Birthday Boy!!

So today my big boy turns 7! I can't believe he is an old man now. Seems like yesterday he was chewing things up and being a pest! Wow he has changed over the years! We are planning a little party for Casey tonight when his Dad (my husband) gets home. My 2 and 5 year old are making him birthday cards...so sweet!

As for Casey's leg, he is healing wonderfully! I am so happy with his progress. He has his 6 weeks check up on Wednesday with his orthopedic surgeon. I am sure he will be happy too with what he sees.

Casey is up to 16 minute walks now and he is loving it! We go 3 times a day. When he walks outside he has no visible limp. Inside he does a bit as he seems to baby the leg a bit. No idea why. This will be one of the things I mention on Wednesday.

He is feeling more playful now too and we are doing what we can to play safely with him. He is a funny boy!

I will post pictures later and post again on Wednesday after his apt!

5Weeks Post-op

Yippee! Casey is recovering very well. Nothing really to report which is great! He is up to 12 minute walks 3 times a day. He has gotten excellent walking on the leash now. He was good before, but a bit of a puller. Now he does great. His leg seems to be healing well. He has a bit more freedom of the bottom floor when I am home so that is helping to increase the muscle too. The more walking the better!

Weather seems to be improving too so Casey is happy spending time outside enjoying being a dog again!

He is feeling better and asking to play with us more and more. We are trying to play in a way that is safe and having him lay to play with us. He seems content with that.

Recently we switched his food to Canidae and he loves it. Lately he is refusing to eat it or will eat it an hour later, but wants his wet food back. So I went and got him some today! He ate it up. I am just giving him enough to mix it up. That is what he likes I guess. I got the Canidae in the can.

We go back to the orthopedic at 6 weeks just for a check in. I have some questions so I will ask them then.

I am very happy with Casey's progress and hope to continue to increase the increments of our walks to build his atrophy of the muscle back up. He is really missing his couch, and has sneaked up a few times. He seems fine, but I am trying to keep them covered at all times. Tough with two little kids!

The hair is coming in well now too! Yeah! Almost can't see where the epidural was, and the leg top coat seems to be coming in too. I will try to take more pictures!

4 Weeks Post-op!

I can hardly believe it has been a month since I dropped Casey off and balled my eyes out in the office and in the car! So glad that is behind us!

Well he is doing great. We are slowly trying to increase his walks. We are back up to 10 mins. I think we will stick here for a bit and then try a little more. Casey does such nice controlled walking in our yard, but once on the street he pulls more and is excited to be free of the boring back yard. I tend to do more walking in the yard for easiness with the two kids, but also for the comfort of no other dogs being able to attack him or even come near him to cause a possible "oops" moment.

Casey continues to not be on any medications. Just his Cosequin DS for his joints! I am so happy he is handling this all so well. We are not scheduled to see the orthopedic again until 6 weeks. This apt is just a check in apt meaning that there is not any real reason for it. The ortho said we could even cancel if we wanted if it was a big deal getting Casey there and back. Well it is a big deal as both my husband and I must go so he will stay in the sit or down position the whole ride so as not to walk on his leg in the moving minivan. I am leaning towards keeping that apt though just for progress report sake!

We have x-rays at 9 weeks to confirm bone healing. I look forward to that day. Seems so far still.

As for Casey's appetite, he is doing well there. Loving his new dog food. I switched him to Canidae. He also is getting a yummy stuffed Kong here and there and the buster cube. All these things are trivial to keep him busy as it is tough to keep an active dog confined for so long. He is a great patient though.

I will update again soon. Thanks for reading:)

4/16/07

Well we were successful in switching Casey's food to Canidae. He really seems to like it! I am relieved. He is doing well. We are walking up to 10 minutes 2-3 times a day. He is having a bit more energy these days. I think with all our rain lately it hasn't been easy to just be outside to even lay down. He also may be feeling better and thinking he is better! Today he seemed a bit more sore so we did not do as much walking. He did not have any "oops" moments so I can't figure out what would have started this other than that healing has its normal ups and downs. He was a bit more limpy today and tonight he is 3 legging a bit. I will keep an eye on him. I think he and my husband will be sleeping in the living room tonight needless to say to avoid the stairs. I think a bit of rest will put him back to normal. I will post again on his developments.

4/13/07

Things are going quite smoothly. Casey is up to 10 minute walks now and seems to be handling it well. He does appear to be more limpy at night, but he is still using the leg.

2 days ago I took Casey down our street to walk for his 10 minutes out for the first time. He was so happy to have different smells oppose to his boring back yard! Then it happened...he peed lifting his good leg and stood on the TPLO leg! I nearly fell over. I was so happy, but scared too. I guess Dr. Woolfson was right when he said Casey's knee was stable. I guess Casey agreed. He did this same thing 2 more times on our walk! A big milestone for us!

Otherwise he is eating well. Seems to like the Canidae! He is sleeping upstairs and doing excellent on his 1 time up at night and 1 time down in the morning. My husband is sleeping much better too! We are doing great and looking forward to the warmer Spring!

3 Week Post-op Apt. 4/11/07

I can hardly believe it has been 3 weeks. I must say the time is passing quickly and we all seem to have adjusted nicely to the new "rules" in our home. With Gates and a crate, and leash rules, it was all a lot to take in, but all the family members have been compliant.

This morning we saw Dr. Woolfson for Casey's 3 week post op apt. Dr. Woolfson was happy to see a happy Casey! He was pleased with his walking and said Casey had full range of motion in the knee! Yahoo! He had him sit to give him a treat and Casey sat the proper way and not the CCL leg out way! he was very pleased to see this and made sure to comment to me about how great that was. he said over the next 3 weeks to increase his walks up to 20 minutes. We are at 5 now so we will slowly increase.

Casey has some muscle atrophy, but that is quite normal and he will regain it over time. Dr. Woolfson also manipulated his knee and said it was very stable! We are so thrilled! Nice to hear that all our hard work is paying off.

We also go the okay to switch Casey's dog food. We decided to switch it as with the recent recalls (our old food was not recalled) I learned that his food was not as healthy as I wanted it. So today we began the Canidae. We will do a 50/50 mix for a while, then change of slowly.

The last of our good news is that Dr. Woolfson said Casey can return to sleep in our bedroom upstairs. As long as he climbs the stairs slowly and calmly with us beside him and holding his collar. My husband will finally get to sleep back in bed from 5 weeks on the couch! We bought another tri fold baby gate with a door in the middle to section off part of the bedroom where Casey will sleep on his ortho bed and thus he will NOT be able to get on our bed like he really wants too! Too high and too dangerous right now.

I also began today giving Casey Cosequin DS for his joints and mild arthritis in his hips. I hope this works. Many people on the orthodogs web site I belong to say great things about these supplements. I know there are so many out there that are junk since they are not FDA regulated, but this kind we got is a recommendation by the orthopedic surgeon to us.

Smooth Sailing :)

Since the tummy troubles Casey had, things here have been "smooth sailing"! Casey is back on his regular food and diet and he is walking 5 minutes 3-4 times a day. He is off ALL medicines now and seems to be reacting wonderfully. He is a bit more playful now, but still quite sleepy in the middle of the day. He seems to be peppy at night and want some "me" time! Of course he gets his time! My oldest daughter (age 5) keeps asking when she and Casey can play tug again. She doesn't have a complete concept of time so I say when he is better. I look forward to that day when Casey and my girls are running freely in the yard again!