walks per day on the road, her range of motion exercises, as well as a couple of interesting ones.

The first one is a contralateral hip exercise. Basically we take a treat and put it near her backside and she then has to twist to get it. We like this one because she doesn't cheat much.

The next exercise we do is making her sit square. Now with this one, Rigby is a pro at cheating. Whether it be leaning against the wall, leaning on her good leg, or just flat out sitting on her butt, she really can find a way out of doing this exercise. Another one that only works for a minute is putting a hair tie around her good paw. She really doesn't like it and it forces her to put weight on the bad leg.

Another exercise we do is lovingly referred to by our vet as happy butt. Basically you get her riled up so she's trying to play, and you push down on the top of her hind end, forcing her to put weight on it. We have to do this one last because she gets too riled up.

The last exercise is my personal favorite. We call it the circus elephant. Basically we take this little side table and put the dog up on it. The platform is so small that she's forced to sit on it correctly.

We have decided!

We are going to go with our local vet to do at least the beginning stages of Rigby's rehabilitation!! 

Mike set up an in-home (thats what she does) appointment for our rehab consult for Monday. Wish us luck! 

In the meantime...this is what Rigby is dreaming about when she takes her doggie naps in her sweet new bed...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday we went to the doggie doc and we had Rigby's staples removed. Dr. Prostredny had nothing but good things to say about her progress: good range of motion, incision looked great and she was very willing to give him kisses.

We talked about moving forward with physical therapy and haven't quite decided who to go to. Our primary care veterinarian has the same canine rehabilitation certification as the Annapolis practice and is much more accessible. However, she does not have certain machinery and we just really like the whole vibe happening across the bridge; so we are still torn.

Rigby is feeling better now that she doesn't have to worry about embarrassing cone hair. She's also excited about her leg hair growing back in (I, on the other hand have the opposite reaction).

One week down

It is amazing that we've already made it through one whole week! All of the swelling around the ankle has disappeared, she's using her new leg, and her long list of medications is almost finished. 

My mom sent her grandog a present for being so brave...it is almost as big as an actual couch! And Uncle Drew brought over a beautiful new bone...it is almost as big as her doggie sofa!        As soon as she climbs in her new sofa she's out like a light. She loves that thing!

Mike and I had tickets from way before Christmas (and knowing that we had to do this surgery) to go see Mumford and Sons in Brooklyn this coming week. So Marcia and Chris are going to be in charge of her daily care for a couple of days. When we get back we have her staple removal appointment. I can't wait until those things are out and we don't have to have her in a cone all the time. She really just looks like mickey mouse in the Fantasia movie with the magicians pointy hat, but she has it on all wrong. 

She found her new (BIONIC) leg!

As soon as I walked in the door today after work I noticed that Rigby was using her new leg!! That was quick! This just means keeping her contained from extracurricular activities will be that much harder from here on out.

Mike has been a tremendous caregiver. He is working from home during the day and has been critical in her post-surgery care.

We did have to make an adjustment on the crate situation a couple of nights ago. Because she can only lay on one side and has a cone at night the crate was just too tight. I woke up around 2 am to her wimpering. She just wanted to be out. So I decided our "master" bath (if you can even call it that) would now be Rigby's master bedroom...there is a fluffy Eddie Bauer fleece blanket, dog bed, and cute pink target down comforter lining the entirety of the bathroom (good thing I just performed a deep-clean) finished off with a baby gate to make it official. She is not spoiled at all!

Superbowl Sunday

Well, we made it through the first night back in the crate! 

We snuggled together in the sunroom watching the DIY channel and this show called "Too Cute" on animal planet. You can see Rigby is a blanket hog. 

Do you like her new edgy haircut??

In between naps and frequent bathroom breaks we did our first day of Physical Therapy. She didn't resist and we got the maneuvers down!

Rigby is back on Edmore

We got a call around 8 this morning from the surgical hospital to set an appointment to pick up Rigby.  They said 10 would be best because there was already another appointment right before us.

We got there a little early and at 2 after, Mike was feeling anxious that we hadn't been called back...a minute after that we were taken to the room.

Just seeing her made me tear up...I do not know why I am so emotional about this surgery?!?!

We went through the debriefing about meds and restricted activity quickly with the technician and then the surgeon came in to show us a few things. Her leg was pretty swollen and she wasn't using it at all. He said that it is quite normal for her to develop some fluid around the ankle (it could get as big as a cue ball). Also, he showed us the x-ray of her new knee! It was very enlightening. We were told we don't have to crate her fully, just limit the activity, like no stairs or furniture. When Mike is home for work she will be his office buddy. I'm sure she'll pick up the lingo quickly and aspire to become a LEED employee as well.

