One Month Post-Op

June 18, 2008

We had our 4 week checkup with Dr. Conrad.

Good news!! She is doing so well, he said seeing her really made his day. Dr. Conrad told me that most of the swelling is gone in the knee, and that the short walks we've been taking are good. His exact words were that she looks (and acts) as though she is 6 weeks post-op, not 4! YES! So barring any unforeseen tragedies, we won't be seeing Dr. Conrad again. It is onward and upward from here! He said that we can start our swim therapy. On-leash for one more month, then we can let her off-leash for walking around the yard. No going crazy, no "contact sports" (aka, no bulldog playtime yet).

Dr. Pike, a younger vet at the clinic came into our room while we were waiting for Dr. Conrad. Dr. Pike is a resident vet at the clinic, Dr. Conrad is a specialist who travels to the clinic regularly for clients like myself. It was nice that he came in to check on us and see how Sophie was doing. Unfortunately, we got to talking about the work Sophie used to do. In my opinion, he was unprofessional as he started to go on about how he thought that Schutzhund was a bad thing-- teaching dogs to bite arms and what-not. I maintained my cool and told him that it wasn't a personal protection kind of training, it was a sport and dogs aren't biting an arm, they're biting the sleeve which looks nothing like a human arm. It's like a big 'ol tug toy. I asked him if he had ever seen Schutzhund before. He says "yes," I ask him if he's ever seen it in person or just on video.. His answer? "No... just video." YEAH, I thought so! If he had ever seen a Schutzhund in person he would know that the dogs are having the times of their lives.

If anything, I trust a well-trained Schutzhund dog more than any other house pet. They have more control and obedience than those dogs that are running around and barking at everything because they are insecure and unstable.


Anyway, back to the topic...

Sophie is doing well. I got the all-clear from Dr. Conrad to start letting her go up and down the stairs on her own. We're going to keep it slow and I'm making sure that she is going down the stairs SLOWLY, as opposed to her idea of making the stairs the luge. I don't think I've ever used the pinch on Sophie-- she really hasn't ever needed it. However, we're on pinch for every walk now. She's just getting too excited when she sees another dog and risking the integrity of her knees. She met an American Bulldog puppy on a walk a couple days ago. SUPER sweet little girl, but she's gonna be HUGE! I think she was almost as tall as Sophie, and she's only 5 months old! Then again, Sophie is a midget. =P I ran into a good friend of mine at the vet's who was there to see Dr. Conrad with her two dogs, too. Jack, her SchH II GSD was there for a checkup because of his arthritic elbow, and Tara was her Out Of the Pits rescue who unfortunately is joining the ranks of our bum-knee dogs. Tara and Sophie had a good time saying hello to each other. Tara is the model citizen, such a great breed ambassador for the APBT's out there. It was funny seeing our two bull-breeds socializing politely, I think some of the older women there with their foofy dogs thought we were crazy. =D

This is another angle of Sophie sleeping in the game chair. She's crazy about this chair because she can curl up like a little bean in it. She was sleeping with her body in the "seat" bit, and her legs elevated and leaning against the "back" part of the chair. Does that make any sense? LOL



Sophie, what's up? Can you play yet?


PSHEW! Never Mind! Your breath STINKS!

Uh Oh... Oops?

June 13, 2008

Today is Day 23 Post-Op.

I have been taking Sophie on walks around the loop of our street 1 - 2x a day. She has been doing very well. No limp, no fatigue. Three days ago we were rounding the corner for the home stretch and there were two black dogs walking in our direction. Sophie has always been a bit dog intolerant in close quarters, and at 14 months old became downright volatile. We nipped her attitude problem in the bud (feeling her oats at 14 months) and she became very well mannered and even friendly with other well mannered dogs (those who tried to dominate her got put in their place quickly).

Back to the maybe "oops"... So we round the corner and two black dogs are coming our way. Sophie lit up, rearing on her back legs and acting like a lunatic. I looped my arm under her belly to lift up her back legs and held her by the collar until the dogs passed. No sense in dragging her along past the dogs and risking tweaking the knee, and I couldn't correct her because I had a flat collar on and didn't want to yank her and do something to the knee, either. After the dogs passed, she walked to the house with a normal gait, but adrenalin can do some amazing things...

The following day she started to have a bit of a misstep and was limping again. She was favoring the unaffected leg and my boyfriend told me that she was 3-legging it when she first got out of the crate when he came home yesterday. When I came home I noticed the change in her gait right away. We went for a walk that night and her gait was better, at times back to normal, most of the time still favoring the good leg ever so slightly, but definitely better.

For this past week she has also been doing a strange thing... almost acting senile, but she is way too young to be! This happens when she is laying around, seemingly taking a nap. She does this when people are in the room and when she is totally alone. She growls. She just lays there and growls at nothing. Is this a sign of pain? She has always been SO stoic that I have a hard time blaming it on pain, especially when she has been doing so well. The only other thing I can think of, is that our young male is such a pain in her butt that she is constantly just giving out her warning to leave her alone. They used to play when she was well, but obviously now they can't. Duke has been doing a wonderful job of being a good boy and leaving her alone. This is no small feat for a 2 year old male bulldog who is on the go 24/7, wanting to play. He has had a few moments when he can't control himself and wants to play SO bad that he play bows and nuzzles/nose-punches her, but she wants nothing to do with him and growls at him for him to leave her alone, a couple times she lit up on him because he was being too much of a PITA (he absorbs all of her corrections all the time without rebuttal, but he doesn't retain information very well ). Could it be that she is just a cranky bitch and growling at Duke even when he's not near her? I don't know...

I asked on the Orthodogs group about her growling. One person suggested she might just be "protective" of her injury. In a way it makes sense. She's probably gotten used to getting her space and being treated like a queen bee post-op.

The top of Sophie's incision is puffy, like there is an air pocket at the top of her incision. It is only visible when she is standing. When she is laying down and the knee is bent, it is not visible. We have an appointment with Dr. Conrad on the 18th. Since he is a traveling surgeon, we have to wait until he comes to town to see him. That's the price you pay for going with a non-local surgeon.

An updated picture of her incision:



Sophie "helping" me cook Friendship Bread. Her bed was in the living room but she kept trying to check on me and see where I was, so I put her bed down in the kitchen and she kept me company while I baked. :)

Day 15 Post-Op

June 5, 2008

Alright, Week 3! She has some serious atrophy going on in the affected leg. :(

She is still constantly on-leash in the house, but is allowed to move around the living room while we're watching her. I am still carrying her down the two flights of stairs twice a day for potty breaks and as soon as she does her business, we go back inside. No walks yet. I have been reading the materials posted on the Orthodogs group about post-op/rehab and there is conflicting information. Some say we are at a point where we can go on slow 10 minute walks twice a day, other info says 20 minutes, while yet other information instructs NO walking other than for elimination for 4 weeks!

Sophie is walking slowly on her leg with no limp right now. If she tries to move too quickly, she will "skip a beat" in her gait or go up on 3 legs until I slow her down. I wonder if I should take her cue and let her use the leg more or continue to hold her back. I don't want her to lose much more muscle tone if I can prevent it. That muscle helps keep the leg strong and stable.

Her hair is growing back!
Incision site: