 Sophie's Recovery!
I have decided that I want to keep a journal of Sophie's recovery from knee surgery. These posts helped me a lot when I was worried about Sophie, so I can only hope that maybe this can help someone in the future.
Sophie had double knee surgery on Monday, September 30th and it was probably one of the longest days of my life. Waiting for the phone call was extremely nerve wracking but my aunt and I went to the States for the morning so I didn't have to sit alone and worry about her.
We got the call around 1:30pm and the news was good and bad. She came through surgery perfectly and was up and trying to stand but when they got into the joint they found there was more of a problem than just the groove, so now she has pins in both legs as well. This makes the recovery a little scary because I am worried the pins might migrate and have to be removed later, but I am trying to stay positive.
She stayed at the vet Monday night and was supposed to stay until she was putting weight on both legs but our vet doesn't have overnight observation, so we said we would prefer to bring her home. We picked her up at 7pm Tuesday night...and I am going to be perfectly honest...all my research didn't prepare me for what I would be dealing with once she was home. I have had moments when I regret getting it done and many tears have been shed at how uncomfortable she looks, I wish I could take her pain away from her, but I know in the long run she will be happier.
We already have had to take her back to the vet because she figured out how to bypass her cone and had been licking the incisions - mainly her left leg. Her legs are bruised really badly so we also wanted to make sure that everything was still going well with her. We were given a bigger cone and changed her pain meds to every 8 hours and we have to ice 5-6 times a day instead of 3-4 times.
She has been eating and drinking pretty well. She prefers wet over dry right now, but that is okay because I like that she is getting extra water content. She has peed 3 times since being home and...she pooped tonight (Wednesday)! It was very exciting, she hobbled over to her pee pad and pooped and then hobbled to a different one and peed. I gave her lots of praises and cuddles...I even rewarded her by taking her cone off and letting her snuggle in a blanket beside me.
Here are some pictures so far. First one is when we brought her home, second is of her really swollen/bruised knee this morning, the third is her knee after icing and a trip to the vet, and the last is the little munchkin being rewarded with no cone and couch cuddles with mommy for going potty! Though, since starting this post she has had her cone put back on and is back in a crate...she decided to try and take advantage of me and was starting to lick and was trying to stand up...wobbly dog on couch is too risky for my liking.
This is going to be a very long few months. Sophie hates the crate with a passion, but she is going to have to get used to it so we can get the best recovery possible. |