Mike took a video of the range of motion exercises so we can look back to remember more easily how to do them. These exercises are to be done with her everyday "until further notice". Its three simple exercises with her laying on her side that must be done in increments of 10 reps a day.

Our ride home was uneventful, although she started whining as we got closer to home. Mike and I thought she needed some pain medication but it turned out she just really had to pee!

We had some visitors already today and she seemed to be very happy to see everyone!! Rigby ordered up a nice lazy day, which I didn't mind.

On another note...marshmallows are a great way to give a dog a pill :)

So far so good...

Rigby is officially out of surgery and is recuperating!!!

Getting her to the vets office safely was a chore!! We had significant snowfall this morning right as we were supposed to leave. Luckily I married a Southern Tier Man!! Mike is a professional when it comes to driving in the snow unlike me who calls white-outs, squalls???

The doctor said there were no surprises and that we can go pick her up tomorrow...he'll just have to check on her first thing in the morning to make sure everything is okay with her.

I am a little anxious about bringing her home because now it means Mike and I will be in charge of her follow-up care. She can no longer snuggle with us on the couch (which I made sure to do A LOT of this morning) or in bed, no stairs and no jumping for at least 12 weeks. The hardest part will be telling her "No" because she is adept in the "puppy-eye" stare.

I hope the weeks fly by so I can have my couch potato back.

From Mike's Perspective:

We left for Annapolis at around 6:20 this morning. At this point the snow had just started falling. It was a pretty brutal ride until the Bay Bridge, where the roads were mostly clear. Needless to say Hillary was white knuckled the whole time.

We dropped off Rigby at 7:30 where she where she was led blissfully unaware into the care of the friendly staff. She went in for surgery at about 1:30 today and a couple hours later, the doctor called to let us know that her surgery was successful.

Now begins the 12 week recovery period. Anyone who knows us is aware that this will be the most difficult part. Keeping a 2 year old lab from jumping on furniture and unsuspecting house guests is not an easy task.

We saw at least four cars in the ditch on the way home. These Marylanders really can't handle the snow.

Consultation

Today Mike and I had a consultation with a specialist in Annapolis about TPLO surgery for Rigby. We scheduled it for tomorrow...this blog is for our friends and family to keep track of her progress.

See, last year at this time, Rigby started holding her right back leg up while walking, running, eating, drinking, panting...well, all the time. We took her to see our veterinarian here in Chestertown and they relayed to us that she had torn her ACL. I related that to a human injury and thought surgery and some down time will get her back to walking, running, eating shape. At 1 1/2 years old Rigby had surgery on a beautiful day in March, not a moment too soon. After her surgery we kept her away from other dogs, away from jumping, running and doing the stairs for what seemed like forever. We also had her go in for some laser therapy which seemed to help any pain she was having. Our homework was to do some physical therapy with her as she was progressing with the recovery. By the summer we had her swimming which also seemed to help with the pain and helped build up the muscle in her leg. After it was no longer pool...i mean river*...weather, her use of the repaired leg seemed to diminish, slowly.

On Christmas Eve of this year, I woke up to our pup with strange green goop coming out of her eye and made a quick appointment with our doc. While we were getting her eyes rinsed the veterinarian said..."so how long has she been holding her leg like that?"I quickly turned red, completely embarrassed about how bad of a mother I was, and said - "since Fall?!?!" Luckily the surgeon was in the office that day and came to check her out. He said it felt like the apparatus was "slipping" and to try some anti-inflammatory as well as some antibiotic (for the eye goop) and come back in two weeks. As soon as Rigby and I hit the parking lot, I was a complete sobbing mess. Christmas Eve has never been such a downer for me. I quickly found my unsuspecting mother at Poppop's house and immediately started to cry. I felt defeated. Mostly, an improper caregiver to this sweet, innocent, furry being.

Two weeks went by and her eye was much less goopy but the leg was the same. Our veterinary surgeon offered to re-do the surgery or we could try a specialist in Annapolis. After Mike did some extensive research we found out that the specialist surgery would be quite costly and I had a very hard time accepting the dollar amount that we were expected to part with in order for our beloved pet to regain strength and comfort in that leg. I had to "sleep on it" but eventually confirmed that yes, Rigby is worth every penny, I just want her happy and healthy! Duh!

Rigby 1/31/2013

So after meeting with this wonderful doctor in Annapolis we decided that yes, we will do the TPLO surgery for our baby girl. Bring on the airline miles!!!





*We have been using an undisclosed pool, at an undisclosed location for rehabing Rigby but we told the owners of said pool that we only use their patch of waterfront for river swimming...